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Commissioner of the General Land Office of 1857, there appear to be 2,350,000 acres of the Wisconsin surveys returned, and entered on the plats of that office, as swamp lands, and set apart as such under the Act of 1850. Only 1,674,588 acres have as yet been patented to the State. But in the report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office just made, it appears that there are 2,827,199 acres of Swamp and Overflowed lands, under the act of 1850, upon which patents, and lists having the effect of patents, have been already issued to our State. Gov. BASHFORD, in his last annual message, estimated the whole amount to which the State would be ultimately entitled under this Grant, at not less than two and a half millions of acres; but it has already proved to be much more than that, and there is as yet a large region of country unsurveyed by Government, and also a large quantity of lands not yet re-ported as Swamp Lands, which must eventually be placed in that cate gory, and inure to the State. From the best information I can gain from the officers having in charge the Swamp Land Department, and from surveyors and others, intimately acquainted with the northern region of our State, I think we may safely place the total amount of the Swamp Land Grant, at not less than three millions of acres. The more sanguine place it as high as four millions; but I think it would be most prudent, in making estimates, not to place it higher than three millions. As the remaining portion of this Grant must necessarily be located principally in the remote wilderness region between our northern settlements and Lake Superior, it cannot reasonably be expected to realize so much per acre as that already sold, and the expenses of sale are to be deducted; hence, probably a dollar and ten cents per acre, after deducting expenses, is as high as it should be estimated. Deducting from the estimated 3,000,000 of acres, the 916,516 acres already sold, and we have left 2,083,484 acres, which netting $1 10 per acre, would realize the sum of $2,291,832.40-adding one-quarter of which to the School Fund, would be $572,958 10.

School Lands Unsold.-There appear to be unsold about 381 of the sixteenth or school sections, lying mostly north of township line 30, and thus mostly in regions yet only partially surveyed-which would be 243,840 acres, and which, at the minimum price of $125 per acre, would realize $304,800 00. None, I believe, of the 500,000 acre school tract, remains unsold. of the Selected Lands, selected in lieu of the 500,000 acre school grant, only about 8,000 acres remain unsold, which at the minimum value would realize $10,000 00.

Five per cent. proceeds.-Wisconsin, by its Constitution and admission into the Union, fully sanctioned by the General Gov

ernment, is entitled to five per centum of the net proceeds of the sales of public lands in the State. But $22,537 56 is all that has been paid of this fund-the last payment having been made August 28th, 1850. Its unjust detention since that time, and the reasons assigned for it, are well known, and need not, in detail, be repeated here. Suffice it to say, that by the Rock River Canal land grant of 140,000 acres, in 1838, the then Territory, and future State, of Wisconsin, were made a trustee, and held responsible for the proper application of the trust for the sole purpose of constructing and maintaining a canal from Rock River to Milwaukee. From various causes, not necessary here to notice, the Canal Company, after four years' efforts, practically abandoned the enterprise, after having disposed of some 43,000 acres of the land, at $2 50 per acre, as the grant required, and used some of the proceeds in surveys, labor and material. The canal was not made, and the remainder of the lands was sold by the Territory, and the proceeds, together with the dues collected on lands sold on credit by the Canal Company, were appropriated to Territorial expenses, which the General Government was justly bound to liquidate. Notwithstanding this position of the affair, when Wisconsin became a State, Congress admitted her into the Union, with a pledge that she should be made the trestee, the same as other new States, of the five per cent. net proceeds of the sales of all public lands within her borders, for the special purpose of educating all her children. But, as we have seen, this has unjustly been withheld for a period of over eight years, as well also as 140,000 acres of the 500,000 acre tract of school lands to which the State was entitled-as an offset for the 140,000 acres granted for the construction of the Rock River Canal, for which an arbitrary charge of two dollars and fifty cents per acre was made against the State.

Various efforts have been made in past years, without success, to obtain these moneys and lands, so long and so wrongfully withheld by the General Government. During the past season, Col. D. W. JONES, the Secretary of State, made application to

proper Departments at Washington, and prosecuted the matter with his accustomed vigor and energy. He had made himself familiar with the whole subject, and pressed our claims with such an array of facts, and show of justice, that they could not well be longer denied. It was shown, that the Territorial Legislature had, in good faith, assigned the canal grant to the company which had petitioned Congress for it-a company composed of men believed to be responsible and enterprising; and that the acts of the Territorial Legislature, as is required of all Territorial legislation, were laid before Congress for their approval or disapproval, and this one relative to the canal grant among the num

ber, and as no word of opposition was uttered, it hence follows that this disposition of the canal grant was tacitly endorsed and approved by the General Government, and it was not till twelve years afterwards that any complaint was intimated. In consequence of the poverty of the Territory and people twenty years ago, the company failed to raise the necessary means, and consequently failed in their purpose of constructing the canal. Yet the same men in part, under a new organization, constructed a first class railroad not only over very nearly the same region from Milwaukee to Rock River, but have extended it to the Mississippi; and that in this high northern latitude, where a canal would be frozen up nearly one half of each year, the railroad was much the more suitable and serviceable, and far more satisfactory to the people, for whose benefit the canal was designed; and that for the transportation of United States troops, munitions of war, or supplies for the upper Mississippi garrisons, a railroad furnishes a far more speedy mode of conveyanc ethan any canal, besides providing an uninterrupted winter as well as summer communication. That this railroad, which has been extended to the Mississippi via Madison, and nearly so via Monroe, Green county, has given a powerful impetus to the trade and travel of the State, and must have been the means of hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands finding an early market, which they would not otherwise have done for many years; and that the total amount derived by Government from sales of public lands in Wisconsin has reached, in round numbers, the large sum of twelve millions of dollars. That in making the canal grant, the Government reserved alternate sections along the route of the canal, and sold them, or many of them, at two dollars and fifty cents per acre; so that, in a pecuniary point of view, Government lost nothing by the operation, as she got from the citizens of Wisconsin as much, or nearly as much, for the alternate sections alone, as she would at the usual Government rates, have obtained for those sections and the grant together; and the people of Wisconsin secured a railroad, which has been far bet ter to them, and far better to the Government, than a dozen such canals as the one contemplated.

That the Territory, under the circumstances, did the very best it could-acted in good faith throughout, and saved much of the grant from the company, and devoted the proceeds to the expenses of the Territorial government, which were justly chargeable to the General Government. That even if the Territory had culpably failed on its part, as trustee, to fulfil, or cause to be fulfilled, the terms of the grant, or even if adjusted, and the State was admitted to be indebted to the General Government for the full amount claimed-still the General Government had

no shadow of a right to withhold a trust sacredly pledged by permanent enactment, and by a solemn sanction of our Constitution, for the education of the children of Wisconsin for all time to come; that, therefore, this five per cent. fund should have been paid over to the State, not as a gift, or debt, due Wisconsin, but as a trust, so made by special contract, for a special educational purpose; and that, if the State was justly indebted to the General Government, which is not admitted, then the State should pay it, not out of the School Fund, which it could not do, but out of its general fund raised by taxation from the people. By arguments such as these, Col. JONES at length got the claim for the full amount of the five per cent. net proceeds of sales of public lands in Wisconsin, up to 1st of January, 1858, passed through the General Land Office, and Auditor's Departments, and only wanting the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, which that officer withheld simply on the ground, that as the amount was large (some $270,000) he wished to consult the President before acting in the matter, who was then absent from the Federal city. Serious illness in Col. JONES' family at the time, compelled him to leave for home before the President's return. And thus the matter has rested.

I may add, in this connection, that I have been advised by Hon. CHARLES H. LARRABEE, one of our members elect to Congress, that he will shortly visit Washington, and push this claim, if possible, to an early allowance; and from his persistent manner, and attention to public business, there is great hope of early success, both with regard to the five per cent. fund, and the 140,000 acres withheld of the 500,000 acre school tract. If the former is allowed, as, it seems to me, it must be, sooner or later, then there can be no valid reason for longer withholding the latter. When these claims are allowed, together with the addition to the five per cent. fund which has accrued since the 1st of January last, and should the 140,000 acres be judiciously selected, I should presume that we might calculate on five hundred thousand dollars being eventually added to the School Fund from these sources.

The further addition to the School Fund from the five per cent. net proceeds of the future sales of public lands in Wisconsin, can only be approximately estimated. Taking it for granted, that there are fully as many, if not more, unsold Government lands south of township line 30, as have been sold north of that line, then there must be, at the least calculation, fourteen millions of acres of unsold Government lands in the State, after deducting the school section for each township. Deduct from this, say four millions of acres to satisfy the Railroad Grants, and two millions more for swamp lands, and we will have eight

millions of acres remaining-suppose of this that only six millions should prove saleable, and that should net only a dollar per acre, we should eventually be entitled to three hundred thousand dollars more from the General Government as the five per centum of the net proceeds of the sale of these lands.

To sum up, therefore, these several sources of revenue to the School Fund, present and prospective, will exhibit an approximation of its probable ultimate amount:

School Fund proper, as already stated,....

School Sections unsold, 381, or 243,840 acres,.
Selected Lands unsold, 8,000 acres,,

Five per cent. due from General Gov'm't up to Jan. 1, 1859, say
Five per cent. due from General Government in prospective, say,
Balance of Swamp Land sales, estimated,....
Withheld by General Government, 140,000 acres, say

$2,845,846 34

304,800 00

10,000 00

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This aggregate may be diminished by the General Government continuing unjustly to withhold the five per cent. fund, together with the 140,000 acres of the original 500,000 acre school tract; and it may be increased by the Swamp Lands eventually numbering more acres, and realizing more per acre for them, than I have estimated. It would not surprise me if these lands should yield a million more dollars than here estimated—thus adding at least a quarter of a million more to the School Fund. If, therefore, all these hopes should be reasonably realized, our School Fund may yet reach, in round numbers, the sum of five millions of dollars.

We will assume, then, that five millions of dollars is the highest probable amount, with vigilant management, that we can hope to attain for the School Fund. We are apt very complacently to regard this fund as a most munificent one-so large, indeed, that it would make no perceptible difference if we should now and then make some sacrilegious foray upon it. When, in connection with this Fund, we bear in mind the large number among whom, not the principal, but the interest only, is to be annually apportioned, and still further reflect with what wonderful rapidity that number is increasing, we shall cease to regard it as a magnificent or inexhaustible Fund, but rather view it as altogether too small for the holy and mighty mission it is designed to fulfill.

According to EULER, in countries where the greater number of the people are employed in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, with few idle and unproductive consumers, the population in creases in a wonderful manner-doubling in every twelve or thir teen years. MALTHUS, in his well known work on Population, has expressed the opinion that population ought, from natural

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