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There are in the State of Ohio, if I have counted them right, thirty-four banks, with a capital of a little more than nine millions of dollars. Most of them have been in operation about twenty years, and have at all times, since the restoration of specie payments in 1818, preserved the highest character for solvency and stability. I hold in my hand a report of their condition, made to the Legislature of Ohio in January last, which is subject to the inspection of any gentleman who wishes to examine it. It shows a strength and soundness in their condition not excelled, and, I incline to think, not equalled, by any like number of banks in the United States. There is no question about their perfect ability to answer all their engagements.

This bank, which, by virtue of power derived from the Treasury, is about to control and limit the circulation of its thirty-two neighbors, all of equal credit and ability with itself, went into operation not more than two years ago. Its capital, amounting to $288,680, is nearly half owned out of the State; and it is not acceptable to the other banks, nor do I think it is to the public generally, that this kind of control should be given to this new institution, so large a part of which is owned by capitalists in the cities, over the other well-known and long-tried institutions of the State. The banks do not like it; but some of them, for reasons not explained to me, are unwilling to be known as complaining of it. I received this circular, as I observed, from several quarters, and some of them require me not to say who sent it to me. I suppose they are afraid that the deposite bank would resent the communication; and a war with that bank, carried on, as it would be, by ammunition drawn from the Treasury of the United States, is rather to be dreaded than rashly incurred.

The banks, however, must, I presume, refuse the terms imposed upon them by the deposite bank, and permit their notes to be so far discredited as a refusal to receive them for the public lands will tend to their discredit. Exchange is high, and difficult to be procured; I have been told that it has, within the present spring, come up to two and a half per cent. It ranges, I have no doubt, from one to one and a half, in the regular course of business. What this bank, then, demands of the other banks is this premium upon all their notes that it may receive for lands-so much more than gold and silver, which they are all ready to pay at their

counters.

This bank, then, requires the receivers of public moneys to take none of the notes on the banks of the State for lands, except the notes of the deposite banks; and there are but two of them out of the thirty-four. An individual who wishes to purchase lands gets his money principally in notes of the banks of the State, part on one bank and part on another.

This money

will not buy land, and he cannot go round among the banks to get specie for it; and if he could, it would be very inconvenient to carry silver (and there is no gold among us yet) into the woods for such an object. He therefore, if he knows of this regulation, must go to this deposite bank, and make exchanges for their paper. Thus the other banks lose their share of the circulation; the purchaser pays a premium to the deposite bank for the exchange, or, in the expressive language of the country, he gets his paper shaved, and the notes are returned upon the State banks for specie. Or perhaps the farmer, who goes out to purchase land, does not know of this regulation, and takes his money out, as used to be done, in notes on good specie-paying banks. He suits himself in his tract of land, and proposes to make the entry. He takes out his cash, and is told that it will not do; he must have notes of the deposite banks. What then? Must he return without making his purchase? No, not so. I venture the conjecture that there

[APRIL 19, 1836.

will be a shaving shop very near the receiver's office, where he can get his money shaved by paying about five dollars on the hundred, and receive for it the paper of some one of the deposite banks.

I wish to know, Mr. President, whether this state of things, as set forth in this circular, does exist, and must continue to exist; whether the public money received for land in the West is, and must continue to be, nearly all transferred to the eastern cities. And I wish to know, also, whether the Secretary of the Treasury has authorized any one or more banks in Ohio to direct what money shall and what shall not be received for public lands in that State and in the neighboring States. obtain this information I have offered this resolution. The resolution was then agreed to. LAND BILL.

To

The Senate proceeded to consider the bill to provide for the distribution of the proceeds of the public lands among the several States, and granting lands to several States.

The question being on the motion of Mr. BENTON to strike out the clause granting lands to Missouri,

Mr. SOUTHARD addressed the Senate in a speech of great length, in support of the bill. He said that he would not approve of the distribution of a dollar of this money that was wanted for the completion of the national defences on a permanent footing of strength and respectability; and entered into calculations from the estimates of the Secretary of the Treasury, and taking into view the expenditures of the last year, for the purpose of showing that the national defences, both naval and military, can be completed on the most liberal scale without touching the proceeds of the land sales, and still leave a large surplus yet to be disposed of. These calculations, he said, were bottomed on the estimates of the Secretary imself. In his calculations for the naval defences, Mr. S. expressed himself in favor of the most liberal appropriations that had been suggested. He said he would go as far as the seven millions per annum, as estimated by the Secretary of the Navy; though he believed that, with a much smaller naval force than this sum would produce, and with a seacoast like ours, we might bid defiance to the combined naval force of the whole world. Mr. S. spoke in high terms of eulogy of the navy, and declared that a naval force was the most appropriate arm of defence for free Governments, there being no instance recorded in history where navies had ever been instrumental in subjugating their country.

Mr. S. was not in favor of an increase of the army. He gave it as his opinion, in which, he said, he was supported by the Secretary of War, that the present army was sufficient for all the purposes for which an army was needed.

As to fortifications, he was for completing those already begun on a liberal scale, with such others as information, founded on actual surveys and estimates, showed to be necessary; but he was of opinion that the system of fortifications was injudiciously commenced, though under circumstances which, at the time, seemed imperiously to recommend it. Those who originated the system were actuated by feelings of mortification at the frequent aggressions of the enemy on our shores, and a very natural desire to prevent the hostile tread of the foreign soldier on our shores in future. They had no idea of the immense power and wealth to which this giant nation would arrive, and that its vast population and resources, with the improved facility of intercommunication throughout the country, weuld, taking our navy into consideration, render us secure from invasion.

Mr. S. then argued that, there being no want of the proceeds of the land sales for the purposes of the Government, there being more than enough for all our ex

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penditures, of every description, arising from the money received for customs, this fund ought to be appropriated for the common benefit of the whole of the States, as was originally intended by the act of cession of the State of Virginia. He answered the various objections that had been made to this bill, contending that the money was not needed for national defence; that it will not be wanted either for Indian wars or wars with foreign nations; and that it could not possibly impede the growth or prosperity of the new States, as had been objected by gentlemen opposed to the bill.

Mr. SOUTHARD, without concluding, yielded the floor to

Mr. PRESTON, on whose motion the Senate went into the consideration of executive business; after which, It adjourned.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20.

LAND BILL.

The Senate proceeded to consider the bill to appropriate the proceeds of the public lands among the several States, and granting lands to certain States; when

Mr. SOUTHARD resumed his remarks, commenced yesterday. He had satisfied himself, from public documents in the possession of the Senate, that the Govern ment had a right to the disposition as proposed of the public fund; in support of which he referred to the original grants, by which they were considered as a common fund, for the benefit of the States. This position he maintained in an argument at some length. Each State admitted into the Union subsequent to the grants gave its assent to this right.

He then proposed to show the justice and equality of the principles of the bill, and that it was not only the right, but the imperative duty of Congress to pass it. This was the only plan among all that had been proposed, by which an equal proportion of the fund would be given to the different States. It would prevent this fund from being used for party purposes; and he commented upon the natural propensity of parties in power to use it, and the effects of the use of it. It was a temptation to whatever party might be in power, from which they ought to be relieved. He went into a comparison between the expenditures of the last four years of President Adams's and the last four years of President Jackson's administration. The average of the former he put at $12,625,000, and the latter at $19,193,388; making an average difference in favor of the economy of the former of $6,567,910. This, he said, was the result of reform. The administration of Mr. Adams was regarded as prodigal; and he was considered as the most prodigal member of it in regard to the defences. But prodigal as it was, it was less so than the present; and if this was the case in the green leaf, what could they expect when the plant had reached its full vigor? In order to stop this downward course, it was necessary to pass this bill. This fund was in imminent danger;

and he feared the time had gone by now when they could save it. The whole amount of capital in the deposite banks was $43,193,000, debts due the United States on deposites $38,754,000, and specie in their vaults $11,067,000.

He exhibited a general statement of the condition of the several deposite banks, designating the amount of notes in circulation in each, and the means relied on for their redemption. The whole currency of the country, he said, was under the control of the President, who, by his order, could ruin not only all the deposite but other banks; they were all at his entire mercy; which was more power than any one man ought to have, or than the Executive should have, even if he were all that was said of him; and unless there should be relief, there

[SENATE.

would soon be such a depression of commercial credit in this country as was never known since the organization of this Government. Some of them (the opposition) were rebuked because they were false prophets. He had prophesied that there would not be a return of gold currency, as predicted by the Senator from Missouri, [Mr. BENTON.] It was true that members of Congress could get gold here in Washington, but there was none of it to be seen in the country. So far, then, his prophecy was not false. The present state of the currency, he thought would be admitted, was worse than it was at the time of his prophecy, two years ago. The deposites could not be drawn from the banks promptly by the Government without those ruinous effects he had mentioned. But by assigning the money to the twentyfour States, according to this bill, they could be drawn out gradually, to meet the demands upon them by the respective States, as the money would be wanted; and it would be the interest of the States, in that case, to sustain these banks. Internal improvements by roads and canals could then go on prosperously, and education would go on under the auspices, care, and guardianship of the States, and the money would not be left in the treasury to be squandered away by an extravagant administration.

Mr. WRIGHT rose and said he had proposed to offer some views to the Senate upon the bill under consideration, before the question should be taken upon its engrossment; that the observations he intended to make had no relation to the amendments which were the immediate question under debate; but that, as the course of debate had seemed to indicate that the general merits of the bill might be properly discussed in the present stage of the proceedings upon it, he would go on at present, unless the very late hour should make it the pleasure of the Senate to postpone the subject until a future day.

Before he could enter upon the argument he had proposed to make, Mr. W. said he found himself bound to notice some few of the remarks which had fallen from the Senator [Mr. SOUTHARD] who had just resumed his seat. This Senator had informed the Senate, at various stages of his argument, that he intended to discard all partisan feeling and partisan remarks, and to discuss this important, and, in his judgment, most desirable measure, as a national, not a party proposition, as a measure of general and universal interest, not as one promoting the temporary advancement of a particular class of politicians, or of a favorite candidate, but of the whole country.

Mr. W. said he most cordially responded to the feelings of the Senator, as thus uttered and repeated, so far as any connexion of partisan politics with the discussion was involved; and although differing widely from him upon the benefits to be derived to the public from the passage of the bill, he fully and entirely agreed with him in the position that the measure was not partisan in its character, and ought not to be made so in the debate.

It was his desire, at all times, to confine himself, in every discussion in this body, to the subject before it; and upon the present occasion he had supposed that subject was "the land bill," so called. Still he could not fail to notice that the Senator [Mr. SOUTHARD] had commenced his speech by a discussion of the railroad bill, and closed it by a dissertation upon the insecurity of the deposite banks. He would not assign motives to the remarks of this character which have recently been heard in Senate from various quarters, and as strongly from the Senator from New Jersey, [Mr. SOUTHARD,] at the close of his speech upon the land bill, as from any other quarter. He did, however, upon this occasion, consider it his duty briefly to notice those remarks, and the effects which they were calculated to produce. The

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present, he said, was a time of severe pecuniary pressure upon the large mercantile towns. The merchants were struggling to preserve their credit, and to raise the means necessary to carry on their business and meet their engagements. The struggle was severe and dangerous. but, if left to themselves, he had strong hope it would be successful and triumphant. The suspicion and dis trust calculated to arise, from such a state of things, among capitalists and commercial men, are the strongest grounds for fear and apprehension.

Could it then be wise or just to attempt here to shake confidence and destroy credit? Could it be beneficial to any national interest, or to any individual interest, to proclaim from this hall that those institutions of the country, from which alone the merchants can expect immediate and efficient relief in the present emergency, are unsound, irresponsible, and rotten? Could it answer any end of patriotism or philanthropy, by declarations and denunciations of this sort, to produce runs upon these institutions, and thus put it out of their power to afford the merchants that aid which the crisis demands? Could it, in short, serve any valuable purpose to add a panic to the present pressure, and, by destroying confidence in all quarters, to render certain the bankruptcy and ruin which was now merely threatened? If the honorable Senator [Mr. SOUTHARD] could see any benefits likely to result from such a course, he could not. If that gentleman felt bound to act such a part, at such a time, he did not. He held his seat upon this floor for the performance of no such office, and he must express his deep regret that any others should thus construe their high duties here.

He had seen no unusual cause for distrusting the banking institutions of the country, and certainly none for distrusting those which were strengthened by the possession of the public deposites. The statements made upon the subject were fallacious and deceptive. They were mere comparisons of the instant means of the institutions with the whole amount of their liabilities-a comparison which rejects entirely the item of "bills receivable," always the most important item in calculating the property and security of a sound and well-conducted bank. Let gentlemen add that single item to their statements, and they will show every deposite bank in the Union sound and secure.

Mr. W. said he was sorry the Senator had not been able to close his remarks as he had commenced them, in a spirit of candor and mildness, and unaccompanied by those expressions of partisan prejudice and partisan passion which too frequently characterized his addresses before the Senate. He had appeared at the commencement to be fully conscious of the propriety and policy of such a course in the present debate, and had avowed an intention to pursue it, and he, Mr. W., had witnessed his adherence to the intention, until near the close of his speech, with unfeigned pleasure; but the force of partisan feeling had got the better of the judgment of the Senator, and he could not bring himself to a conclusion without visiting upon the venerable man, now at the head of this Governmen', his accustomed paragraph of denunciation and abuse. He, Mr. W., would say to the Senator, that he thought this portion of his remarks had better have been omitted; that his going thus out of the way to pour abuse upon the President would not, even with his immediate constituents, add any thing to the moral force of his argument, upon a subject which did not call for political recrimination. It was not his purpose to reply to the Senator, and these few remarks were all he proposed to offer, in reference to his observations, except, perhaps, to notice, in passing, one or two of his positions which connected themselves with the train of reasoning he had proposed to pursue. He would, therefore, proceed with the observations he had

[APRIL 20, 1836.

intended to offer to the Senate, and, in doing so, he would attempt to show

First. That the bill is, in effect, a bill to distribute, not the "nett proceeds of the public lands," as its language imports, but the revenues of the Treasury generally.

To establish this proposition, it will be necessary to show what have been the gross proceeds to the treasury of the public lands, from the commencement of the sales to the present time, what have been the expenses from the treasury, justly chargeable to the lands, and, in that way to ascertain the "nett proceeds" now resting in the treasury. As the latest date to which the documents before the Senate would enable him to state these facts, Mr. W. said he had taken the 30th of September, 1835, because the accounts on both sides had been brought up to that date, and not, with any precision, to a later day.

The gross amount of money paid into the treasury for the purchase of the public lands, from 1796 to the 30th of September, 1835, inclusive, has been, $58,619,523 00 To this sum the following items are

added, in the statement appended to the report of the Committee on Public Lands of the Senate, which they claim to be also proceeds of the public lands, viz: Certificates of public debt and army land warrants, Mississippi stock, United States stock, Forfeited land stock and military scrip,

$984,189 91 2,448,789 44 257,660 73 1,719,333 53

Thus showing a total of gross proceeds, thus ascertained, of

5,409,973 61

$64,029,496 61

Mr. W. said it seemed to him that there were items in this account, which ought not to be there, but they were, in all cases, so blended with items which be supposed proper, that it was impossible for him to distinguish the amounts which, in his judgment, ought to be deducted from the above gross sum.

To illustrate his meaning. The first item was money paid into the public treasury; and, in the statement of an account between that treasury and the public lands, there could be no doubt that it should be debited to the forThe second item was

mer and credited to the latter. designated as "certificates of public debt and army land warrants." From what he had been able to learn, the "certificates of public debt," so far as they had been paid in lands, were properly chargeable against the treasury in an account with the lands, because their payment, in that manner, must have relieved the treasury from the payment of so much money. The amount, however, could not be ascertained from the statement, in consequence of the blending of these certificates with the "army land warrants." These latter he supposed to be "warrants" for revolutionary bounty lands, and he could not see the propriety of valuing these lands, and charging them against the treasury in the statement of this account. If he was mistaken in his supposition in relation to these warrants, he hoped some Senator would correct him, but if he was not, the debts against the Government were debts contracted for the conquest of the lands, and properly chargeable against them; they were payable in land, and not in money from the treasury, and having been so paid, the lands had, to that extent, discharged the debt, but not secured a claim against The amount of these warrants, therefore, as he understood the subject, ought to be deducted from the $984,189 91, which constitutes the second

the treasury.

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item charged as proceeds of the public lands. What proportion of that item was made up of “army land warrants," and what of certificates of public debt," he had no means of determining, and therefore he could not make such a statement of the amount as he should consider just.

The third item was designated as "Mississippi stock." This stock, Mr. W. said, he understood to have grown out of the celebrated Yazoo claim, and that the Government of the United States had become a party to the transaction, in consequence of having stipulated with the State of Georgia, as one of the considerations upon which that State consented to make her cession of the public lands to the United States to indemnify her against the Yazoo claimants. The stock was payable in land, and was considered in the nature of land scrip; it was the consideration of the lands out of which it was to be paid, and the amount here set down is the amount of the lands conveyed to cancel the same amount of the stock. It was, therefore, a debt against the lands, and, to this amount, was paid by the lands, and cancelled the debt to that extent. It did not, however, raise a claim in favor of the lands against the Treasury, because the lands merely paid for themselves. This amount, therefore, $2,448,789 44, ought, most clearly, to be deducted from the statement above given of the gross proceeds of the public lands.

The fourth item is "United States stock." This is supposed to have been stock issued for loans of money for the support of Government, and to carry on the war of the Revolution; its payment was chargeable upon the public Treasury, and so far as the holders of it consented to take lands in payment, and did do so, the value of the land, is, most manifestly, a proper charge against the Treasury in favor of the lands. This item, therefore, is believed to be properly included in this ac

count.

The fifth item, designated "Forfeited land stock and military scrip," is again supposed to consist partly of a proper and partly of an improper charge against the Treasury. The "forfeited land stock," so called, Mr. W. said, he was informed had accrued in this way: Formerly the Government sold the public lands upon a credit of five years, the purchase money being payable in yearly instalments, with the condition in the certificates, or contracts of purchase, that, in case the purchaser did not perform the contract by making the payments at the times stipulated, he forfeited all payments made prior to his default. During the practice under this system a large amount of forfeitures accrued, and the Government resumed the possession of the land, the payments made by the respective purchasers, prior to their forfeitures, still remaining in the public treasury. The amounts thus paid and forfeited were so large as to cause the subject to be brought before Congress, and laws were passed directing a stock or scrip to be issued to the various individuals who had made the payments thus forfeited, or to those claiming under them, authorizing the holder of the stock or scrip to locate, at the minimum price of the Government, a quantity of the public lands equal to the value of the stock so held. This, therefore, was, in effect, a mere sale of so much land for money paid into the Treasury in advance, and, to the extent of the "forfeited land stock," is a proper charge against the treasury in a just statement of the account between it and the public lands.

The other part of this item, designated " military scrip," Mr. W. said he supposed to be scrip issued for military bounty lands to the Virginia line of the army of the Revolution, and to be subject to the same objections as a charge in this account, which he had previously urged against the "army land warrants." It was most clearly a debt against the Government, payable and paid

VOL. XII.-77

[SENATE.

in lands, and as the lands were conveyed to this Government by all the States, "as a common fund" "for the use and benefit of the several States, according to their usual respective proportions in the general charge and expenditures," it was impossible to conceive how a debt of this character, assumed by this Government as one of the considerations of the cession of the lands by Virginia, and paid in the same lands, can now be considered a proper charge against the common treasury, upon a settlement of accounts between it and those lands, with a view to ascertain their nett proceeds now in that treasury.

Mr. W. said this was a heavy item, amounting to $1,719,333 53, and he deeply regretted that he was not able to determine, and to inform the Senate, what portion of this sum consisted of "forfeited land stock," and what portion of "military scrip," because it put it out of his power to make a precise statement of this part of the account in a manner which he could assent to as accurate and just.

These remarks, however, went as far as it was in his power to go, to purge the statement made by the Committee on Public Lands, as to the gross proceeds from the public lands properly chargeable to the national treasury. He would not attempt to bring down a sum, because the two compound items in the account, the second and the fifth, in the order he had observed in their examination, rendered it impossible for him to do so with accuracy, and it had been and should be his object to adhere to facts, as far as he could possess himself of them, and when conjecture must be resorted to, to yield all to the friends of this bill.

In consequence, therefore, of his inability to separate the improper from the proper portions of these two items, Mr. W. said he would allow the whole of both to the lands, and present a result stated upon that basis. It will be as follows:

The gross amount before given, as stated by the Committee on Public Lands, was

Deduct from that amount the single item designated "Mississippi stock," And it will leave a balance of

- $64,029,496 61

2,448,789 44 $61,580,707 17

This balance is larger than the true gross proceeds of the public lands, calculated from this statement, by the whole amount included in the second item, under the designation of "army land warrants;" and in the fifth item, under the designation of "military scrip;" but as neither of these amounts can be ascertained from the documents before the Senate, although they are known to constitute a large majority of both the items with which they are connected, amounting together to $2,703,523 44, they will be overlooked, and the balance last given, including the "army land warrants" and the "military scrip," will, for the purposes of this argument, be considered the correct amount of the gross proceeds of the public lands.

Mr. W. said it followed, of course, that his next duty was to show the amount of expenses properly chargeable against the lands, and consequently to be deducted from the gross proceeds, as above ascertained, in order tha the might arrive at the "nett proceeds" in the treasury on the 30th of September last.

To do this from authority, and in a manner calculated to carry conviction to the mind, he must refer to two reports from the Secretary of the Treasury, made to the Senate in obedience to calls for the purpose, or rather to a call, as the one report was supplemental to, and amendatory of, the other. He referred to Senate documents upon the executive file, Nos. 65 and 80. The first in the order of numbers, though the last in

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fact, made, showed that the money paid from the treasury on account of the Cumberland road was $5,956,024. The second, as numbered, although the first and principal report, to which the former was a supplement, showed the following expenditures on account of the public lands, viz:

1. For expenditures under the head of the Indian department, which Mr. W. said he understood to be the expenses of Indian treaties, for the purchase of Indian titles to the public lands, the purchase money paid to the Indians for those titles, the annuities in lieu of purchase money, the expense of the removal and subsistence of Indians, and perhaps some other small items, incidental to the administration of our Indian affairs, amounting in all to $17,541,560 19.

2. For the purchase of Louisiana, by the convention with France of the 3d of April, 1803, $15,000,000, and the interest paid upon the stock issued for the payment of the purchase money, from the time of the issue until its final redemption, $8,529,353 43, amounting together to the sum of $23,529,353 43.

3. For the purchase of Florida, by the convention with Spain of 22d February, 1819, $5,000,000, and the interest paid upon the stock issued for the payment of the purchase money, from the time of the issue until its final redemption, $1,489,768 66, amounting together to $6,489,768 66.

4. Payments to the State of Georgia, as a part consideration for the lands ceded by that State to the United States, including, in the sum charged, the value of the arms furnished to the State under the compact of cession, $1,250,000.

5. The amount paid from the treasury to redeem that portion of the Mississippi stock (Yazoo claims) which was not cancelled by the grants of land in extinguishment of the stock, as before referred to; and here, Mr. W. said, was the strongest argument he could desire to show the propriety of the deduction he had made of the amount of the Mississippi stock, paid in lands, from the gross proceeds of the public lands, as given by the committee which reported the bill. Here was a charge by the Treasury against the lands of $1,832,375 70, for so much money paid to redeem that portion of the stock which had not been cancelled by the grant of lands; and one or the other proposition must unavoidably be true, to wit: either this charge by the Treasury against the lands, on account of the redemption of this stock, is wrong, and ought not to be made, or the charge made in the statement of the committee of $2,448,789 44, against the Treasury, and in favor of the lands, in consequence of the redemption of so much of the stock by grants of land, must be erroneous. Which proposition, then, can be sustained? To determine this question, it is only necessary to inquire how this indebtedness against the Government attached, and upon what consideration it was incurred. The answers to these inquiries have

already been given.

The consideration to this Government was the cession of the public lands by the State of Georgia, and the debt attached when this Government stipulated, as one of the conditions of the compact of cession, to indemnify the State of Georgia, to the extent of these payments, against the Yazoo claimants. The Treasury of the nation received nothing, and should pay nothing; but the claims grew out of the lands ceded; were a part of the consideration of the cession; were, by this Government, made payable out of the lands ceded; and if money was called from the Treasury to cancel those claims, it was so called for and paid on account of the lands, and formed a proper charge against them. Hence the propriety of the item now under consideration, charged by the Treasury against the lands, for the redemption of "Mississippi stock," while the establishment of this

[APRIL 20, 1836.

charge in favor of the Treasury, by the most natural and necessary consequence, rejects the charge against the Treasury and in favor of the lands, for that portion of the stock paid in land, and not in money from the Treasury.

6. The salaries and expenses of the General Land Of| fice, amounting to $797,748 64, which are paid from the Treasury.

7. The salaries of the several registers and receivers at the local land offices, which are separate from their commissions upon sales, and amount to $91,153 39. These salaries are paid from the Treasury.

8. The salaries of surveyors general and their clerks, and the expenses of commissioners for settling private land claims and of surveying the lands claimed. The Treasury has paid for these services and expenses the sum of $860,567 78.

9. Payments on account of the surveys of the public lands from the public Treasury, $2,780,630 97.

This, Mr. W. said, brought him to the statement of the account between the public Treasury and the public lands, as follows:

Charge against the Treasury the gross proceeds of the public lands, as before settled,

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$61,580,707 17

61,129,182 76

$351,524 41

It will be seen that this statement of the account excludes from the charges against the Treasury the single item of "Mississippi stock," amounting to $2,448,789 44, and also excludes, upon the other side, from the charges against the lands, the sum of $2,479,049 13, being money received for lands by the receivers, and not paid into the Treasury, but retained for commissions and other expenses pertaining to the registers' and receivers' offices. Both these items balance themselves; the first being a debt contracted for the lands and paid in lands, and the second money received for the lands, and paid out for expenses on their account. Neither has brought any thing into the public Treasury, or taken any thing

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