day. If we do not come to a vote on this resolution to-day, we shall postpone action upon it to an almost indefinite time. I hope that we shall have something approaching a test vote before we adjourn. We can have something like a test vote to see whether it is the sense of the Senate that this work shall be given to the particular individuals named in the resolution. If that is settled we can go into the details hereafter. I hope, therefore, before the Senate adjourns we shall have a test vote.

Mr. PEARCE next obtained the floor, but yielded it, at the solicitation of Senators, and, On motion, the Senate adjourned.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

THURSDAY, February 5, 1852.

The House met pursuant to adjournment. Prayer by the Rev. Mr. MORGAN.

The Journal of yesterday was read and approved. Mr. PARKEŘ, of Pennsylvania, asked the unanimous consent of the House to introduce the memorial of John W. Horton, and forty other citizens of Pennsylvania, praying the abolition by Congress of the national chaplaincy system.

Mr. STEPHENS, of Georgia, objected. Mr. PARKER moved a suspension of the rules for that purpose.

The SPEAKER. Such a motion is not in order to-day..

CIVIL AND DIPLOMATIC BILL.

Mr. HOUSTON, from the Committee of Ways and Means, reported a bill making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic expenses of the Government for the year ending 30th of June, 1853, and for other purposes; which was read a first and second time by its title, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, and ordered to be printed.

RESOLUTIONS OF THE STATE OF INDIANA.

Mr. LOCKHART, by unanimous consent, introduced the following joint resolutions of the Legislature of the State of Indiana, which were referred to the appropriate committees, as indicated below:

it is a well-settled principle of the law regulating contracts between individuals, that where one man renders service for another, and at his request, that the person rendering the service shall be compensated for his labor, according to the terms of the contract made between them; and that if no specific contract is made, then the compensation shall be according to the nature and value of the service rendered, which is generally determined by the custom of the country.

Now, if we are disposed to apply this rule to the case before us, how will the matter stand?

Here are one hundred and thirty-six men, who have been employed by the Government, to perform certain and specific duties, duties which are essential to the execution and administration of your laws, in reference to the disposition of the public domain. These duties have been faithfully performed; and being satifactory, they are accepted by the Government. This no one will deny. This much being admitted, what is our next duty? Why simply to ascertain the amount of compensation these employees of the Government are entitled to receive.

Then the question arises, how shall this be ascertained? My answer is, according to the law authorizing their employment, and fixing the compensation for their services. What is that law? It is provided that each register and receiver shall receive an annual salary of $500, and a commission of one per cent. on their receipts. Nothing can be plainer than this. Would not a jury of the country decide without hesitation, that they were entitled to their commission on all the lands disposed of by them, by virtue of their authority from the Government? And yet there are gentlemen here who think and say no doubt honestly -that for more than half of the labor they have performed they shall receive nothing at all. Why is this? Is it because there is any law prohibiting it? I understand that some gentlemen are under the impression, that the acts of Congress authorizing the issue and location of land warrants prohibit this compensation. This is a mistake; there is no such prohibition. Why, then, has the compensation been withheld? Simply because the Department, in their. cautious and vigilant guardianship over the public Treasury, have decided against it. And these claims come here in the nature of an appeal from that decision; and all that is

A joint resolution in relation to constructing a canal around the Falls of the Ohio river; referred to the Committee on Roads and Canals.

A joint resolution relative to granting public lands to settlers; referred to the Committee on Publie Lands.

A joint resolution for the purpose of obtaining from the General Government a grant of unsold lands in the Vincennes district, Indiana, for the benefit of common schools; referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

Mr. SWEETSER moved that the rules be suspended, and that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole upon the special orders. The question was then taken, and the motion agreed to.

ASSIGNABILITY OF LAND WARRANTS. The House accordingly resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, upon the special orders, (Mr. OLDS in the chair.)

The CHAIRMAN. The business before the committee is the special order, being Senate bill No. 146, making land warrants assignable, and for other purposes. The gentleman from Indiana [Mr. BRENTON] is entitled to the floor from yesterday.

Mr. BRENTON. I do not wish to consume the full time allotted to me under the rule in the further discussion of this question. At the close of my remarks yesterday, I was about to state that in addition to the peculiar facts connected With the question under discussion, and apart from those facts, I placed myself in regard to the third section of this bill upon the higher ground-directed to the importance and propriety of the passage of the bill as it is--that the law by which our land officers are organized, and which fixes the compensation of these officers, is sufficient, to my mind to justify them in receiving now that for which they have heretofore labored. I believe that

to the proper officers to investigate and allow the claims according to the facts of each case.

But it is contended, that there is not sufficient data from which the Commissioner can determine

the amount of these claims. Certainly those who urge this objection have not made themselves familiar with the operations of our land system and land offices. Every register is required to report to the General Land Office monthly, and to furnish an abstract of locations made, with the names of the persons locating, distinguishing between the warrantee and assignee. By taking these abstracts, and deducting from the assigned warrants the amount received under the authority of the act of 1848, the residue is the amount to which these officers are entitled.

But it is said that these officers have profited by receiving illegal fees. Well, this bill is sufficiently guarded on that point, for it provides that no officer who shall be proved to have received any fees not allowed by law, shall be entitled to any compensation by virtue of the provisions of this

act.

I shall close with these additional remarks, that if the General Government authorizes its officers to dispose of the public domain for a valuable consideration, whether that consideration be cash or its equivalent, it cannot consistently withhold proper remuneration from its officers.

Suppose that the acts of 1847 and 1850, instead of authorizing the issue of land warrants, had given to the soldiers military scrip, to be received in payment for public lands, would the officers have been compensated for exchanging the public lands for this kind of paper? Certainly; and such has been the practice of the Government; and yet this scrip is not cash. Such scrip is now issued and received in payment for public lands. My argument, in short, is this: that where the Government officers are required to dispose of the public lands for cash or its equivalent, they are entitled to full compensation for their services.

A land warrant is a demand against the Govern

ment, and in one sense-and that an important one-equivalent to cash; therefore the officers are entitled to compensation for locating a land warrant. I present my amendment to the third section, and hope that the committee will adopt it, and with it recommend the passage of the Senate bill.

Mr. YATES said: I wish to speak upon two sections of the Senate bill. It seems to me that a simple statement of the facts, is all that is necessary to determine the action of this House in allowing to the registers and receivers the compensation they ask. This House, I am sure, would not willingly do an act of deliberate injustice, nor would it omit to do an act of positive justice. If the members of this House are satisfied that the compensation of registers and receivers has been, and is now, and in the future is likely to be, inadequate, then, sir, it would be an imputation upon the sense of justice of this House to intimate that it would withhold fair and honest compensation.

What are the fects? We have the petitions of registers and receivers before us, stating that their compensation is entirely inadequate. They show to us that their stated compensation is a salary of $500, and a commission of one per cent. on cash sales, and that from this sum is to be deducted clerk-hire, office-rent, fuel, and incidental expenses. They tell us that the compensation of locating warrants does not amount to a sufficient sum to pay clerks, which they are compelled to keep for that service, and the duties of which cannot be performed without clerks. They also inform us that the service of locating warrants is four or five times as great as when the lands are entered with cash; that in the location of each warrant, the registers and receivers have to examine every warrant, and the assignments on the same-to examine the petition, affidavits, certificates, and powers of attorney where they are located by an agent of the grantee, to make the entries upon the several books of his office, to forward his abstracts to Washington, &c. And we are truly told, that in many districts since the passage of the bounty land laws of 1847, the entries with cash are comparatively few. These entries are made with land warrants, so that the land officers are deprived almost entirely of the one per cent, commission to which they are entitled on actual cash sales. And we are now about to enact that these land warrants shall be

made assignable, This will bring them into the market in large quantities; they will find their way to the different land offices, and almost every entry will be made with warrants. There are very few men who will plank down the gold and silver at the rate of $200 for a hundred and sixty acres of land when they can buy a warrant for $80 or $100, and with that buy the same quantity of land. Thus, sir, we see that the inevitable effect of making these warrants assignable will be to render that part of the law which gives one per cent. commission on actual cash entries almost a nullity, leaving the land officer with the salary of $500, and a trifling compensation out of the commission, from which are to be deducted clerk-hire, office-rent, fuel, and incidental expenses.

I will refer the House to facts and figures, which I have obtained in answer to a letter addressed to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and which will show to this House that the past and present registers and receivers in the land office at Springfield, Illinois, have not received an adequate compensation for their services.

Between the passage of the act of February 11th, 1847, and the 31st of October, 1851, a period of four years and eight months, the number of military bounty land warrants located in the district of lands subject to sale at Springfield, Illinois, was 1983; of this number 1800 were assigned warrants, upon which the register and receiver received fifty cents on each warrant. Thus in a period of four years and eight months, the register and receiver each received for the locating of assigned land warrants, the sum of $900, or at the rate of $225 per annum. In the same period of four years and eight months, the amount of cash received from the sales of the public lands at the same office, was $102,594, upon which the commission of one per cent. would be $1,025; or at the rate of $256 per year. Now add the $225 received upon assigned land warrants, and the $256, the commission received on cash sales, to the stated compensation of $500, and we find that the whole sum received by the register and receiver for each year since the passage of the act

of February 11th, 1847, has been $981. Now, sir, deduct from this sum a reasonable allowance to be paid by them for a competent clerk, say $400, for office-rent $150, and $150 for fuel, stationery, incidental expenses, and for receiving, safe-keeping and transmitting the public moneys, and there is left to the register and receiver each the small pittance of $281, as a compensation for their services, and the discharge of duties of a high and responsible character. Now, sir, these are the facts; and I appeal to this House, by a solemn sense of justice, not to withhold a fair compensation to these officers for the services they have rendered.

This House cannot hesitate between the propriety of passing a bill now allowing to registers and receivers for their services heretofore in locating these warrants, and the plan recommended by the honorable chairman of the committeenamely, that each register and receiver who shall deem himself aggrieved shall present his separate claim to Congress. Shall we impose upon every land officer the arduous duty of becoming a suitor to Congress, of employing an agent or coming in person at great expense to Congress for relief? Such a course, in most instances, would be tantamount to a denial of justice, for I am sure very few of them would undertake so hazardous an enterprise as to obtain from Congress this compen

sation.

But, sir, upon the score of public economy, which gentlemen seem to regard so much, had we not better make a fair allowance now than adopt the course of the chairman of the committee? We shall find it but a poor sort of economy to invite these numerous claimants to present their individual claims to Congress. One important object of making the compensation now, is to prevent the presentation of these separate claims. If each individual register and receiver should present his claim here and occupy the time and attention of our committees, and they should undergo discussion in both legislative branches, it would cost the Government more than to allow at once by this bill a fair and honest compensation. Every one acquainted with the history of legislation, its debates and delays, will not hesitate to admit the force of this view of the case.

It is contended that plenty of good men can be got to do the service for the present compensation. And so, sir, plenty of good men, as was properly remarked by my colleague, [Mr. CAMPBELL,] could be got to discharge the duties of Representative on this floor for one half the compensation which we receive. Sir, I hope the day will never arrive when the offices of this country and of this character are to be dispensed to the lowest bidder. High character and superior qualifications should be the recommendations to office, and the compensation should always be such as to secure the most meritorious men in office.

The duties of the land office are not merely ministerial. It is a high post of honor and responsibility. It has become an intimate and important part of the administration of the Government. It is a part of a difficult and complicated branch of of one of the departments of the Government, the proper management of which requires a great deal of method, accuracy, and the exercise of good judgment, and involving the greatest responsibility. The register and receiver have to enter into heavy bonds. The receiver has the custody of the public moneys, and his conduct is all the time subject to the severest public scrutiny. The very kind of men whom the Government wants in such a capacity are the men who, in their private business, could accumulate as much as the Government would be justifiable in allowing. And, sir, we cannot expect them to abandon a lucrative and profitable business to take an office involving the highest responsibilities and the discharge of most arduous duties for a pitiful compensation. And I have been told by these officers, that they would be forced to resign unless their compensation was increased; and many of them would have resigned long ago but for their confident reliance upon the justice of Congress to render them a fair returnan honest equivalent for the services they have been performing.

Mr. Chairman, I will for a moment address my remarks to another feature in the bill-to the section which extends the provisions of the former act so as to allow the soldier a day for each twenty miles of travel from the place of organization of his company to the place of his enlistment. I

cordially concur in this feature of the bill. I beieve, sir, that there are as meritorious claimantsl among those who have been engaged in the suppression of Indian hostilities as among those who have engaged in the Mexican and other wars. Among them, sir, are the pioneers of our western country, that hardy and adventurous race, who have marched in the van of civilization, and encountered with heroic fortitude all the vicissitudes of the forest, and all the perils of Indian warfare, and yet, sir, have not been recognized as the soldiers of the Government. They, sir, are the representatives of that glorious epoch in the march of empire westward, "when every cabin was a fortress, and every man, yea, every woman, was a soldier."

es

will not be entitled to the floor, to close debate, until the House bill shall have been under consid eration.

Mr. DUNHAM. This whole matter was referred to the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union at the same time, and the debate was closed on both bills by the same resolution. I shall therefore feel myself bound to take an appeal from the decision of the Chair, and claim my right to occupy the floor for an hour-having reported the House bill, and debate having been closed upon both bills at the same time.

Mr. MASON I have no objection to the gentleman's making an hour's speech. My object in claiming the floor was merely to offer an amend

ment.

The CHAIRMAN. The resolution adopted by the House provides that debate shall terminate in two hours after the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union shall have resumed the consideration of the Senate bill and joint resolution of the House. The bill and resolutions were re

Sir, I suppose I did not understand the remarks of my friend from Ohio in his reflections, as I supposed, upon a most meritorious class of our citizens. I do not know, sir, whom he meant, some weeks ago, by the term "corn-stalk army.' Does he mean the militia? Whether he means them or not, it has been the custom of certain poli-ferred jointly; but when the House resolved itself ticians to heap reproaches upon this, which teem the main arm, the strong bulwark, the impregnable fortress of our country's defence. After all, sir, it is to this class, as well as to the soldiers of the regular Army, to whom our country is indebted for some of the most brilliant military achievements which adorn our past history. They, sir, have been the men of strong arms and bold hearts, who have borne aloft our flag in triumph on every field of battle, and who, alike at Lexington, at the Thames, at New Orleans, at Buena Vista, at Cerro Gordo, won for American arms laurels as green and imperishable as ever decked the brow of the victorious warrior.

Mr. Speaker, now is not the best time to examine the policy of this Government as to the right mode of disposing of the public lands. At some future period I hope to have the attention of this House while I give my views at length upon this subject. There is one thing which I will say now, and that is, that the United States ought not, in its system of financial policy, to look to the public lands as a source of revenue-first, because, in fact, in deducting disbursements made in their purchases from the Indians, in surveying them, keeping up land offices, the bureau of the public lands at Washington, and the expenses of legislation about them, they do not realize to the Government five cents to the acre. We want a stable, firm system of revenue, such as we have from customs, which, while it affords sufficient revenue to the Government, affords protection to American labor and a home market to the American farmer.

Our sure policy with regard to the public lands is to bestow them with liberal hands, first to those who have evinced their devotion to their country in its defence; second, by munificent appropriations for the promotion of popular education, and especially to the education of the blind, the insane, and deaf and dumb; third, to grant portions of these lands to the States for making railroads, to be free to the United States for the transportation of mails, and troops, and munitions of war; and lastly, to grant them in limited quantities to the actual settler for himself and his posterity forever. If the public lands are appropriated for these purposes, they will be fountains of blessedness, political, social, commercial to our country; these thousands of millions of acres-this mighty and beautiful and boundless domain of rich and fertile lands will be exhaustless mines of wealth, from which we may draw from year to year, for even centuries to come, for the great purposes of internal improvement, popular education, benefaction to the soldier, and the freehold homes of our citizens. [Here the Chairman's hammer fell, the time fixed by the House for closing debate upon the bill under consideration having expired.]

Mr. MASON. Me. Chairman, I desire to offer an amendment.

Mr. DUNHAM. I believe I am entitled to the floor for one hour, under the rule of the House, the debate having been closed.

The CHAIRMAN. The Chair supposes the gentleman from Indiana, [Mr. DUNHAM,] who reported from the select committee the House bill, is not entitled to the floor, that bill not now being under consideration. The gentleman will recollect that the Chair yesterday decided that the Senate bill must take precedence, and the House bill, therefore, is not now under consideration. He

into the committee on the special order, the Chair decided, that although both propositions had been referred in the same special order, yet only one bill could be under consideration in committee at the same time, and that the Senate bill must have precedence. The Senate bill has, therefore, been under discussion. The gentleman from Indiana [Mr. DUNHAM] claims the right now to speak one hour, the debate upon the two bills having been closed. The Chair decides, that inasmuch as the Senate bill is under consideration, amendments, if there be any, must be offered and the bill disposed of, before the House bill will come up. When that bill shall be up, the gentleman can claim his hour, but not till then. From that decision the gentleman appeals.

Mr. DUNHAM. I think the Chairman has put the case rather stronger than it really is. I think he has only stated one side of it.

The CHAIRMAN. The question is not debatable.

Mr. DUNHAM. I know it is not, but I presume the Chair will permit me to state my point of order.

The CHAIRMAN. The Chair will permit the gentleman to state his point of order.

Mr. DUNHAM. The resolution adopted by the House closes debate upon both resolutions at the same time.

Mr. BISSELL. The gentleman has no right to debate the question. I call the gentleman to order. The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman can state his point of order.

Mr. DUNHAM. The gentleman from Illinois is getting a little ahead of his time. I have the right to state the facts of the case. I say I think that the resolution of the House outweighed the decis ion of the Chairman of the committee that only one resolution was under consideration. I think that decision was overruled by the House when they adopted the resolution closing debate upon both bills at the same time.

Mr. BISSELL. 1 rise to a question of order. The gentleman is not stating his proposition, but is making an argument. I object to it. It is not

in order.

Mr. DUNHAM. If the gentleman will listen to me, I apprehend he will find whether I am stating my proposition or making an argument.

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman must confine himself to stating his proposition.

Mr. DUNHAM. I have only to say that the resolution closing debate upon both propositions at the same time, as a matter of course blends them together, and they are, therefore, both legit. imately before the committee. Upon that ground I claim the right to address the committee under the rules of the House.

The CHAIRMAN. The Chair still thinks he stated the question fairly. The question is, "Shall the decision of the Chair stand as the judgment of

the committee?"

Mr. BISSELL. I wish to make a single inquiry. As I understand it, this Senate bill has not been before the select committee, of which the gentleman from Indiana was chairman, at all, and therefore has not been reported by that committee? Mr. DUNHAM. Everybody knows that. Mr. BISSELL. Well, that is all I desired to ask.

The question now being "Shall the decision of

the Chair stand as the judgment of the committee?" upon a division, there were-ayes 73, noes 14; no quorum voting.

Mr. DUNHAM demanded tellers; but only 16 rising, they were not ordered.

Mr. COBB. Then we shall be obliged to have a call of the House. I ask for a recount.

The CHAIRMAN. It can only be done by

unanimous consent.

viz:

"Be it enacted, &c., That all warrants for military bounty land, which have been or may hereafter be issued under any law of the United States, and all valid locations of the same, which have been, or may hereafter be made, are hereby declared to be assignable, by deed or instrument of writing, made and executed after the taking effect of this act, according to such form, and pursuant to such regulations as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, so as to vest the assignee with all the rights of the original owners of the warrant or location : Provided, That any person entitled to preëmption right to any land, shall be entitled to use any such land warrant in payment of the same, at the rate of 1 25 per acre, for the quantity of land therein specified."

instructed by his constituents to do-merely to to receive before, and which hardly compensated make these bounty land warrants assignable. The them at the time. They held on, year after year, law, as originally passed, as we understood, and in the expectation, from the frequent movements as those who passed it understood it, left these which were made here upon this subject, that bounty land warrants assignable. The Secretary Congress would provide a compensation to them of the Interior gave the law a different construc- for those services. Some of them have not retion. At the first of the last session of Congress ceived as much as $200 a year over and above the my colleague [Mr. CALDWELL] introduced the res- expense of clerk hire. Now here comes in a bill olution to make land warrants assignable; it passed -a sensible bill-passed through the Senate with this House by an overwhelming majority; and it great care and deliberation, providing in future went to the Senate, which body let it sleep to the that these officers shall be compensated for the end of the session, and it was finally lost for want services which they may render, and it is proof time. We passed another resolution at this posed, at once, to strike from the bill those essensession of Congress making these warrants as- tial features-which are really everything in itsignable; it was sent to the Senate, and came back and which ought to entitle the bill to the especial here, loaded down with a whole mass of amend- || regard of the House;-to strike from it that proments. Now, I have heard it said that there were vision which makes compensation to receivers and those who, had they been present when the Lord's registers, and leave those officers to resign their Prayer and Decalogue were made, would have places-as many of them, I am well assured, will moved amendments thereto. -unprovided for; and thus to let those offices become vacant. Let no man pretend to say there is no such probability. I tell you, sir, that if Congress signifies its determination not to compensate these officers for the services they render in locating these warrants, there are officers in the West who will be compelled to resign, and there are no competent men who will be found to take their places.

This is a simple, plain bill, merely to make these warrants assignable; and that other provision which I offer here now is to make them subject to location upon all the lands of the United States. This is what the country look to us to do, and this is what they desire us to do.

Now, with regard to the payment of registers and receivers, I have no time to say anything, except briefly this: that I have been informed that they would not suffer, their families would not suffer, and that they are not in such a state of suffering as requires that this bill should not be delayed. If their claims are just, let them be taken up separately and referred to an appropriate committee for investigation, and if they are entitled to compensation, pay them; but do not hang a provision to pay them on to a meritorious bill, which everybody is in favor of, and which the whole country demands that we shall pass. The gentleman from Illinois [Mr. BISSELL] wants to appropriate some $200,000 to these land offices. I have not examined the question, but have no doubt if they are entitled to a greater amount of compensation than they have received that the House will pass a bill for their relief. If, indeed, these registers and receivers, who are receiving at least $500 a year from the Government, are suffering, surely these old soldiers, who have received the mere pittance of a bounty land warrant, and who are generally in a poor condition-much poorer than the registers and receivers-demand at our hands immediate action on this subject.

Mr. BISSELL. I hope the amendment will not be made; though if that provision were in this section, I should have no particular objection to it. I do not think it important one way or the other; but I shall vote against it, because I desire to see the Senate bill, which has been well, carefully, and considerately prepared and adjusted, go through the House with the least possible amendment; for if amended in any material respect-as for instance as indicated by the gentleman from Tennessee, [Mr. JONES,] who proposes to strike out all but the first section-it stands no chance of going through the Senate again. And if we pass this bill through the House in any shape which I trust we shall not-which denies to registers and receivers any future or any past reasonable compensation for the services which they perform in

Provided, That the warrants which have been, or may hereafter be issued, in pursuance of said act or of this act, may be located upon any lands of the United States subject to private entry at the time of such location, at the minimum price.

Mr. CLARK. Is the House bill now 'under consideration?

The CHAIRMAN. No, it is not. But the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. MASON] proposes to amend the first section of the Senate bill, by annexing thereto, by way of proviso, the sixth section of the bill reported by the select committee as a substitute for the House bill.

Mr. MASON. The object of it is simply to allow these bounty land warrants to be located upon any of the lands of the United States instead of being confined to the refuse lands which have been picked over for years past. That is the obJect of the amendment. Now, I would state that The first section of this bill, with the amendment I Propose, is all that is necessary for the House, at his time, to pass. And I would briefly give a ew reasons for it. The first section of this bill Proposes to do that which every member here is

it can pass the Senate. I have taken especial pains to understand how these things are in the Senate. Therefore I am opposed to this amendment, and I shall be opposed to all other amendments of a material character which may be offered to the bill. I shall be opposed to the bill itself, unless it provides not only for the payment of the land officers in future, but a fair compensation, to be determined at the head of Departments in Washington, for those who have already performed these services without pay-services which they never would have consented to perform had they not had reasonable expectation that Congress would do justice by them. These registers and receivers were entitled to one per cent. upon the moneys received in payment for public lands. At that a large portion of these receivers and registers, and especially in the older settled parts of the new States, barely made a living. When you passed this law, scattering like leaves in autumn land warrants all over the country, they took the place of cash, and speculators went and entered lands with these warrants, thus depriving the registers and receivers of the per cent. which they were authorized

Mr. DUNHAM. I move to strike out the second section of the bill.

The CHAIRMAN. The second section is not under discussion; the motion is, therefore, not now in order.

Mr. HALL. I wish to offer an amendment to the amendment of the gentleman from Kentucky. [Mr. MASON] as follows:

"Provided further, That when said warrants shall be located upon lands which are subject to entry at a greater minimuni than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, the locators of said warrants shall pay to the United States, in cash, the difference between the value of such warrants at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and the tract of land located ou."

I suppose it is only necessary to explain the object of this amendment very briefly, in order to gain for it the favorable consideration of this committee. We have heretofore-and I hope we shall hereafter-made grants of land for the purpose of internal improvement, in all of which grants we have stipulated that each alternate section shall be raised to double the minimum price, viz: two dollars and fifty cents per acre. Now, the amendment proposed by the gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. MASON,] authorizes warrants to be located upon all lands subject to private entry. Hence, if my amendment is not adopted, the holders of land warrants can locate them upon reserved sections as well as upon other public lands. I am willing that holders of land warrants shall locate upon these reserved sections; but I think that when they do so their warrants should pass at only one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre; so that if the holder of a warrant of one hundred and sixty acres wishes to enter an eighty acre reserved tract-the minimum price of which is two dollars and fifty cents per acre he may do so with his hundred and sixty acre warrant. But if he wishes to enter one hundred and sixty acres of reserved land, then I think it is proper that he should pay to the United States the difference between the value of his warrant at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre and the value of this tract located upon at two dollars and fifts cents per

acre.

That is the whole object I have in view in offering my amendment to the amendment of the gentleman from Kentucky. I think it is unnecessary to explain it any further.

Mr. MASON, The amendment reported by the select committee, I conceive, embraces the same thing that the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. HALL] desires to accomplish by his amend

ment.

But if it does not make it plain I have no objection to his amendment, and it is a proper one. Those who locate the reserved lands, the minimum price of which is two dollars and fifty cents per acre, should pay the difference to the Govern

ment,

I will make a remark in relation to this subject, to show the gentleman from Illinois, [Mr. BISSELL,] and those gentlemen who are interesting themselves in the payment of these registers and receivers, and which I hope will satisfy them of the fact, that this bill has not been well digested in the Senate. I have not been upon any land committes, or upon anything connected with public

the 3d day of December. I offer this amendment in conformity to the wishes of some of those whom I have the honor to represent; and I take this oe

ness

Mr. BISSELL, (interrupting.) Will the gentleman allow me a remark?

Mr. MASON. Certainly.

Mr. BISSELL. If the sales by cash and by warrants are not sufficient to pay the register and receiver, then they get nothing. They get nothing out of the Treasury.

Mr. MASON. I think the gentleman will find himself mistaken; and that these registers and receivers actually get their pay. They are paid out of the Indian annuity. While that poor starving race are not able to obtain a subsistence, you are paying these land registers and receivers, who are selling land of little or no account, and that at a shilling an acre. It is a subject

Mr. BISSELL. Will the gentleman allow

me

Mr. MASON. The gentleman will excuse me if I do not. There has been eight or ten hours occupied in the advocacy of these claims for payment, and yesterday, when there was only two hours allowed here to debate the subject, gentlemen upon that side of the question were allowed the whole of it. If I had one half hour I could show the House, that this subject requires a complete reorganization, and requires, upon the part of the House and the committee, a rigid reform.

Well, sir, let this subject be referred to a committee of that character composed for that purpose. Let those land offices where there is no business-those offices are sinecures-be discontinued; and let those doing a large amount of business have sufficient pay to employ clerks, and for themselves a fair compensation. Let their labor be proportionate to their salary. Do not, however, defeat this soldiers' bill by loading it with other matters. You talk of the suffering of the land officer. I have from one of my constituents a letter in which he wishes to sell his land warrant of one hundred and sixty acres. He states that he served in the siege of Tripoli; that he was in the battle of Brownstown, and was there wounded; and that he was taken prisoner during this last war, and was imprisoned six months. Afterwards he was wounded at Fort Meigs. Now he is with his wife, old and blind, himself crippled, making a bare subsistence mending shoes. This matter to him is of great importance. The land registers and receivers, receiving $500 a year, can live in abundance and affluence, while these poor soldiers are in beggary for the wa tof the passage of this bill. You have talked upon this bill year after year; it was discussed at length at the last session, and it has been discussed also at this. These men who claim extra compensation can wait until the poor soldier has been satisfied.

The CHAIRMAN. Does the gentleman accept the amendment?

Mr. MASON. I have no objection. I will accept it.

Mr. TAYLOR. I inquire if it is in order to strike out that which has been accepted by the gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. MASON,] and to insert what I send to the Chair?

The CHAIRMAN. It is.

Mr. TAYLOR. I then move to strike out the amendment of the gentleman from Kentucky, and in lieu of it to insert the following:

And provided further, That any person owning such land warrant, or warrants, shall be entitled to use them in payment for any of the public lands now subject to private entry, or which may hereafter be publicly offered for sale, whether held at the rate of $125 or $2.50 per acre, paying two acres of land warrant for one acre of land where the same is held for sale at $2.50 per acre.

Mr. TAYLOR. I will not detain the committee by any extended remarks. I am very anxious to vote for the bill as it has come to us from the Senate; and with all respect for the committee, I will suggest to gentlemen, that it seems that we will make slight progress in the public business, unless we come to a vote promptly upon this tion, as this bill as been, in fact pending before the House two months, having been introduced upon

ques

tions of this bill, That I am in favor of assigning land warrants upon such terms as the Comm'ssioner of the General Land Office may prescribe. I am in favor of paying the registers and receivers, as proposed by the Senate, and I think there is very little difference among the majority of members of the conimittee upon that subject. It is a just and right bill. I presented a petition at the present session, from four gentlemen who hold the offices of registers and receivers in the town in which I live; and I will say to the honorable gentleman from Illinois, [Mr. BISSELL] who discussed this question with ability some weeks ago, urging his party to do justice to the Whigs, and as the Democrats would shortly be in power, that justice might be done to the officers coming in-that it is my desire to do equal justice to Democrats and Whigs. I have presented petitions from Democrats, who have held these offices, as well as Whigs, and wish they should be all paid, without reference as to who shall succeed in the coming presidential election. In my opinion, that is a question of great doubt, and not of so much certainty as gentlemen would seem to indicate. The section making land warrants assignable, as sent to us by the Senate, I think is infinitely preferable to anything reported by any committee of this House; and with the proviso, which I have offered, it appears to me will meet the views of gentlemen upon every side. My object is not to exclude those who go to the West from entering lands at $2 50 per acre, so far as their land warrants go. If a man goes to the new States with a one hundred and sixty acre land warrant, let him, if he choose, enter it upon eighty acres of that description of land, and I will not confine him to land subject to private entry. Why not let him enter the land wherever it may be surveyed and offered for sale at specified prices with his land warrant? I would open the whole field for the soldiers of the late war with Great Britain, and others entitled to bounty land, under the acts of Congress, so that the man with his warrant in his hand should stand upon an exact equality with the man who had an equal amount of gold and silver in his possession. No man has advanced to the committee any argument against it. I cannot say, Mr. Chairman, how far I shall be willing to go as regards the 4th and 5th sections of the bill. My impression is, that the Senate bill ought to be speedily passed. It is infinitely better than any other that has been presented to us; and so far as I may, I will promote the passage of that bill speedily, because I think we ought to press the public business.

ין

And that all warrants for military bounty lands which have been or may hereafter be issued under any law of the United States, and which shall not have been assigned, pledged, mortgaged, or located, may be surrendered to the United States by the original owner, or in case of his death, by his widow, or next of kin, who may be legally entitled to the same by delivering such warrant to the Commis. proot by atidavit, or otherwise, to the satisfaction of such sioner of Pensions of the United States, accompanied with Commissioner, of the identity and title to the warrant of the person claiming to make such surrender; and that such wariant, or the lands or moneys to be realized therefrom, have not been and are not assigned, transferred, pledged, or morigaged to any person or corporation, for any purpose whatever, and hath not been located Aud upon the surrender being thus made, the person so surrendering such warrant shall be paid out of the Treasury of the United States, from the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, the sum of one dollar and twenty five cents per acre for the number of acres spécified in the warrant so surrendered.

Mr. S. said: This bill proposes to make land warrants assignable, and to annul the provisions contained in the original bill prohibiting their trans

fer.

That provision was originally inserted to protect the soldiers from land speculators and brokers, and to prevent the Government bounty from inuring more to the benefit of that class of operators than to the soldiers themselves. The object and intent was good, but, unfortunately, the bounty to be received lies upon our western borders, so far distant from the soldiers of the Eastern, Middle, and some of the Northern and Southern States, that the expenses of a journey to locate or visit the land, are nearly, if not quite equal to its cash value. The warrant, therefore, to them is worth but little, while to the citizen of the West living in the vicinity of the land upon which he can locate, its value is fully equal to that of the land. This, consequently, produces a great disparity in the operation of the bill upon the objects of its bounty, which is in no respect ameliorated by making the warrants assignable. For the practical effect of that is to enable land brokers and sperulators to procure valid transfers, and legal titles to the warrants, at their own prices and for a mere trifle. Thereby, in truth and effect, the land broker and speculator becomes the recipient of the Go ernment bounty, and not the soldier, and thousands upon thousands of acres of the public lands are thus, under pretence of rewarding the defenders of the country's rights and honor, squandered upon brokers and speculators, whose patriotism consists alone in amassing wealth for themselves. This cannot be the intent of the framers of the act, and it is our duty, if possible, to obviate the difficulty.

Another difficulty incident to the bill in its pres ent shape, is connected with its ultimate injurious influence upon the Western States and Territories. Most of the warrants issued to the inhabitants of the Eastern, Middle, and Southern States being thrown into market, as a necessary consequence

speculators, and thus centralize in few hands. Large tracts of land will then be entered and cated by such holders; the soil of almost entire States and Territories will thereby fall into the hands of a few, and such section of the country will have entailed upon it the curse of a large landed monopoly. We of the North have wil nessed the evils resulting from such a state of things, and I for one cannot conscientiously vote to entail the same difficulties upon that or any other section of the Union.

Mr. TAYLOR. I do not think it has that tendency. I will ask the Clerk to read the amend

ment.

The Clerk read the amendment. The question was taken upon the amendment of Mr. TAYLOR, and it was rejected.

The question was then put upon the amendment of Mr. MASON, and it was adopted.

Mr. MASON. I move that the committee rise and report the bill.

The CHAIRMAN. The motion to rise and report the bill cannot be received while members have amendments to offer.

Mr. SCHOONMAKER moved to amend the first section by adding thereto the following, viz:

Are you, gentlemen of the West, sincerely desirous of reducing the price of the western unoceapied lands to actual settlers? If you are, then do not throw, as you will by passing the bill in its present shape, the mass of the warrants into speculators hands, and give them the control of nearly all the present available lands, because you must thereby inevitably increase the price to meet the fancy and cupidity of the holder, and no lands will be in market at Government prices except those beyond the large locations made under such warrants. No law should be permitted to operate thus unequally upon citizens it is designed to benefit, nor so injuriously upon any section of the country.

The amendment proposed by me will, I think, in a great measure obviate the difficulty. It provides a fair equivalent from the Government, which the soldier has the option to take, and thus places a valuation upon the warrant, and prevents the land speculator and broker from regulating its value and monopolizing the market. It enables the soldier of every section of the Union to receive,