Sources of Revenue. 79 



seven thousand dollars and reached the highest point in its history 

 During the same period the annual income from the fund doubled, 

 increasing from about sixty thousand dollars for the year 1820 to 

 one hundred twenty thousand dollars for 1846. The total amount 

 of dividends distributed for the support of the schools during this 

 period was $2,319,715. This is almost double the original capital 

 of the fund and if the dividends of the next year are added, the 

 total is more than double the amount received for the Western 

 Reserve. 



This record speaks well for the management of the fund. James 

 Hillhouse, the first commissioner of the school fund, resigned in 1825, 

 from the post which he had filled so well. He was suc- 

 Jf ^Fund™^"^ ceeded by Seth P. Beers, who was still in office at the close 

 of the period. The honor of estabhshing the fund on 

 a sound basis belongs to Mr. Hillhouse and the honor of increasing 

 the principal and the income so materially belongs to Mr. Beers. 

 Some of the means which Mr. Beers used to collect bad debts or 

 arrears in interest are worth noting. In July, 1827, he made a 

 trip into western New York for the purpose of obtaining, if possible, 

 a settlement of the back interest due from settlers residing there. 

 He noticed that these persons, who were farmers, were holding a 

 considerable amount of wheat waiting for a rise in the market price. 

 At the same time an abundant new crop was expected and there 

 was a possibility that the old wheat might be left on their hands. 

 He very shrewdly offered to the state debtors to receive wheat in 

 payment of arrears of interest, on condition that the wheat be deliv- 

 ered, at a given time and place, on the Erie Canal. This offer 

 was eagerly accepted and Mr. Beers' collections in wheat and cash 

 amounted to ten thousand dollars. ^ He also sometimes received 

 payments in cattle ^ which he would sell and thus receive pay- 

 ments which otherwise the state would have lost. 



During this period much wild land came into the possession of 



the state through the failure of debtors to the fund to meet their 



obligations. These holdings yielded no income to the state 



Land hx- ^^^ ^^ ^j^^ same time the state was paying taxes on them, 

 clianges r j o 



It was Mr. Beers ' policy to hold them no longer than nec- 

 essary, provided he could dispose of them without loss to the state. In 

 his report of 1828 he tells of the method by which he thus disposed 

 of some of this land. He says that inasmuch as he was unable to 



1 Report of Commissioner of School Fund, 1827, pp. 8, 9. 



2 Report of Commissioner of School Fund, 1832, p. 5. 



