472 



LANDS, PUBLIC. 



LEBCEUF, EDMOND. 



acres of such land was allowed prior to the 

 acts of 1879 and 1880. Cost of survey, selec- 

 tion, and conveyance of public land for rail- 

 road purposes must be paid by companies pre- 

 ceding issue of patent (act of July 31, 1876). 

 For this purpose $92,617.50 were deposited in 

 1888. The railroad patents issued during the 

 year were to four States, and covered 829,- 

 162'45 acres. The selections made during the 

 year were for 6,525,300-09 acres. Settlements 

 upon lands granted or withdrawn for railroads 

 have given rise to much litigation. The case of 

 Guilford Miller, settler upon lands withdrawn 

 for definition of limit, but not selected, was 

 decided in his favor by the President April 28, 

 1887. The act of March 3, 1887, ordered im- 

 mediate adjustment of all railroad grants by 

 the Secretary of the Interior. Rights of way 

 through public land in States and Territories 

 have been granted (June 30, 1887) to 254 rail- 

 road companies, under the act of March 3, 

 1875. For wagon-roads, grants, from 1863 to 

 1869, were made in Wisconsin, Michigan, and 

 Oregon, covering 1,301,040'47 acres. 



Private Land-Claims. These are numerous, and 

 have their origin in titles to land granted by 

 governments preceding the United States in 

 sovereignty. They have been in process of 

 adjustment and confirmation by Congress from 

 the earliest days. The most important are in- 

 cluded in the French and Mexican purchases. 

 Many are fabulous in extent, and many prob- 

 ably fraudulent. The area of land embraced in 

 private land-claims, patented and un paten ted, 

 is estimated at 80,000,000 acres. 



Bounties have been granted by the Govern- 

 ment for military and naval services in the 

 Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Mexican 

 War. For the first two classes military dis- 

 tricts were set apart to fill warrants, and sub- 

 sequently commutations into scrip were al- 

 lowed. Under the acts of 1847, 1850, 1852, 

 and 1855, 551,644 warrants had been issued to 

 June 30, 1887, covering 61,096,790 acres. Of 

 these, 20,467 are still outstanding, embracing 

 2,321,440 acres. 



Scrip. The total amount of scrip issued by 

 the Government in satisfaction of private land 

 and other claims, to June 30, 1887, is for 79,- 

 365,716-66 acres. Of this, 76,540,675-42 acres 

 have been located. 



The gross receipts of the public domain to 

 June 30, 1888, are $289,786,496.42. This 

 amount includes sale of Indian lands, of which 

 the fee-simple title lies in the Government. 

 The total cost of the public domain to June 

 30, 1883, was $351,981,160.32, or nineteen cents 

 an acre. 



Taxation. Public-land states, on admission to 

 the Union, renounce the right to tax the pub- 

 lic domain. In lieu thereof, by a series of acts 

 from 1802, two, three, and five per cent, of 

 the net proceeds of sales of public lands withiu 

 their boundaries have been allowed, with the 

 exception of California. Upward of $8,000,- 

 000 have so accrued. Lands disposed of are 



taxed after entry and payment, and before 

 issue of patent. Railroad lands are not taxed 

 before segregation from the public domain. 



Unlawful Inelosure. To June 30, 1887, 465 

 unlawful inclosures had been brought to the 

 attention of the General Land-Office, aggre- 

 gating nearly 7,000,000 acres. Proceedings to 

 compel removal have been instituted, and the 

 practice has been largely broken up. 



LE1MKIF, EDMONl), a French general, born in 

 Paris, Nov. 5, 1809 ; died near Argentan, Orne, 

 June 7, 1888. He was educated for the mili- 

 tary profession at the Ecole Polytechnique and 

 at Ecole d' Application at Metz, where he was 

 graduated and commissioned lieutenant of ar- 

 tillery in 1833. He was ordered to Algeria, 

 where he obtained a captaincy in 1837 for 

 brilliant services at the Iron Gates, and distin- 

 guished himself at the siege of Constantine. 



EDMOND LEBCEUF. 



His skill and coolness in protecting the retreat 

 of a column of troops that was in danger of 

 being cut otf by the Kabyles, gained him the 

 higher grade of the Legion of Honor in 1840, 

 and two years later he was promoted colonel. 

 In the Crimean campaign lie was chief of the 

 artillery staff, with the rank of major-general. 

 He took part in the battle of Alma, and at the 

 siege of Sebastopol commanded the artillery 

 on the left. He was advanced to the grade of 

 lieutenant-general in 1857, and in 1859 com- 

 manded the entire artillery of the French army 

 in Italy. At Solferino he brought up his guns 

 just in time to stay the advance of Gen. Bene- 

 dek, who with the right wing of the Austrian 

 army threatened to crush the forces of Vittorio 

 Emanuele and render precarious the French 

 position. In January, 1869, he succeeded Gen. 

 de Goyon in command of the Sixth Corps at 

 Toulouse, and in August, on the death of Mar- 

 shal Niel, he was called to the head of the 

 Ministry of War. He remodeled the War De- 

 partment and the administrative services of 

 the army, changed the personnel of the bu- 



