292 LAND MONOPOLY. 



000,000 acres. By the treaty with France in 1803, the treaty with 

 Spain in 1818, the treaties with Mexico in 1848 and 1853, and the 

 treaty with Russia in 18G7, we increased our public domain over 

 seven fold, adding over 1,609,000,000 acres to the national territory. 

 We thus became possessed of a total of 1,834,990,400 acres of 

 land a domain sufficiently extensive to make twenty-five countries 

 each of the size of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales com 

 bined, and capable of supporting a population of 720,000,000 of 

 people of the average density of Great Britain, or more than half 

 the population now living on the globe. 



In the early days of the Republic, our public lands were chiefly 

 valued as an anticipated source of public wealth; but under the 

 pressure of progress, this idea has given way, and the lands are 

 now chiefly used as a stimulus to immigration, in aid of public im 

 provements, and to supply a homestead to every one who will live 

 on them. About 440,000,000 of acres, in all, have been disposed 

 of by sale, pre-emption and homestead rights, and grants to schools, 

 canals, railroads, etc. Some 70,000,000 acres more have been sur 

 veyed and are now in the market. And there are over 1,300,000,- 

 000 acres of wild lands yet unsurveyed. 



During the first eleven years of our constitutional existence, land 

 was only taken up at the rate of 100,000 acres a year. In 1806; the 

 sales realized $705,245. During the war of 1812, the sales largely 

 fell off; but with the return of peace, they gradually recuperated, 

 until in 1819 they netted about $3,000,000. The sales for 3835, 

 realized $14,000,000; and for 1836, they netted $21,000,000 the 

 largest year s sales ever made. In 1842, the sales run down to 

 nearly $1,000,000. From 1850 to 1855, they averaged about $10,- 

 000,000 a year. In 1862 the rebellion being in progress they 

 amounted to only $125,048. Since the war, they have increased to 

 an average of about $300,000 a year. 



The very wise and beneficent policy of setting apart a specific por 

 tion of the public lands for the establishment and support of com 

 mon schools, is practiced by no other government but ours. The 

 policy originated at a very early period of our history. In the first 

 * Ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in the 

 Western territory,&quot; Congress directed that every sixteenth section 

 of every township, should be reserved for schools; and subsequently 

 gave every thirty-sixth section to the same purpose. Over 78,000,- 

 000 acres have been set apart under these and similar acts, besides 

 about 7,000,000 acres for agricultural colleges. 



The chief glory of our public land system, however, is the home 

 stead policy, under the operation of which more of the people 

 own the homes they occupy, than in any other nation in the 

 world. The number of homestead entries in the last year alone, 

 made twice the number of freeholders in the United States that 

 England possesses, with her ten centuries of civilized existence. 



The policy of the National or State governments, in donating 

 Lands for public improvements, or for educational purposes, 

 however meritorious in intention, may well be questioned, for 

 it has been the most fruitful source of public corruption and 



