44 



ARKANSAS. 



who may so offend that they will be speedily and imme- 

 diately removed therefrom by the agent according to 

 the laws made and provided, and if necessary the aid 

 and assistance of the military forces of the United 

 States will be invoked to carry into proper execution 

 the laws of the United States herein referred to. 



In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand 

 and caused the seal of state to be affixed. 



E. B. HAYES. 



By the President : 



WILLIAM M. EVABTS, Secretary of State. 



WASHINGTON, April 26, 1879. 



The landed interest of the State of Arkansas 

 is large, and promises, if properly managed, to 

 afford the means of liquidation of a large por- 

 tion of the indebtedness to the United States, 

 of effective assistance to the cause of educa- 

 tion, and of still further, and greatly needed, 

 assistance to the finances. 



Immigration societies exist in various parts 

 of the State, and there is also a State society ; 

 but they appear to languish for want of ade- 

 quate support. Nevertheless, the natural at- 

 tractions of soil and climate steadily induce a 

 certain amount of immigration. The State has 

 now the basis and foundation of a magnifi- 

 cent system of railroads. Two great trunk 

 lines run continuously through it, from north 

 to south and from east to west, and all that is 

 necessary to complete this system and make it 

 efficient in the diffusion of general prosperity, 

 is to multiply feeders to these lines so as to 

 send out their vivifying streams into every 

 quarter and section of the State. Several such 

 subsidiary lines have already been projected, 

 and only await the aid and assistance of the 

 State to become realities. The most promi- 

 nent of these are the Joplin and Little Rock, 

 connecting the rich and healthy regions of the 

 northwest with the Little Rock and Fort 

 Smith road; the Helena and Iron Mountain 

 road, traversing and opening up that rich sec- 

 tion of the Northeast known as the Crowley 

 Ridge country ; the Washita Valley road, bring- 

 ing the great cotton-producing section of the 

 southeast into connection with the Iron Moun- 

 tain road at Arkadelphia; the Little Rock, 

 Mississippi River, and Texas road, traversing 

 and opening up the still richer cotton-growing 

 regions of the lower Arkansas Valley, and di- 

 rectly connecting the lower Mississippi Valley 

 with the main trunk-lines, with a prospective 

 short-cut from Kansas City and the grain-grow- 

 ing regions of the Northwest, through the State, 

 to New Orleans. All these subsidiary lines can 

 be speedily built with the aid of the State gov- 

 ernment, without entailing a dollar of expendi- 

 ture or of debt upon the people. All that they 

 ask of the State is the donation of the public 

 lands lying along their respective routes, and 

 perhaps a little assistance here and there in the 

 way of temporary exemptions or decrease of 

 taxation. The most of these lands are now 

 not only useless and unproductive, but in their 

 present condition are actually hindrances and 

 obstructions to advancement. They present 

 the revolting aspect of deserted farms and 

 silent and forbidding forests, and repel rather 



than invite immigration. Before the adjourn- 

 ment of the Legislature a bill was passed to aid 

 the railroad from Washington to connect with 

 the Iron Mountain road at Hope. This is the 

 first step in a system that promises sooner or 

 later to redeem all Southwest Arkansas. This 

 road will be extended and branched into all 

 the other counties of that section, and bring 

 their waste lands to the notice of immigrants, 

 and their rich products to market. 



Besides the Homestead Act passed by the 

 last Congress authorizing persons desiring to 

 settle on public lands within railroad limits to 

 claim their homesteads out of odd sections in 

 all States except Missouri and Arkansas, there 

 was passed on the last day of the subsequent 

 extra session a bill granting additional rights 

 to homestead settlers on railroad lands in the 

 two above-named States. It authorizes them 

 to claim their homesteads out of odd sections 

 just as they could do in other States. The 

 general law, which is perfected by the new 

 law, gives to every person the right to enter 

 160 acres instead of 80 acres, as heretofore, on 

 these lands. The new bill provides that odd 

 sections within the limits of any grant of pub- 

 lic lands to any railroad company in the States 

 of Missouri and Arkansas, or to these States in 

 aid of any railroad where even sections have 

 been granted, shall be open to settlers under 

 the homestead laws to the extent of 160 acres. 

 It further provides that any person who has, 

 under existing laws, taken a homestead on any 

 section within the limits of any railroad grant 

 in these two States, who has been restricted 

 to 80 acres, may enter an additional 80 acres 

 adjoining the land embraced within his origi- 

 nal entry. If the additional land is subject 

 to entry, he may if he wishes surrender his en- 

 try to the United States for cancellation, and 

 thereafter can enter lands under the home- 

 stead laws the same as if the surrendered entry 

 had not been made. He can do so without 

 payment of fees and commissions. It provides 

 also that the residence of such person upon 

 and the cultivation of land embraced in his 

 original entry shall be considered his residence 

 upon and the cultivation for the same length 

 of time of land embraced in his additional or 

 new entry, and shall be deducted from the 

 five years' residence and cultivation required 

 by law ; provided that in no case shall a patent 

 issue upon an additional or new homestead 

 entry under this act, until the person has actu- 

 ally, and in conformity with the homestead 

 laws, occupied, resided upon, and cultivated 

 land embraced therein at least one year. 



The public schools of the State are suffering 

 in consequence of the payment of teachers in 

 the depreciated State scrip, which is receivable 

 for all dues and payable for all expenses. A 

 poll-tax appropriated to the support of schools, 

 through imperfect collection, yields about 

 $40,000 instead of $100,000. The Arkansas 

 Industrial University has 300 pupils, which 

 might be increased to 600 under a small addi- 



