CONGRESS. (LAND-GRANT FOBFEITTIEES TBEASUBY SUEPLUS.) 



263 



Land-Grant Forfeitures, A bill forfeiting pub- 

 lic lands granted in 1856 and 1857, in aid of 

 railroads in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisi- 

 ana, except so far as covered by the grant in aid 

 of a railroad from Jackson, Miss., to the State 

 line between Mississippi and Alabama, and a 

 railroad from Brandon to the Gulf of Mexico, 

 was passed by both Houses of Congress, and 

 approved July 12, 1886. 



Both houses of Congress also passed a bill 

 restoring to the public domain lands granted 

 in the act of July 27, 1866, and subsequent 

 amendments, to aid in building a railroad from 

 Missouri and Arkansas to the Pacific coast, 

 excepting the right of way and the right to 

 take building material from the adjacent pub- 

 lic lands. 



The House passed a bill for adjusting land- 

 grants to railroads in Kansas, but no vote was 

 taken on the subject in the Senate. 



The Senate passed a bill to forfeit part of 

 certain land? granted to railroads in Iowa; 

 but no final action was taken on the subject 

 in the House. 



The House passed a bill to declare a forfeit- 

 ure of the lands granted to the New Orleans, 

 Baton Eouge, and Vicksburg Railroad Com- 

 pany. 



June 15, the Senate, by a vote of 42 to 1, 

 passed a bill restoring to the public domain 

 land granted by the act of July 2, 1864, and 

 subsequent acts, to the Northern Pacific Rail- 

 road which appertain to and are contermi- 

 nous with that part of the main line extending 

 from Wallula Junction, in Washington Terri- 

 tory, to Portland, Oregon, except the lands 

 along the branch across the Cascade Mount- 

 ains, where that road had been constructed at 

 the time of the passage of the act. The House 

 adopted a substitute declaring forfeited all 

 lands granted to the Northern Pacific Railroad 

 by the act of July 2, 1866, except such as were 

 granted for portions of the road completed 

 July 4, 1879, the right to land necessary for op- 

 erating the road, and land in village, town, and 

 city sites. The vote in favor of the substitute 

 was 174 to 65, and the bill was passed by a 

 vote of 187 to 47. The two houses of Con- 

 gress failed to come to an agreement on the 

 subject. 



The forfeitures of land-grants made in the 

 Forty-eighth Congress amounted to 19,610,880 

 acres. Those made in the first session of the 

 Forty-ninth Congress amounted to 30,871,360 

 acres. There is pending between the two 

 houses the Northern Pacific forfeiture, which, 

 under the Senate bill, covers 6,170,640 acres, 

 and, under the House substitute, 36,907,741 

 acres. The House also passed forfeitures 

 amounting to 1,523,200 acres, and there are 

 pending on its calendars forfeitures amount- 

 ing to 13,067,214 acres. 



The Treasury Snrplus. July 14, 1886, the 

 House took up a joint resolution on this sub- 

 ject, reported by Mr. Morrison, of Illinois, from 

 the Committee on Ways and Means : 



Resolved, etc., That whenever the surplus or balance 

 in the Treasury, including amount held for redemption, 

 of United States notes, shall exceed the sum of $100,- 

 000,000, it shall be and is hereby made the duty of 

 the Secretary of the Treasury to apply such excess in 

 sums not less than $10,000,000 per month, during the 

 existence of any such surplus or excess, to the pay- 

 ment of the interest- bearing indebtedness of tne 

 United States, payable at the option of the Govern- 

 ment. . The surplus or balance herein referred to shall 

 be the available surplus ascertained, according to the 

 form of statement of the United States Treasurer, of 

 the assets and liabilities of the Treasury of the United 

 States, employed on June 30, 1886. 



This resolution passed by a vote of 207 to 

 67. The Senate amended the resolution by 

 adding a proviso that no call shall be made 

 until an amount equal to it is in the Treasury 

 over and above the reserve stated; that the 

 Secretary may keep an additional working bal- 

 ance of $20,000,000 ; and that in any emer- 

 gency, when the public interest, in the opinion 

 of the President, seems to require such a course, 

 he may, by a written order, suspend further 

 calls. Sections were added making trade- 

 dollars receivable at their face value by the 

 Government, and forbidding their reissue in 

 any shape. The amended resolution was passed 

 by the Senate July 30j and August 3 a confer- 

 ence committee agreed on a report which add- 

 ed to the resolution as passed by the House the 

 following proviso : 



Provided, That no call shall be made under the 

 provisions of this resolution until a sum equal to the 

 call is in the Treasury over and above the reserve 

 herein mentioned : And provided further, That the 

 Secretary of the Treasury, in his discretion, may have 

 in the Treasury over and above the foregoing sums 

 a working balance not exceeding $20,000,000; and 

 whenever in the case of any extraordinary emergency, 

 not now existing, and when, because thereof, m the 

 opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury, the public 

 interest shall require it, he may, by written order, 

 postpone the further call for the payment of such in- 

 debtedness for such period of time as shall be necessary 

 to maintain the public credit unimpaired ; and that 

 such postponement and the reasons therefor shall be 

 reported to Congress within ten days after its next 

 meeting, or immediately, if Congress be in session. 



National Aid to Common Schools. Jan. 6, 1886, 

 Mr. Blair, of New Hampshire, reported from 

 the Committee on Education and Labor, to 

 which it had been referred, his bill to aid in 

 the establishment and temporary support of 

 common schools. The measure was substan- 

 tially the same as that which passed the Senate 

 at the first session of the Forty-ninth Congress, 

 and was given in the " Annual Cyclopedia " 

 for 1884. It provides for the distribution of 

 the sum of $77,000,000 in eight years among 

 the States and Territories for educational pur- 

 poses in proportion to the illiteracy in each 

 $7,000,000 the first year ; $10,000,000 the sec- 

 ond year; $15,000,000 the third year; $13,- 

 000,000 the fourth year; $11,000,000 the fifth 

 year; $9,000,000 the sixth year; $7,000,000 

 the seventh year, and $5,000,000 the eighth 

 year. To share in these appropriations, each 

 State andTerritory, through its Legislature, must 

 accept the provisions of the act ; and no State 



