THE FARM LAND 35 



the value of the land was to be paid in thirty days and the re' 

 mainder within a year. At the first sale at government offices 

 in Pittsburgh not 50,000 acres were sold, while at the Phila' 

 delphia land office not an acre was sold. 19 One of the chief 

 reasons for this failure was the fact that states were under' 

 selling the federal government. Massachusetts was offering land 

 at 50 cents an acre at the same time that the government was 

 trying to sell its land at $1 an acre in Ohio. 20 



The western states, which had been given land to sell to pay 

 for schools, were also selling their land for considerably less 

 than the prices fixed for federal land. Later, when federal land 

 grants were made to pay for roads and canals in the new states, 

 Congress fixed the minimum price for sale of such land at $1.25 

 an acre. This was the first step taken by the federal government 

 to prevent underselling by the states. 



In addition to this cheap state land, 10 million acres had 

 been purchased by speculators, some honest, others dishonest. 

 To keep the speculators from getting any more land, the gov 

 ernment raised its price to $2 an acre in 1796. This was like 

 locking the stable after the horse is stolen. With their 10 mil' 

 lion cheap acres bought at from 10 cents to two thirds of a dol' 

 lar an acre, the speculators could afford to undersell the gov 

 ernment whenever they chose. As a result, from 1798 to 1800 

 the federal government got from its sale of land just about 

 enough money to pay for an average farm in Ohio today. 21 



The methods of the Rev. Manasseh Cutler were not mv 

 typical. He was the lobbyist for General Rufus Putnam's Ohio 

 Company of Revolutionary War veterans. To Congressmen 

 he said in effect, "You want revenue. We'll give you that 

 revenue if you will sell us a large tract of several million acres 

 for less than the market price, and if you will give us time to 



19 McMaster, op. cit., Vol. Ill, p. 120. 

 20 Hibbard, op. cit., p. 43. 

 21 Ibid., p. 210. 



