THE DISPOSITION OF OUR PUBLIC LANDS 259 



June 30, 1883, brought into the Treasury of the United States 

 the smart amount of two hundred and thirty-three million dollars. 

 It is also true that, except for the period from 1830 to 1840, the 

 lands have been a drain upon, and not a resource of, our finances. 

 At the end of the financial year 1 882-1 883, the government was 

 out of pocket, so far as cash outlay and receipts are measures of 

 the value of the lands, in the sum of $126,428,484.89. The first 

 great item of expense is the extinguishment of the Indian title 

 to ownership. Since 1781 the United States government has 

 recognized the right of occupancy, but has asserted its sole pre- 

 rogative to acquire Indian lands. First and last, up to the end 

 of the fiscal year 188 2- 1883, it had paid two hundred and nine 

 millions of dollars for the interest of the Indian in his lands. 

 There have been grave acts of injustice in the manner of negotia- 

 tion and of payment, but no inferior race ever received more con- 

 sideration at the hands of the treaty-making power. The Indians 

 are still in possession of reservations comprising some of the 

 most favored lands in the West and embracing more than a 

 hundred and fifty million acres of land. A second source of ex- 

 pense has been the purchase-money paid for all the annexations 

 since 1802, except that of Oregon. The items taken together 

 make an outlay of upwards of eighty-eight millions. Surveys and 

 expenses of disposition add fifty-five millions. If a strict account 

 were to be made up, there should be added a proportion of the 

 general expenses of maintaining the government, and the whole 

 cost of the Mexican War. 



Unsatisfactory as is the financial result of our public-land 

 policy, we must reflect that the sales account for but little more 

 than a fourth part of the total disposition. Perhaps we shall find 

 the remainder so used as to give some indirect benefit which 

 cannot be reckoned in dollars and cents. ... In the first four 

 decades two sorts of grants are apparent. In 1796, and later, 

 provision was made for the fulfillment of long-standing promises 

 to the Revolutionary troops and to the Canadian refugees who 

 had taken sides with the patriots. At the same time Congress 

 made gifts of small tracts of land to individuals who had per- 

 formed special services to the republic. Thus Lafayette received 



