RELIEF OF PUBLIC LAND DEBTORS.
Distress was the cry of the day; relief the general demand. State
legislatures were occupied in devising measures of local relief;
Congress in granting it to national debtors. Among these was the
great and prominent class of the public land purchasers. The
credit system then prevailed, and the debt to the government had
accumulated to twenty-three millions of dollars--a large sum in
itself, but enormous when considered in reference to the payors,
only a small proportion of the population, and they chiefly the
inhabitants of the new States and territories, whose resources
were few. Their situation was deplorable. A heavy debt to pay, and
lands already partly paid for to be forfeited if full payment was
not made. The system was this: the land was sold at a minimum price
of two dollars per acre, one payment in hand and the remainder in
four annual instalments, with forfeiture of all that had been paid
if each successive instalment was not delivered to the day. In the
eagerness to procure fresh lands, and stimulated by the delusive
prosperity which multitudes of banks created after the war, there
was no limit to purchasers except in the ability to make the
first payment. That being accomplished, it was left to the future
to provide for the remainder. The banks failed; money vanished;
instalments were becoming due which could not be met; and the
opening of Congress in November, 1820, was saluted by the arrival
of memorials from all the new States, showing the distress, and
praying relief to the purchasers of the public lands. The President,
in his annual message to Congress, deemed it his duty to bring the
subject before that body, and in doing so recommended indulgence in
consideration of the unfavorable change which had occurred since
the sales. Both Houses of Congress took up the subject, and a
measure of relief was devised by the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr.
Crawford, which was equally desirable both to the purchaser and the
government. The principle of the relief was to change all future
sales from the credit to the cash system, and to reduce the minimum
price of the lands to one dollar, twenty-five cents per acre, and
to give all present debtors the benefit of that system, by allowing
them to consolidate payments already made on different tracts on
any particular one, relinquishing the rest; and allowing a discount
for ready pay on all that had been entered, equal to the difference
between the former and present minimum price. This released the
purchasers from debt, and the government from the inconvenient
relation of creditor to its own citizens. A debt of twenty-three
millions of dollars was quietly got rid of; and purchasers were
enabled to save lands, at the reduced price, to the amount of their
payments already made: and thus saved in all cases their homes and
fields, and as much more of their purchases as they were able to
pay for at the reduced rate. It was an equitable arrangement of a
difficult subject, and lacked but two features to make it perfect;
_first_, a pre-emptive right to all first settlers; and, _secondly_,
a periodical reduction of price according to the length of time
the land should have been in market, so as to allow of different
prices for different qualities, and to accomplish in a reasonable
time the sale of the whole. Applications were made at that time for
the establishment of the pre-emptive system; but without effect,
and, apparently without the prospect of eventual success. Not
even a report of a committee could be got in its favor--nothing
more than temporary provisions, as special favors, in particular
circumstances. But perseverance was successful. The new States
continued to press the question, and finally prevailed; and now the
pre-emptive principle has become a fixed part of our land system,
permanently incorporated with it, and to the equal advantage of the
settler and the government. The settler gets a choice home in a new
country, due to his enterprise, courage, hardships and privations in
subduing the wilderness: the government gets a body of cultivators
whose labor gives value to the surrounding public lands, and whose
courage and patriotism volunteers for the public defence whenever
it is necessary. The second, or graduation principle, though much
pressed, has not yet been established, but its justice and policy
are self-evident, and the exertions to procure it should not be
intermitted until successful. The passage of this land relief bill
was attended by incidents which showed the delicacy of members at
that time, in voting on questions in which they might be interested.
Many members of Congress were among the public land debtors, and
entitled to the relief to be granted. One of their number, Senator
William Smith, from South Carolina, brought the point before the
Senate on a motion to be excused from voting on account of his
interest. The motion to excuse was rejected, on the ground that
his interest was general, in common with the country, and not
particular, in relation to himself: and that his constituents were
entitled to the benefit of his vote.