upon allowances made by the executive of the commonwealth of Virginia prior to the first day of March, 1852, for military services performed by the officers and soldiers, seamen or marines, of the Virginia state and continental lines in the army or navy of the revolution, may be surrendered to the secretary of the interior, who, upon being satisfied, by a revision of the proofs or by additional testimony, that any warrant thus surrendered was fairly and justly issued in pursuance of the laws of said commonwealth, for military services so rendered, and that the same comes within the provisions recognized by the department of the interior in the execution of the provisions of "An act making further provision for the satisfaction of Virginia land warrants," approved August 31, 1852, shall issue land scrip in favor of the present proprietors of any warrant thus surrendered, for the whole or any portion thereof yet unsatisfied, at the rate of $1.25 for each acre mentioned in the warrant thus surrendered and which remains unsatisfied, which scrip shall be receivable in payment for any lands owned by the United States subject to sale at private entry; and said scrip shall, moreover, be assignable by indorsement attested by two witnesses. In issuing such scrip, the secretary is authorized, when there are more persons than one interested in the same warrant, to issue to each person scrip for his or her portion of the warrant; and where infants or femes covert may be entitled to any scrip, the guardian of the infant and the husband of the feme covert may receive and sell or locate the same; provided, that no less than a legal subdivision shall be entered and paid for by the scrip issued in virtue of this section; and provided further, that no warrant or part of warrant shall be satisfied in scrip, founded or issued on any allowance made by the executive of Virginia since the first day of March, 1852.

10 Stat. 143; 12 Id. 84.

§ 378. There are five distinct and separate grants to states. and territories:

1. Of saline lands.

2. Of swamp and overflowed lands.

3. Grants for public or common schools.

4. Grants for seminaries or universities.

5. Grants for agricultural and mechanical colleges. Saline Lands.-The acts for the admission of all the public land states up to Nevada gave to them all the salines, not exceeding twelve in number, in the respective states, together with six sections of land with each spring for school purposes and public improvements. The act of January 12, 1877, provided a new mode of proceeding, by which such lands are rendered subject to disposal as other public lands. Under its provisions, a hearing is ordered, and witnesses are examined as to the character of the land in question, and the testimony taken at the hearing is transmitted to the general land office for its decision. Should the tracts be adjudged agricultural, they will be subject to disposal as such. Should the tracts be adjudged saline in character, they would be offered at public sale to the highest bidder for cash, at a price of not less than $1.25 per acre. In case they are not sold, the same will be subject to

private sale, at a price not less than $1.25 per acre, in the same manner as other public lands are sold. This law is not operative in the territories, nor in the states of Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, California, and Nevada, because their former saline grants have not as yet been filed.

§ 379. Swamp Lands.-By the act of September 28, 1850, there was granted to the state of Arkansas, and each of the other states of the Union, all of the swamp and overflowed lands which may be or are found unfit for cultivation. And the act continues: "The proceeds of said lands, whether from sale or direct appropriation in kind, shall be applied exclusively, as far as necessary, to the reclamation of said lands by means of levees and drains."

As early as 1851 this act was construed by the secretary of the interior as a grant in præsenti, and this construction has since been adopted by the courts.

By act of March 3, 1855, congress approved all sales which had been made by the government, and provided indemnity in cash for such sales.

By the acts of March 4, 1849, September 28, 1850, March 2, 1855, March 3, 1857, and March 12, 1860, congress not only conceded swamp and overflowed lands "in place," but when lands of this class had been sold as arable, or located with bounty warrants, the statute authorized the department in the one case to pay over in money to the state authorities the amount of such sales, and in the other to give to the state an equivalent in public lands.

The act of March 12, 1860, applies to the states of Minnesota and Oregon, and qualifies materially the general rule in reference to swamp-land grants. With the exception of California, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, selections of swamp lands are made by agents of the state, and proof of the swampy character of the land furnished.

The tracts inuring to California are determined by three methods under the fourth section of the act of July 23, 1866 (14 Stats. p. 218). Lists of swamp lands free from conflict are made out by the commissioner, and submitted to the secretary of the interior with a recommendation that they be approved.

When the lists have been approved by the secretary, they are returned to the land office and duplicate copies of the same are made out, one of which is transmitted to the governor of the state, with a statement that on receipt of his request patent

will issue to the state for the lands. The other list is transmitted to the register and receiver of the particular land office.

Circular of April 18, 1882.

The swamp-land acts have been the subject of much complaint, of fraud, actual fraud, and deceit. Their execution has been attended with great diffiulty, and lists certified thereunder have required constant and most exact scrutiny. Millions of acres have been listed as swamp lands, which are now suspended for investigation. Special agents have been and are now employed to unearth frauds under this act, against the government.

On the thirtieth of June, 1880, California was entitled to 322,879 acres more of swamp land than it had as yet received patents for.

Public Domain, p. 222.

§ 380. For Public or Common Schools.-Before the adoption of the constitution of the United States, to wit, on the tenth day of May, 1775, an ordinance for disposing of land in the western territory was adopted in the congress of the confederation, which, amongst other things, provided, "There shall be reserved the lot number 16 of every township for the maintenance of public schools within said township."

The provisions of this ordinance was the inception of the present rule of reservation of certain sections of land for school purposes. The endowment was the subject of much legislation in the years following.

Whether the public schools thus endowed by the United States were to be under national or state control remained a question, and the lands were held in reservation until after the admission of the state of Ohio in 1802. Congress, by act of March 3, 1803, made the state of Ohio its trustee for school lands, thus establishing a precedent which has since been followed.

In the act for the organization of Oregon territory (August 14, 1848), Senator Stephen A. Douglas inserted an additional grant for school purposes of the thirty-sixth section in each township, with indemnity for public land states thereafter to be admitted, making the reservation for school purposes the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections, or 1,280 acres in each township of six miles square reserved in public land states and territories, and confirmed by grant in terms in the act of admission of each state or territory into the Union.

Dates of grants to states and territories for school purposes:

Ohio, March 3, 1803; Indiana, April 19, 1806; Illinois, April 18, 1818; Missouri, March 6, 1820; Alabama, March 2, 1819; Mississippi, March 3, 1803, May 19, 1852, March 3, 1857; Louisiana, April 21, 1806, February 15, 1843; Michigan, June 23, 1826; Arkansas, June 23, 1826; Florida, March 3, 1845; Iowa, March 3, 1845; Wisconsin, August 6, 1846; California, March 3, 1853; Minnesota, February 26, 1857; Oregon, February 14, 1859; Kansas, January 29, 1861; Nevada, March 21, 1864; Nebraska, March 19, 1864; Colorado, March 3, 1875. Territories -Washington, March 2, 1853; New Mexico, September 9, 1850, and July 22, 1854; Utah, September 9, 1850; Dakota, March 2, 1861; Montana, February 28, 1861; Arizona, May 26, 1864; Idaho, March 3, 1863; Wyoming, July 25, 1868.

Every sixteenth section of public land in states admitted prior to 1848, and every sixteenth and thirty-sixth section of such land in states and territories since organized, have been granted for the benefit of public or common schools. As soon as in running the lines of the public surveys the school sections "in place" (16 and 36) are fixed and determined, the appropriation thereof for the educational object is under the law complete, and lists are made out and patents issued to the states therefor. When sections 16 and 36 are found to be covered with prior adverse rights, such as legal occupancy and settlement by individuals under settlement laws prior to survey of the land, or deficient in area because of the fractional character of the townships, or from other causes, selections for indemnity are made.

§ 381. Indemnity Selections.-Selections from other public lands as indemnity for deficiences in sections 16 and 36 and fractional townships, under the acts of May 30, 1826, and February 26, 1859, are made by agents appointed by the respective states, which selections are filed in the local offices of the district in which the land is situated, and if found to be correct, are certified to the general land office by the register of the local office where filed. If upon examination by the commissioner the same are found to inure to the state, a list is made out and certified to the secretary of the interior for his approval. When approved, a certified copy of the same is transmitted to the governor of the state in which the selections are made, and a copy thereof transmitted to the local office from which the selections are received, to be placed on file, and the approvals to be noted on its records.

Public Domain, p. 227.