LEASES OF LANDS.

The first General Assembly of the State of Ohio convened in March, 1803. This body passed an act to provide for leasing the school lands in the several parts of the State, "for the purpose of improving the same, and thereby rendering them productive, that the profits arising therefrom may be applied to the support of schools." Accordingly, it was enacted that the school lands within the United States Military Tract should be leased for terms not exceeding fifteen years, and the "number sixteen" sections not exceeding seven years. The rent for every quarter section of one hundred and sixty acres was to consist in making the following improvements: fifteen acres cleared of all timber and other wood, and fenced in separate fields, one field of five acres to be sowed down in grass, and one of three acres to be planted with one hundred thrifty and growing apple trees, and the remaining seven acres to be arable land; these improvements to be made within the first twelve years in the fifteen year leases, and within the first five years in the seven year leases.

The Governor was authorized to appoint suitable agents in the several counties and districts, to make these leases. The agents were to give public notice, and were to receive bids and make leases to those bidders who should offer to make the improvements required for the .shorter term of lease. The agents were also to have the care of the lands, and might bring actions against persons wasting the timber, one-half of the sum recovered to belong to the agent and the remainder to be for the use of schools.

Two years after, in 1805, that part of the above act which relates to sections sixteen was so amended that the several boards of township trustees were authorized to grant leases of such lands for terms not exceeding fifteen years, "to those who make the most advantageous proposals." It was made the duty of the trustees "to see that the proceeds arising

from the leases be duly and impartially applied to the education of youths, within the particular surveyed township, in such a manner that all the citizens resident therein may be equal partakers of the benefits thereof."

The first act looked only to the improvement of the property and its preservation from damage by trespassers. This act is the first contemplating revenue and providing for its application to the use of schools.

Before the adoption of the first state constitution, in 1802, Ohio had been divided into nine counties. The process of division was continued till the adoption of the second constitution, in 1851, when there were eighty-eight counties, the present number. Each county is divided into townships, and the boundaries of the townships may be changed by the county commissioners, under certain restrictions. These civil townships might not coincide with the "original surveyed" townships which had been marked off by the United States surveyors for the purposes of sale. Yet section sixteen had been given for the use of the citizens of the original township. This distinction applies only to those parts of the State which were originally laid out in square townships of thirty-six square miles, and to fractions of such townships. In these, however, the distinction is kept up to the present time, and a knowledge of it is necessary to an understanding of school laws.

Accordingly, in 1806, an act was passed to incorporate every original surveyed township, even when there was "a county line running through" it. This act provided for the election of three trustees and a treasurer. The power to grant leases was transferred to these boards, the act of 1805 being thus far amended. It was made their duty to take care of the lands, and to apply the rents paid in cash to the use of schools in the township. The rents paid in produce were to be disposed of in the "manner best calculated to promote the interest of the institution."

In 1809, an important change was made. Hitherto the leases were for limited periods, not exceeding fifteen years. In two or three instances, perpetual leases had been authorized by special laws-for instance, the lands belonging to the Ohio University. In this year, a law was enacted for the survey and disposition of the lands recently granted by Congress for the use of schools in the Virginia Military Reservation. These lands were now ordered to be surveyed in quarter sections, and after public notice, to be sold to the highest bidder, at not less than two dollars per acre in addition to the costs of survey and sale, these costs to be paid down; but on the remainder the purchaser was to pay yearly forever six per centum, “subject, however, to alteration by any succeeding legislature, so as to enable the purchaser or purchasers to make such commutation as said legislature may think expedient."

In effect, this was a perpetual lease with proviso for alterations in favor of the tenant, but with no provision for revaluation or any other change in favor of the schools. The next year, the legislature agreed to a cash payment of ten dollars per quarter section, as a commutation of the cash payment for cost of survey and for five years of rent. The rent on one hundred and sixty acres for five years would have been at least ninety-six dollars. It was also enacted that the tenant must make certain improvements and build a house within three years. In 1813, a further time of one year was allowed to make these improvements, many of the lessees having been "driven from their possession by the savage enemies." In 1814, a further time of one year was allowed. In 1816, the laws relating to leases of Virginia Military school lands were replaced by a new statute, the most important section requiring all subsequent leases of these lands to contain a proviso for the revaluation of the land in the year 1835, and every twenty years thereafter, without taking into consideration the improvements, the rent to be six per centum per annum on each valuation.

In the year 1817, a law was enacted to provide for leasing sections sixteen. This act was drawn up in a bungling manner. The trustees of original townships, and in case no such trustees had been elected in the township, the county commissioners, were authorized to lease the lands for terms of ninety-nine years, renewable forever, at an annual rental of six per centum of their value as appraised by disinterested freeholders, but the lands were to be subject to a revaluation every thirty-three years. If no applicant would pay so high a rent, then after twelve months the lands might be leased to the highest bidder. The same powers to lease the school lands in the United States Military District were given to the courts of common pleas in the several counties of that district. The framers of this act paid no attention to the law limiting the terms of leases of section sixteen to fifteen years, as provided in the act to incorporate the original surveyed townships. The last named act was again revised in 1824, the limitation of leases to fifteen years being re-enacted. It was again revised in 1831, the length of leases being reduced to seven years for improvement leases, and three years for leases of improved lands. But in 1823, a law had been enacted that no lease should thereafter be granted of any school lands in Ohio for a longer term than one year.

What was the actual income from sections sixteen, we have no means of knowing. From 1821 to 1828, the State borrowed the income of the Virginia Reservation school lands, paying annual interest and compounding the same every year. In 1825 and 1826, the income was about five thousand dollars, but it was less in previous years. In January, 1829, the fund amounted, with interest, to $54,000, which was then by law distributed among the several counties and parts of counties in that district, in proportion to the number of children in each, "except black and mulatto children;" and the law provided for the annual distribution of

the income thereafter by the same rules. The income from the school lands in the settled portions of the State may be assumed to have been as much per acre as the above.

During the years of various and contradictory legislation for leasing the lands, those who made the laws were becoming convinced that any system of leases was bad. In 1821, Governor Brown, in his annual message to the General Assembly, said:

"So far as my information extends, the appropriation of the school lands in this state has produced hitherto (with few exceptions) no very material advantage in the dissemination of instruction-none commensurate with their presumable value.

SALE OF LANDS.

As a remedy, it was proposed that the lands should be sold absolutely; but there might be doubts as to the power of the State to sell without the consent of the Congress of the United States. Accordingly, in 1824, a memorial was addressed to Congress by the "State of Ohio in General Assembly. This memorial first gives a statement of the various grants of school lands in the State; then, in a few words, refers to the effort to render them productive, in particular by the method of leasing. Experience, however, had fully demonstrated that this fund would be wholly unavailing in its present shape.

By reason of the facilities which the State of Ohio afforded for acquiring a property in real estate, a necessity existed of leasing the lands in question to persons almost wholly destitute of pecuniary means, whereby the avails were rendered at least uncertain. The tenants were of the lowest class of the community, persons who possessed no permanent interest in the soil. They wasted the timber, and the loss was equal, perhaps, to the whole revenue which may have been derived. The fact that the State was compelled to offer upon lease so great a proportion of her soil as to invite and