No. 47. IN CONVENTION July 24, 1867. REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE LAND OFFICE IN RELATION TO THE SALE OF LANDS DONATED TO THE STATE BY THE UNITED STATES. STATE OF NEW YOKK: COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE, To the President of the Convention: } SIR-The Comptroller, in the absence of the Commissioners of the Land Office, and in response to a resolution of the Convention passed on the 17th inst., viz: On motion of Mr. Curtis, Resolved, That the Commissioners of the Land Office be requested to communicate to this Convention their proceedings under chapter 481 of the Laws of 1866, authorizing the sale of lands donated to this State by the United States, Respectfully submits the following REPORT. By the act of Congress, approved July 2d, 1862, it was provided that there should be granted to the several States, for the purposes mentioned in the said act, public lands equal in quantity to thirty thousand acres for each Senator and representative in Congress to VOL. III. 18 which the States respectively were entitled by the apportionment under the census of 1860. The terms and conditions of the grant are set forth in the act. By the act, chapter twenty, Laws of 1863, this State declared its acceptance of the grant in conformity with the seventh section of the act of Congress, and thus became entitled to and received from the United States, land scrip, consisting of 6,187 pieces of 160 acres each, representing in all 990,000 acres. The scrip was delivered to the Comptroller, who was authorized to receive it by the act, chap. 460, passed May 5, 1863, and with the approval and concurrence of other State officers, to dispose of the whole or any portion of it for cash or public stocks, yielding not less than five per cent. The intention of the Legislature in the passage of the act of May 5, 1863, appears to have been merely to provide for a sale of the scrip and the care and management of the proceeds, until some provision should be made for their application to the object contemplated in the act of Congress. This was done by the act, chapter 511, passed May 14, 1863, which appropriated the income and revenue to be derived from time to time from the investment of the proceeds of the sale of the land scrip, to the People's College, located at Havanna, for the use of that Institution, in the mode and for the purposes defined in the act of Congress. There were conditions qualifying this grant, which are particularly set forth in the act of May 14, to which reference is made. One of these conditions was, that whenever, in the opinion of the Regents of the University, the proceeds of the investments should exceed the needs of the Institution, the excess should be withheld; and the fifth section contemplates a distribution of the excess to other colleges complying in their arrangements and instruction to the requisitions of the act of Congress. The conditions of the grant to the People's College under the act of May 14, not having been fully complied with by the Trustees of that Institution, the Legislature by the act, chapter 585, passed April 27, 1865, establishing the Cornell University, made a conditional transfer of "the income, revenue and avails to be received from the investment of the proceeds of the sale of the lands, or of the scrip therefor, or of any part thereof, granted to this State by the act of Congress, approved July 2, 1862," to that Institution. The conditions on which the grant depended, were:— 1st. That Hon. Ezra Cornell should donate to the University the sum of five hundred thousand dollars. 2d. That he should pay over to the Trustees of the Genesee College located at Lima in this State, the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars. 3d. That the Trustees of the People's College should not within three months comply with the terms on which the benefits of the act of 1863 were to be continued to them. The compliance on the part of Mr. Cornell with the first and second conditions, and the failure of the Trustees of the People's College to comply with the third, made the grant to the Cornell University absolute, subject to the provisions of the act of Congress. Under the act of May 5th, 1863, the aggregate sales to November 24, 1865, were 176,000 acres, of which 8,000 acres were sold at 83 cents, 68,000 acres at 85 cents, and 100,000 acres at 50 cents, the average rate being 65 cents nearly. These sales were all for cash except 100,000 acres, which were sold to Mr. Cornell, on a proposition made by him and accepted by my predecessor, with the concurrence of the officers mentioned in the act of 1863, except the Chancellor of the University who was absent, to purchase that quantity at 50 cents per acre; and in addition to pay over all the profits on a sale of the lands to the Cornell University. On this transaction the personal bond of Mr. Cornell for $50,000 was accepted in lieu of the purchase money, secured by 1,000 shares of the stock of the Western Union Telegraph Company, the earnings of the stock to be applied on the interest occurring on the bond. The foregoing brief references to the legislation of this State and the proceedings taken in accordance with it, bring the subject down to the session of 1866, and more fully within the scope of the resolution of the Convention under consideration. The intention of the Legislature in the passage of the act of April 10th, 1866, so far as it can be gathered from its provisions, was to secure, if practicable, a sale of that portion of the lands donated to this State, still undisposed of, on such terms as would bring into the State Treasury for the benefit of the institution to which the avails of the land had been previously granted by the act of 1865, a sum that should more nearly represent its actual value than the current rates at which the scrip was at that time selling. The act of Congress had placed those States in which there were no public lands open to entry, at a serious disadvantage, by the prohibition, perhaps unavoidable, that no State should acquire title to land not within its own territorial jurisdiction. It was notorious that several States thus situated, had sold this scrip at prices varying from sixty to eighty cents per acre, and the sales under the act of 1863, showed that unless some different plan was adopted, no more favorable result could be looked for here; to part with a property worth, if properly managed, several millions of dollars, for a few hundred thousands, did not appear wise, if any way could be devised to obtain its value, and it was to avoid such a sacrifice if possible, that the law of 1866 was enacted. The duty of carrying out the act under consideration devolved on the Commissioners of the Land Office, in consequence of the failure of the Trustees of the Cornell University, to make application to the Comptroller for the purchase of the unsold scrip. The failure to agree, or rather the failure on the part of the trustees to make any application whatever in the premises, having been reported by the Comptroller on the 26th day of June, 1866, the Commissioners decided to receive applications from individuals, of which but one was presented, that from the Hon. Ezra Cornell, who proposed to become the purchaser at the price, and on the conditions. indicated in the act, and on the 24th of July following an arrangement was concluded with that gentleman, which formed the basis of the agreement subsequently executed by him and the Commis sioners of the Land Office, which is given at length in the following extracts from the proceedings of the Board, and to which reference is made. It may be added in this connection, that no application from any other individual or individuals could have been anticipated, inasmuch as there was no other person who would have agreed to such a disposition of the profits arising from the location of the scrip, as the act required. At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office, June 26, 1866, The Comptroller presented the following communication: By the act, chapter 481, Laws of 1866, the Comptroller is authorized to sell the lands donated to the State under the act of Congress, approved July 2, 1862, to the Trustees of the Cornell University, at such price as he may fix not less than thirty cents per acre, and failing to make such disposal of them, the Commissioners of the Land Office are empowered to receive applications from any person or persons for the purchase of the whole or any portion of said lands at the price so fixed by the Comptroller, and sell the same under certain conditions mentioned in the act. No applications having been made by the Trustees for the purchase of the scrip, and there being no evidence that they desire to enter into a negotiation with that object, any arrangement for its disposal to other parties will devolve on the Commissioners of the Land Office. The Comptroller, therefore, respectfully refers the accompanying communication from the Hon. Ezra Cornell to the Commissioners for such action as they may deem proper. The Comptroller adds for the information of the Board, that in compliance with the provistons of the act, chap. 481, before referred to, he has fixed the price of the scrip at fifty cents per acre, which is somewhat less than the present market price, for small parcels, but which, in consideration of the large quantity to be disposed of, and the fact that the prospective profits to be derived from the location and sale of the lands are to go into the State Treasury, he considers fair as well for the purchaser as the State. Respectfully yours, THOS. HILLHOUSE, Comptroller. I also submit a letter from Hon. Ezra Cornell, as President of the Board of Trustees of the Cornell University, stating that said Trustees do not desire to negotiate for the purchase of the land scrip held by the State. T. HILLHOUSE, Comptroller. The Lieut.-Governor then read the following communication from Hon. E. Cornell, referred to in the above communication from the Comptroller. ALBANY, June 9, 1866. To HON. THOMAS HILLHOUSE, Comptroller: DEAR SIR-In reply to your favor of May 25th, 1866, expressing the conclusion you had come to after a careful consideration of the act, chap. 481, of the Laws of 1866, I most respectfully inform you that I differ with you in regard to the proper construction and intent of the law. |