IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

JUNE 3, 1858.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. BENJAMIN made the following

REPORT.

[Accompanied by an amendment to bill S. 410.]

The Committee on Private Land Claims, to whom was referred the petition of Claude Samory, report:

That for the reasons set forth in the report of Senate committee No. 279, of the present session, they recommend the adoption of the following section as an additional section to Senate bill No. 410, to be inserted as section 5 :

Be it further enacted, &c., That the heirs, assigns, and legal representatives of Madam Victoria Angela de la Garde, widow Dusuan Leroy, be, and they are hereby, confirmed in their title to a tract of one thousand arpents of land, situated in the district of Baton Rouge, on the Comite river; said tract being the same which was sold to said widow Leroy by Don Juan Ventura Morales, governor of Louisiana and West Florida, on the 8th November, 1802.

1st

No. 300.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

JUNE 3, 1858.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. STUART made the following

REPORT.

[To accompany Bills S. 22 and 220.]

The Committee on Public Lands, to whom were referred the "bill for the relief of the citizens and owners of property in the city of Omaha, Nebraska Territory, and Sioux city, State of Iowa," and the "bill for the relief of certain citizens of Sioux city, State of Iowa," with the "petition of 111 residents of Sioux city, Iowa, asking for the passage of an act authorizing the entry of a portion of the lands on which said town is situated," have carefully considered the subject to which they relate, and respectfully report:

That under the act of 23d May, 1844, there has been entered at Sioux city, in the State of Iowa, the east half of section 29, township 89 north, range 47 west, and at Omaha city, Territory of Nebraska, 320 acres have been entered, and in a very peculiar and unusual form. The number of inhabitants at Omaha city is represented to be about three thousand, and the building has been extended, in various directions, beyond the limits of the said town site entry. The legislature of Nebraska passed an act incorporating said city, and including within its limits about 3,000 acres of land. Within these limits individuals desiring to make pre-emptions have not been permitted to settle, and it is represented that all such have been prohibited by persons claiming to hold these 3,000 acres for a town site.

At Sioux city, it is represented, there are about fifteen hundred inhabitants, and that on the half section entered for a town site there are not over twenty or thirty very cheap buildings, perhaps―mere shanties. The great amount of settlement is on the half section immediately east, being the west half of section 28; some, perhaps, on the southeast quarter of the same section.

These settlements have been made under sales by persons who had laid out the land into town lots and sold them at high prices-in some instances, it is said, as high as $1,500 per lot-and who now ask that Congress will permit them by law to enter this land, to the amount

of three-quarters of a section, at the minimum price of such lands. A similar course of proceeding has been had at Omaha city, and the owners there make a similar request.

After very carefully considering these applications, the committee are of opinion that there are no principles of equity or justice which requires the relief asked, and that to grant it would be in derogation of sound public policy.

The original design of the town site law was to authorize locations for town site purposes, of not exceeding 320 acres, for the purpose of allowing persons who had gone in advance of public sales and made settlements for business purposes, and with no speculative intentions, and who could not be protected under the general pre-emption laws. Such settlers had great merit, because they enabled the agriculturist to obtain the necessaries of life and business, with much less inconvenience than they otherwise would; but, like most laws of this character, this town site law has been used most extensively for mere speculative purposes. Individuals go in advance of all settlements; select the best business points in the country, and the sections where county seats will probably be located when new counties come to be organized, and enter these lands under this town site law; and so soon as they can be sold, they lay them out into town lots and sell them at speculative prices, thus entirely evading and, in many instances, defeating the wise purposes of that law. In many instances, it is said, they have enlarged these locations by locating the adjoining lands under a slightly changed name, thus procuring an almost unlimited control over the valuable points in the new Territories, without any sanction of law. When this practice came to the knowledge of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, he arrested it. In the case of Sioux city, the first entry of the east half of section 29 was called Sioux city. Then the west half of section 28 was laid out, and assumed to be sold as Middle Sioux city, and the southeast quarter of that section as East Sioux city; but the Commissioner refused these additional entries as not being authorized by the town site law. As before stated, the number of similar entries has been very large, and in the progress of settlements must necessarily be increased to many thousands. If, therefore, Congress were now to permit companies, who have thus taken possession of the public domain, to enter such lands, and without any more restrictions, at the minimum price, it is very obvious that this innumerable band of speculators would furnish a fresh number of applications sufficient to engross, not only a large share of the public lands, but a large share of the time of Congress also, in examining and passing upon their claims. And when it is considered that it is in the power of any actual settler to perfect a pre-emption to 160 acres of land, and in the space of about three months to procure such a title as will enable him to lay it out into town lots, and dispose of it for town purposes, if he chooses, the committee think all argument in favor of such legislation as is proposed in these cases is at an end.

Your committee therefore report adversely both upon the bills and memorials.