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1st Session.

PAYMENT FOR LANDS SOLD SINCE JANUARY 1, 1828.

LETTER

FROM

THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY,

In reply to a resolution of the House, of the 20th March last, requiring information in relation to payments for lands sold since 1st January, 1828, to wit: whether in notes of the Bank of United States, notes of State Banks, specie, or scrip.

MAY 9, 1832.

Referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, May 4, 1832.

SIR: In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives, dated the 20th March last, directing the Secretary of the Treasury "to communicate a statement showing what amount of the sales of public land has been paid in the notes and bills of the United States' Bank, in each of the States and Territories, respectively, where public land has been sold, in each year, between the 1st of January, 1828, till the 1st of January, 1832; and, also, what amount of such sales has been paid in the notes of other banks, in scrip, by law made receivable for public land, or in specie, within the same time, in such States and Territories;" I have the honor to transmit a report from the Commissioner of the General Land Office, accompanied by an exhibit of the amount of scrip received at the land offices in the different States during the period embraced by the resolution; and stating the reasons why the other information asked in the resolution cannot be furnished.

I have the honor to be,
Respectfully, sir,

Your obedient servant,

LOUIS MCLANE, Secretary of the Treasury

Honorable the SPEAKER of the House of Representatives.

GENERAL LAND OFFICE, May 2, 1832.

SIR: In reference to the resolution of the House of Representatives, passed on the 20th ultimo, in the words following, to wit:

"Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to communicate to this House a statement showing what amount of the sales of public lands has been paid in the notes and bills of the United States' Bank, in each of the States and Territories, respectively, where public land has been sold, in each year, between the 1st of January, 1828, till the 1st of January, 1832; and, also, what amount of such sales has been paid in the notes of other banks, in scrip, by law made receivable for public land, or in specie, within the same time, in such States and Territories," and which you have referred to this office; I have the honor to report that the receivers are required, by the Secretary of the Treasury, to make an endorsement on each receipt, showing the various denominations of bank notes, or gold and silver coins, of which each payment is composed. From causes, however, some of which can easily be conjectured, growing out of the hurry of business at the public sales, there are so many interruptions of these endorsements on the receipts, that they do not afford a continuous view of the various denominations of money received in any one of the land districts, so as to admit of furnishing the information required. In case the receivers had invariably made their endorsements, as contemplated by the department, on each receipt, it is to be remarked that the constant giving of change, both in notes and in coins, would so materially vary both the denomination and kinds of notes and coins on hand, which they would actually deposite into bank, that there would be little identity with the denomination and kind of notes and coins indicated by these endorsements, although the value would, of course, remain the same.

It has been ascertained that, during the period mentioned in the resolution, there were 81,985 receipts issued at the several land offices; and, from the foregoing causes, it will be perceived that the means do not exist, in this office, of affording the information required as to the various kinds of notes, bills, and specie, for which those receipts were given.

In compliance with that portion of the resolution which requires a statement of the amount of scrip received in payment, at the land offices, during the period mentioned, I beg leave to submit the enclosed statement, marked A.

I have the honor to remain,
With great respect,

Your obedient servant,

Honorable LOUIS MCLANE,

Secretary of the Treasury.

ELIJAH HAYWARD.

A.

STATEMENT showing the amount of military scrip, and forfeited land scrip, received at the Land Offices in
the different States and Territories, for the years 1828, 1829, 1830, and 1831.

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1828.

1829.

1830.

1831.

TOTAL.

$42,064 44 $121,182 72 $46,216 61 $117,635 36

5,580 94

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24,907 58

9,333 41

112,544 78
50,008 33

$327,099 13
156,194 80
70,312 00
19,317 02
48,600 06
113,801 56

11111

13,161 50

7,227 40

9,711 86

1,588 90
21,467 60

23,275 61
35,009 40

3,945 05
8,092 94

1,437 58

37,289 29

15,642 61
20,035 27

644 50

233 77

615 20

402 16
5,333 62
11,000 00

1,037 50

2,986 91

200 00

9,169 50 11,200 00

2,084 16

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1st Session.

LETTER-PETER S. DU PONCEAU-SILK.

Letter from Peter S. Du Ponceau, upon the subject of the bill (H.R. No. 294) to promote the growth and manufacture of Silk.

MAY 10, 1832.

Read, and committed to the Committee of the Whole House to which the said bill is com

mitted.

WASHINGTON, 8th May, 1832.

SIR: The present session of Congress being far advanced, and business pressing on your honorable House from every side, I think it my duty to solicit again their attention to the bill for promoting the growth and manufacture of silk," now pending before them, and to state some reasons why it is important to the nation that it should be acted upon as soon as possible, and, above all things, that it should not be suffered to go over the present session.

As there are many members of the present House who are unacquainted with the history of this bill, and who may not understand on what grounds I take the liberty to address them through you, I beg leave to give here a brief statement of it, which, while it serves as my apology, will, I believe, throw some additional light on the important subject to which your attention is most respectfully requested.

When, at the beginning of the first session of the last Congress, I had the honor to present to them a copy of the "Essays on American Silk," then lately published by Mr. D'Homergue and myself, I had nothing in view but to give them a mark of my profound respect, and, at the same time, through them, to extend the knowledge of the facts which the book"contains. I was highly flattered by the honor which the House did to that little work, by referring it to their Committee on Agriculture; still, I had no idea that that reference would lead to the recommendation of a legislative

measure.

The idea of deriving a national advantage from the exportation of raw silk was entirely new, at that time, in the United States. Until then, the culture of that rich production of our soil had been considered only with a view to domestic manufuctures. This is so true, that, in the able report of the Committee on Agriculture, made to the House on the 2d of May, 1826; in the Manual that was prepared and published on their recommendation; and in the answers that were sent from all parts of the United States to the then Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Rush, in consequence of his circular

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