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Show 130 HISTORY OF PUBLIC LAND LAW DEVELOPMENT to live up to its title, it did go some distance in meeting the recommendations of forward-looking men who understood western needs. It provided for the opening of four land offices, as has been seen, set the dates for the public sales, ordered those townships which under the Act of 1796 were required to be sold in quarter-townships to be surveyed into sections and half-sections and offered for sale in 320-acre lots. No concession was made on price in 1800, $2.00 being retained as the minimum, but an 8 percent discount was allowed on three-fourths of the amount due if paid in advance. A major change in credit terms permitted the buyer to pay one-twentieth at the time of purchase, one-fourth in 40 days, a second fourth in 2 years, and the third and fourth installments in 3 and 4 years. Harrison fought hard to retain provisions in the House bill that would have required no interest except on delinquent payments (and would have permitted all lands to be sold in 320-acre tracts), but the Senate was obdurate, insisting in conference that 6 percent interest should be paid on all but the first payment and that land east of the Muskingum should be sold only in 640-acre tracts. In a political report to his constituents Harrison appeared unhappy about the retention of the $2 price for land but declared that "the time for making payments has been so extended as to put it in the power of every industrious man to comply with them. . . ." He also commented favorably on the change from the "odious circumstance of forfeiture, which was made the penalty of failing in the payments, of the old law. ..." Purchasers were now allowed a fifth year in which to complete payments; if not then accomplished their tracts were to be offered at public auction "and after the public have been reimbursed, the balance of the money is returned to the purchaser."23 Harrison left his readers with 23 Harrison to his constituents, Philadelphia, May 14, 1800, in Logan Esary, Governors Messages and Letters. Messages and Letters of William Henry Harrison (2 vols., Indianapolis, 1922), I, 13. the impression that forfeiture was entirely abolished in the new measure but he was not quite correct. Not only was the government to collect all delinquent charges plus interest and the "expenses of Sale" before returning anything to the delinquent debtor, but in the event that no bid covered all these items the tract was to be forfeited to the government and all payments made on it were also to be forfeited. Objections to Land Policy in Northwest Territory In a communication of January 13, 1803, Gallatin summarized some of the complaints against Federal land policy in the Northwest Territory. The $2.00 price he declared to be "advantageous to the population and prosperity" of the people, as it "effectually destroyed the monopoly of lands, and throws the land exclusively in the hands of actual settlers." He conceded, however, that the price was regarded as too high and that the many fees charged for services were burdensome. Modest relief could be granted by abolishing fees and giving the land officers salaries of $500 in their place. He did not recommend any change in price.24 Had he watched more carefully the reports of land sales coming in from the registers and receivers of the Ohio land offices, he would have been aware how wrong he was in saying that none but actual settlers were acquiring land, unless by actual settlers he simply meant local residents. In December 1803 he reiterated his statement that the high price was preventing the establishment of land monopolies and large speculations and expressed fear that a reduction in the price might stimulate the movement of population westward to a dangerous degree, would be harmful to private landowners, and would encourage speculative purchasing. He was troubled about the growth of a debtor class owing the government, and favored shorten- 24 Annals of Congress, 7th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1332. |