agriculture and the mechanic arts, as the legislatures of the States may
respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical
education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and
professions in life."

As there does not appear from the bill to be any beneficiaries in
existence to which this endowment can be applied, each State is required
"to provide, within five years at least, not less than one college, or
the grant to said State shall cease." In that event the "said State
shall be bound to pay the United States the amount received of any lands
previously sold, and that the title to purchasers under the State shall
be valid."

The grant in land itself is confined to such States as have public lands
within their limits worth $1.25 per acre in the opinion of the governor.
For the remaining States the Secretary of the Interior is directed to
issue "land scrip to the amount of their distributive shares in acres
under the provisions of this act, said scrip to be sold by said States,
and the proceeds thereof applied to the uses and purposes prescribed in
this act, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever." The lands are
granted and the scrip is to be issued "in sections or subdivisions of
sections of not less than one-quarter of a section."

According to an estimate from the Interior Department, the number of
acres which will probably be accepted by States having public lands
within their own limits will not exceed 580,000 acres (and it may be
much less), leaving a balance of 5,480,000 acres to be provided for by
scrip. These grants of land and land scrip to each of the thirty-three
States are made upon certain conditions, the principal of which is that
if the fund shall be lost or diminished on account of unfortunate
investments or otherwise the deficiency shall be replaced and made good
by the respective States.

I shall now proceed to state my objections to this bill. I deem it to be
both inexpedient and unconstitutional.

1. This bill has been passed at a period when we can with great
difficulty raise sufficient revenue to sustain the expenses of the
Government. Should it become a law the Treasury will be deprived of the
whole, or nearly the whole, of our income from the sale of public lands,
which for the next fiscal year has been estimated at $5,000,000.

A bare statement of the case will make this evident. The minimum price
at which we dispose of our lands is $1.25 per acre. At the