Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1859 — The Swamp Land Funt. [ARTICLE]

The Swamp Land Funt.

The management of the affairs of the State has been in the Democratic party ever since the National Government ceded to the States the swamp lands within tehir limits, and of course it is responsible for the proper disposition of the amount to which Indiana was entitled. Under the provisions of that act, our State was entitled to 1,252,038 acres. Some of these lands were very valuable, so that it would be safe to say that, after paving the expenses of draining, they ought to have been worth one dollar per acre. If so we ought now to have a fund from this source amounting to one million and a quarter of dollars. Where is it? Can any one tell? At the last session of the Legislature a joint committee was appointed to examine into these funds. The report of the committee has but recently been published and distributed with the laws, so that it may be found at every Clerk’s Office in the State. The report, and the evidence taken by the Committee, make sixty-three pages; altogether too much to be copied into a news- ■ paper. At present we can only make a few extracts from it, but shall refer to it again: “By the law of 1852 it. was made the duty of the Governor to appoint Swamp Land Commissioners in every county owning Swamp Lands. In many instances these appointments were singularlly unfortunate, possessing neither qualification nor honesty of such a character as to fit them for their responsibilities. “We have had our attention culled to the official misconduct of these officers in several counties, but have found it utterly impossible to give the subject that, investigation which the interest of the State and justice demand. In the county of Jasper our investigation has satisfied us that the officers of that county have not only aided others in the commission of great frauds upon the Swamp Land Funds, but have also been participants in the profits rising therefrom. In this charge we make no reference to the present treasurer and auditor of this county. “The commissioner, at the letting of a large u-< otint. ot ditching under the law o; 1852, let utmost the entire work to one man lor t e sum of 20 cents the cubic yard, although at tfiis letting there were guod and responsible bids tor the same work at It cents the cubic yard, and une as low as ten cents. The ditching contracted for at this letting has never been finished accor ling to the plans and specific tioiis, and some ot the ditches are worthless. The entire estimates o' this work, amounting to $39,45 1.59, have been paid to the contractor. According to the testimony before us, this one transaction lias resulted in gre .t loss to the Swamp I,and Fund, and loss to tiie value o; real estate in the vicinity ol the work.” *** ********* “The Swamp Land act, .approved March 5, 1857, required that these fraudulent conveyances should be returned and canceled, a hen the work was not completed, but provided that the loose contracts upon which they had been obtained might be ratified and confirmed by the Swamp Lmd Commissioner, and provided that the contractors might file with the county auditor lists of lands selected by them to be talc at iii payment for ditching, and the sale 01 these selected lands was then prohibited by the county officers till the completion or perfecting ol t ie contract, for the payment of which they were filed, and that seventy-five per cent, upon the estimates of the work done should be issued to the contractor until all was done, when certificates for the whole should be issued; and provided further that the contractor might at any time, by depositing $1,25 per acre with the county treasurer for the whole or any part ot the lands in his list, take out certificates and procure patents for the same, and tiiat the money so paid into the county treasury should be then retained, •to be repaid to the contractor at the rate 01 seventy-five per cent, upon estimate of work done, until the cunt ract was completed, when all should be repaid Under this law the Swamp Land Commissioner of Jasper county confirmed all the old contract, at twenty cents per cubic yard, which had been originally let at Irom twelve to eighteen cents per cubic yard, and the contractors were permitted to file lists of lands to any amount they desired, and the amounts of their respective contracts were swelled up to cover the amount filed lor, anti in a short time after the taking effect of this law, all the) unsold Swamp Lands ol Jasper county, j amounting to about one hundred and seven-ty-five thousand acres, were then absorbed,! and nearly all the Conti t .i. rs, wiiliout paying any money into the canny treasury, by ! private arrangements with J .cob Mo kle, the treasurer of J ,<sper county, obtained irmn I him certificates ol purchase, and upon these i obtained a greater part ol their patents lor! these lands. From estimates of the whole 1 amount of these coi Had, and ot the amount ol work done upon the same at the expiration 01 the term o 'lie said M rkie’s term of office, he should have paid over to his sue- | cessor in office at least one hundred thou- * sand dollars of money, deposited with him j by contractor ol lands oh timed by them, hut not one cent was so paid over to him. The lands being gone and there being no moneys for the same on deposit in the county treasury, and consequently no incentive to I the completion ot the contracts, and their being no law to enforce their completion, your committee would recommend ilia some law be passed to remedy this defect.” Notwi hstanding llns iminiticciii Inn.l,more than sufficient to educate thousands of the children of the State, has thus been squandered by those to'whom it was entrusted, they »sk to be retained in power. If peopl would only look into these m; tters, uninfluenced by mere partisan c >nsiderations, they would no longer Irust 'hose who have thus grossly abused their confidence. The truth is, and it is every day becoming more and more apparent, that the Democratic party has been in power so long that it has become extravagant, and toTupt, and needs to be purified by an uprising of people, such as swept a similar adminis’ra’ion from power in 1840. — Ind. Daily Atlas. OirP- Yousey has been on trial for horse stealing in Kentucky. One part of the evidence was a piece of his finger. Just befo.e he stole the horse, his finger was taken off by the knife of a cutting-box, and a Mr. Young got possession, and has kept it tor more than a year. At the trial Young produced the piece ot finger, and it fitted exactly.