of the principal of said funds, as heretofore, be prohibited, and the enactment of a law that will require the investment, by the Treasurer of State, of such principal, as the same may be paid in, in stocks of the United States, or of this State.

In this connection I request your special attention to the Report of the Auditor of State on this subject.

SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY LANDS.

The School Lands consist of the five hundred thousand acres grant, and the Sixteenth Section. Large quantities of these Lands have, from time to time, been sold by county officers, authorized by law to make such sales. These sales have been generally made upon time, the purchaser paying in hand a portion of the purchase money, and taking a contract entitling him to a patent from the State upon the payment of the balance with annual interest. Many of these sales were made at high prices, before the monetary revulsion of 1857, and many of the purchasers have, since that revulsion, failed to pay either principal or interest. Portions of the lands have thus become forfeited to the State for non-payment of the purchase money, and have been re-sold to other parties. But there is no sufficient provision of law requiring such forfeitures and re-sales to be reported to any State officer, and the result is that it is now impossible to ascertain, from any record at the Capitol, the number of acres or the particular description of the several parcels of the School Lands yet unsold.

This condition of affairs should not be permitted to continue, and I recommend the enactment of such laws as will remove the difficulty.

The Saline Lands and Funds are now 66 a part of the Permanent Fund" of the State University. I call your attention to that part of the Report of the Register of the State Land Office, which shows the necessity for further legislation in regard to the issuance of Certificates of full payment for the portion of these lands already sold, and recommend that the Treasurer of the University be authorized to issue such certificates, and that the power to sell the unsold portion of the lands be vested in the Trustees.

In many cases School Lands were sold, prior to 1857, at such high prices that, after that date, they were not worth the amount due on them. The purchasers have ceased to pay either principal

or interest. I suggest the inquiry, whether it would not be well to provide for the surrender of these lands to the State, the purchaser being relieved from further liability, by forfeiting payments already made, without resort to legal proceedings.

I call your particular attention to the full and able report of the Register of the State Land Office. It contains much valuable information touching the various land grants made to the State, and suggests several points upon which further legislation is needed.

THE 500,000 ACRES GRANT.

As I have elsewhere stated, it is not possible to ascertain, in any office here, the amount or the description of the various parcels of this land yet unsold by the State. The records of the Register show the amount that has been patented to purchasers, but do not show how much of the balance has been sold or is held under contract of sale, and how much is unsold. This is also true of the Sixteenth Section lands. The Ninth General Assembly provided, by law, for the purchase, for the use of the School Fund, of lands mortgaged by borrowers of that fund, as security, but the law does not provide for the making of a return to the Register, of lands thus purchased and of sales made thereof by the officers authorized to sell. Information on all these points can be had, only, in the various counties. Under these circumstances, it is clearly impossible for the State to exercise, over these lands and their proceeds, that vigilant superintendence it should exercise. These lands were granted to the State, in trust, for educational purposes, and good faith to the grantor, as well as the best interest of the State, involved in the education of our youth, require the utmost care and vigilance in the execution of the trust.

I therefore recommend the passage of a law making it obligatory upon the proper county officers to make return to the Register of all the lands of the Sixteenth Section and the 500,000 Acres Grant, sold in their respective counties, the dates of sales, the names of the persons to whom sold, the terms of sale, and the extent to which these terms have been complied with, the forfeitures to the State for non-payment, and the re-sales of the lands thus forfeited, with full particulars, and like full information concerning the lands mortgaged by borrowers of the School Fund, and purchased by the State for the use of the said fund. To secure uni

formity, it would be well to require the Register to furnish forms to the county officers, and, to secure the making of the returns, it would also be well to provide for the punishment of any officer failing to make them.

The University Grant Lands are now under he control of the Trustees of the University, and the Saline Lands, now belonging to the University, should, I think, be under the same control. I recommend, however, that the Register be required to call for, and the Trustees to furnish, information in regard to these lands, similar to that above named in regard to the School Lands, that the Register may have, in his office, full and particular evidence of their situation.

THE DES MOINES RIVER GRANT.

Portions of these lands, above the City of Des Moines, have been sold to individuals, whose titles are now contested by certain Railroad Companies. I repeat a portion of my communication to the Ninth General Assembly, on this subject, as follows:

"The State having only conveyed what title it had to these lands, may not be, legally, liable to make good any loss resulting to others from a failure of that title; but, certainly, is morally bound, at least, to do what may be reasonably and fairly done to protect the rights and interests of those threatened with such loss. When the State granted to the Railroad Companies the lands granted to the State by Congress, for Railroad purposes, it was not contemplated by the parties, certainly it was not contemplated by the State, that it was granting to these Companies lands previously conveyed by the State to others; and if, since the making of these grants, the Companies who are to receive the benefit of them, have discovered that, by strict legal construction, they are entitled to more than was contemplated, either by themselves or by the State, and are disposed to enforce, strictly, these legal rights, to the injury of innocent purchasers from the State, the State may, and, I think, should hold these Companies, in all things, to a strict compliance with the terms of the grants made to them. If these Companies are now in default, and ask the indulgence and clemency of the State, it seems to me the State may, very properly, before extending such indulgence and clemency, enquire and know what indulgence and clemency these Companies will extend to the un

fortunate holders of these lands, and make for the one, with the other, such terms and conditions as may be equitable and just to al."

At that Session, a law was passed forbidding the Governor to certify any further lands to the Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad Company, until said Company should have released to the State, for the benefit of her grantees, the title to such of these lands as were claimed by that Company. No such release has been given, nor have any further lands been certified to said Company.

There is another conflict of title, between the Des Moines Navigation Company, claiming as grantee of the State, and the Railroad Companies touching which the Report of the Register will afford you much valuable information. It is very desirable that these conflicts should be settled, because so long as they remain` unsettled, the uncertainty of the title will prevent purchases from either of the contesting parties, and the lands will remain vacant. The joint resolution of Congress, of date March 3d, 1861, and the Act of Congress, of date July 12th, 1862, concerning these lands have, in my judgment, put it in the power of the State to do something towards an amicable and equitable adjustment of this difficulty, and I recommend that an effort be made to that end. I further recommend that, if such effort shall fail, the Attorney General of the State be directed to bring, or cause to be brought, in the Courts of the United States, if it may be done, such suit or suits as will procure from the Supreme Court of the United States a final decision of these vexed questions.

THE SWAMP LAND GRANT.

I recommend the modification of the law approved April 8th, 1862, providing for the appointment of agents in regard to these lands, so as to allow the appointment of but a single agent on the part of the State, and to prohibit the appointment of special agents by counties. I am well satisfied that a single agent, appointed by the State, will be able to effect more towards a speedy settlement of the Swamp Land business of the State, at Washington, than a larger number will do.

The same reasons which render desirable the settlement of the conflicting claims of the Railroad Companies, and the grantees of the State, to portions of the Des Moines River Grant, apply with

equal force to the conflict of title that has arisen between certain counties and the Railroad Companies as to portions of the Swamp Lands. I invite your careful examination of the question, whether you can do anything to bring about a settlement of these conflicting claims.

The Swamp Lands are granted to the State upon the condition "that the proceeds of said lands, whether from sale or direct appropriation, in kind, shall be applied, exclusively, as far as necessary, to the purpose of re-claiming such lands, by means of the levees and drains aforesaid." The State by accepting this Grant, covenanted to perform this condition, either directly, or by those to whom she granted the lands; and this obligation still remains, and must continue to remain until it shall have been done. I recommend a careful examination of the legislation already had in regard to these lands, for the purpose of ascertaining if this point has been sufficiently secured, and supplying additional legislation, should it be found necessary.

I invite your special attention to that portion of the Report of the Register relating to the decision of the Secretary of the Interior, changing the form and substance of the proof required, of the swampy character of the lands sold by the United States, after the date of the Swamp Land Grant, for which the United States are to indemnify the State, and the decision of that officer, cutting off all claims for indemnity in counties where the Swamp Land selections were made after the 3d of March, 1857; and I recommend that you take the action suggested by the Register on these points. There can be no good reason why the claims of Iowa, under this Grant, shall not be settled upon as liberal terms as the claims of other States; and if, by want of county organizations in aportion of our State, the proper steps were not taken to secure these lands, in those counties, within the time limited by law, I have no doubt that Congress will, upon a proper presentation of the facts, extend the time so that it may yet be done.

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE GRANT.

Under the Act of Congress, approved July 2d, 1862, granting lands to the States and Territories which may provide Colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts, this State is entitled to receive 240,000 acres of land, upon the conditions con