tion, and forfeiture of the goods to the government, and of subjecting himself to other penalties more or less severe.

§ 11. In the payment of ad valorem duties, there is considerable chance for the perpetration of fraud. The owner of the goods is required to swear to the accuracy and truthfulness of his invoices; that is, the bills of goods. The goods are estimated at their value where they are purchased, not where delivered.

A dishonest merchant might produce a false invoice, rating the goods below their cost value, so as to bring the duties to a lower standard. For instance, if he imported a thousand reams of paper, costing him four dollars a ream, he might produce to the customhouse officer a false invoice or bill, rating the paper at two dollars a ream. If the ad valorem duty were twenty per cent, and the importer should succeed in his fraud, he would clear four hundred dollars.

§ 12. But the custom-house officer is not bound by the invoice, nor by the oath of the owner. If he believes there is a mistake, he has the goods appraised, and exacts duties according to their ascertained value. If fraud is proved, the goods are forfeited to the use of the United States; and the perpetrator of the fraud may be punished for it as well as for the perjury.

§ 13. The power to borrow money on the credit of the United States is classed among the government resources. It has often been found to be of great importance in sustaining the financial interests of the country. No country can sustain itself through a long and expensive war, simply on its ordinary income. All the great powers of the world have found it necessary, at one time or another, to borrow money.

§ 14. In our wars with Great Britain and with Mexico, we found it necessary to borrow in large sums; but, in our more recent domestic war, we were compelled to run up our national debt to nearly three thousand millions In time of war, it is sometimes necessary, in a few years, to anticipate the government income for a quarter or half a century.

§ 15. The cost of the civil war in this country on the part of the

United States proper, saying nothing of the cost to the insurgent

§ 16. We were compelled to borrow from year to year as fol

The debt was considerably increased beyond the above figures from 1865 to 1866.

§ 17. The right of ownership always implies the right of alienation. The right to dispose of the territory of the United States is to be understood here in a restricted sense. Congress has not the power to dispose of a State, for instance, by alienation. The United States does not own a State in fee-simple, or in any sense implying an interest in its soil. Congress has the power to dispose of,

1st, Unorganized and unoccupied tracts or territories.

2d, Public lands in parcels to settlers, or to individuals desiring to purchase.

3d, To dispose of them in any other way for the promotion of the general welfare.

4th, To cede to States unoccupied lands lying within their boundaries, for literary or school purposes.

5th, To re-cede to States, for instance, from which they have been obtained, any lands, when the purposes for which they were obtained no longer exist.

§ 18. This power to dispose of the territory of the United States. implies the power to sell the lands, or to give them away for the

public good. Many of the Western States have received grants of large tracts of lands within their borders by act of Congress. In selling lands to individual purchasers, the government has received many millions into its treasury: so that the disposition of the territory of the United States may properly be regarded as one of the national resources.

§ 19. In 1780, Congress resolved that lands that might be relinquished to the United States by any particular State or States should be disposed of for the common benefit of the United States, and be settled and formed into distinct republican States, to become members of the Union, and have the same rights of sovereignty as other States. This was the first step taken which has resulted in the acquisition of immense territory subject to the disposal of Congress.

§ 20. Before being offered for sale, the lands are regularly surveyed into townships six miles square, and the townships into divisions called sections of six hundred and forty acres each (one mile square); and the sections are surveyed into half, quarter, and eighths of sections. The townships are numbered north and south, and ranges numbered east and west; as, for instance, township number nine, north or south, range six, east or west. Here is a map of a township marked off in sections, one of which is marked into subdivisions, each containing but forty acres :

§ 21. In most of the Western States, one section in each township has been granted to the State for common-school purposes. In Michigan, and perhaps in the other States, section sixteen is the one selected, locating the school-lands very near the centre of the township.

§ 22. For many years, the lands, after being surveyed, were subject to sale by auction, after which any that remained unsold were subject to purchase at private sale; the price in either case, a dollar and quarter an acre. But in 1854 there was a change in the terms: any that were unsold after being in market ten years or upwards were held for actual settlers at a dollar an acre. Unsold lands, after being in market fifteen years or upwards, to actual settlers, seventy-five cents per acre; twenty years or upwards, fifty cents per acre; twenty-five years or upwards, twenty-five cents per acre; thirty years or upwards, twelve and one-half cents per acre. Under this act, however, no settler was allowed to purchase more than three hundred and twenty acres, or half a section.

§ 23. May 20, 1862, Congress passed an act, which was amended March 21, 1864, and further amended June 21, 1866, known as the Homestead Law. This law allows actual settlers, under certain restrictions, to obtain one hundred and sixty acres of land, enough for a home, - for the trifling sum of five dollars. The chief restric

1st. The applicant shall make affidavit that he or she is the head

of a family; or,

2d. That he or she is twenty-one years of age or more; or,

3d. That he has performed service in the army or navy of the United

States

4th. That the application is made for his or her exclusive benefit. 5th. That said application is made for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation; and,

6th. That it is neither directly nor indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever.

7th. Before obtaining a title, there must be five years of actual occu

pancy.

§ 24. The foregoing synopsis will give a fair idea of the object

and intention of the law. The whole drift and scope of the act are, to encourage actual settlers to enter and cultivate the Western country. The theory of the advocates of this law is, that it is far better for the country, and more profitable to the government as a source of revenue, that these lands should be given away to millions of actual settlers and cultivators of the soil, than that they should be sold to speculators at whatever price, to remain untouched by the hand of industry, and unproductive for an indefinite future. Actual settlement will add immensely to the taxable property of the country.

§ 25. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1866, public lands were disposed of as follows:

During the same period 6,423,984.18 acres were offered for sale. The cash receipts from sales and other sources were $824,645.08. The number of homestead entries exceeded that of the preceding year by more than sixty per cent.

The entire amount of the public domain at that time was one thousand four hundred sixty-five millions, four hundred sixty-eight thousand, eight hundred acres (1,465,468,800). Of this vast domain, four hundred seventy-four millions, one hundred sixty thousand, five hundred fifty-one acres had been surveyed (474,160,551).

26. Congress is invested with power to dispose of other property of the United States. This, doubtless, includes every species of personal property. In time of war, especially, a vast amount of personal property accumulates in the hands of government, such as ships, horses, wagons, guns, clothing for soldiers, &c., which become useless in time of peace, and may be disposed of to the advantage of the public treasury.