and the income arising therefrom shall be faithfully applied to the specific objects of the original grants or appropriations.'

99 40

.42

Ohio received a total of 710,610 acres from the General Government for the support of common schools. The proceeds of the sales of these lands constituted, in 1874, five different funds, as shown in the books of the State auditor ;*2 viz., Section 16 School Fund, Virginia Military School Fund, U. S. Military School Fund, the Western Reserve School Fund, and the Moravian School Fund, all of which arose from the specific congressional donations for the use of the schools in the tracts named. Thereafter the Moravian School Fund, which in 1874 amounted to $3.160.58, constitutes a part of the Section 16 School Fund. The total irreducible debt of the State to the common school fund amounted, in 1897, to $3,952,046.28, which, owing to the nature of the various Congressional grants to Ohio, is distributed as follows: Section 16 School Fund, $3.379,903.60; Virginia Military School Fund, $194.371.35; U. S. Military School Fund, $120,272.12; Western Reserve School Fund, $257,499.21. Of this common school fund the State auditor is superintendent."

43

45

As the total expenditure for maintaining the Ohio State school system during the year 1896-'97 amounted to $13,712,729.43, the item of $237,162.63 interest on the irreducible State school fund for the same year contributed no more than about 1.7 per cent. towards the total State school expenditures.

University Land Grant

It will be recalled that the act of July 23, 1787, defining the powers of the "Board of Treasury to contract for the sale of Western territory" to the Ohio Company of Associates, provided that "not more than two townships * * be given per

40 Constitution 1851, Art. VI, Sec. I.

42 Report State Auditor, 1874, 14.

44 School Laws, 1898, Sec. 3953.

41 State Grants, 4.

43 Ibid., 1897, 16.

45 Ohio School Report, 1897, 71.

petually for the uses of a university, to be laid off by the purchasers as near the centre as may be, so that the same shall be of good land, to be applied to the intended object by the Legislature of the State." " Three days later, the Ohio Company stipulated as a condition of sale that "the land assigned for the establishment of a university * * be as nearly as possible in the centre of the first million and a half acres we shall pay for; for, to fix it in the centre of the proposed purchase, might too long defer the establishment." " On the 27th of July Congress acceded to this condition; and we are thus led to note, in this measure, the first endowment by the General Government for the promotion of higher education. The formal contract of purchase between the Board of Treasury and the Ohio Company, bearing the date of October 27, 1787, provides for the grant of the two university townships as enacted by the measure of the preceding July 27th. Not until 1795, however, was the selection of these townships made. Four years later, by order of the Territorial Legislature, the town of Athens was surveyed for the university site; and in 1802 the legislature incorporated "The American University" on the basis of this endowment.48

49

A petition of John Cleves Symmes and associates, dated August 29, 1787, requested of Congress the privilege of purchasing and settling lands in the western territory on conditions similar to those granted the Ohio Company, but requesting the grant of only one township "for the purposes of an academy." "9 On the following October 2nd, the petition was referred to the Board of Treasury for consideration. The upshot of the negotiations was a general agreement, but no contract, with the Board of Treasury for the purchase of a tract of land on the Miami, among the provisions being the condition that one complete township should be set apart for an academy or college. Finally on October 15, 1788, a contract, conformable

46 Pub. Lands, Laws, c. 21.

48 Ohio School Report, 1886, 333.

47

17 Ibid., c. 22.

49 Ch. I, ante.

to these conditions, was signed for the purchase of the Miami lands.50 By 1789 the township for the use of the seminary in the Symmes purchase had been designated and selected; and the formal transfer was completed by an act of Congress of May 5, 1792, empowering the President to grant to John Cleves Symmes and associates “in trust, for the purpose of estabishing an academy and other public schools and seminaries of learning, one complete township, conformably to an order of Congress" of October 2, 1787.

On April 30, 1802, Congress passed an act authorizing the assembling of a convention to frame a constitution for the eastern portion of the Northwestern Territory, and providing for the admission of the future State into the Union.52 The Ohio Constitution of 1802 thus formed contained a provision. securing to all an equal participation in the colleges and universities endowed in whole or in part by the United States.5 Now, in 1799 it had been discovered that thirty-one sections of the university township in the Symmes patent had been sold. In order to remedy the deficiency thus arising, Congress, in the formal act of admission (March 3, 1803) authorized the selection of lands amounting to one complete township within the district of Cincinnati for the use of such university, in lieu of the township previously granted." This is the last Congressional measure concerning the Ohio university lands.

The subsequent history of the university lands is in the main a counterpart of the history of the common school lands. A valuable trust was mismanaged, and for many years the culpable trustee made no attempt at amends. The American University was, in 1804, by act of the State Legislature, superseded by the Ohio University, to which institution were granted the two university townships donated by Congress.55 This law of 1804 further provided that the university lands were to be 51 I S., c. 30, s. 3, p. 267. 58 Constitution, 1802, Art. VIII, sec. 25.

50 Ohio School Report, 1886, 343.

52 2 S., c. 40, p. 40.

$42 S., c. 21, p. 225.

55 Ohio School Report, 1886, 334.

leased by the university trustees for a term of ninety years, renewable forever, at an annual rental of six per cent. on the amount of the valuation. Such lands were, furthermore, to be revalued at the expiration of thirty-five and sixty years, respectively, and at the expiration of ninety a final revaluation was to be made, which should thereafter function as the basis of rental valuation for all time. On the suggestion of the Governor, an ex-officio trustee of the university, that a more liberal policy toward the lessees should be adopted, the Legislature, during the following year, changed the law so as to direct the university trustees to lease the lands for terms of ninety-nine years, at an annual rental of six per cent. interest on the original appraised valuation; provided, however, that no lands should be appraised at less than $1.75 per acre.57 This minimum valuation was repealed by a law of 1807. A law of 1826 authorized the trustees to sell any of the unleased lands, by virtue of which about 2,000 acres had been sold up to 1876.58

Retracing our narrative we note that by September, 1803, the university township in the Symmes tract had been selected, and in 1809 the State Legislature passed a bill establishing the Miami University.50 This law of 1809 directed the university trustees to lease the university lands to the highest bidder for a period of ninety-nine years, at an annual rental of six per cent. on a valuation of not less than $2 per acre. Such leases were, furthermore, to be subject to a revaluation of the lands every fifteen years. But in 1810 this revaluation provision was repealed, thus practically destroying any permanent value to be derived from the lands.60 All the lands were readily leased on such favorable terms to lessees; but from 1824 when Miami University opened its doors, until 1873 when it temporarily suspended work from lack of adequate financial support, the institution received from its township of land the meagre income of $5,600 per annum.61 In 1885 Miami University was reopened, receiving State assistance.

56 Knight, Land Grants, 118, 119. 59 Ohio School Report, 1886, 335.

57 Ibid., 120.

58 Ibid., 120.

61 Ibid., 124.

60 Knight, Land Grants, 123.

The mere statement of these facts undoubtedly imposes upon one's judgment the conviction that the losses sustained by Ohio's two State institutions are indefinitely great. In fact, no other issue could have been expected when the splendid endowments aggregating 69,120 acres were trammeled by a series of long-term leases extending over periods of ninety-nine years without frequent opportunities for re-appraisal. Thus, for instance, the aggregate valuation of certain Ohio University lands for taxation in 1883 was $1,060,000, while the valuation of the same lands made in the year 1805, and upon which the lessees were paying a rental of six per cent. interest per annum, was $70,000.

63

64

The Miami University lands were, in 1893, producing an annual income of $5,894; while from the statistics at hand the writer estimates that during the year 1897 the Ohio University received about $10,000 income from its land endowment. Since 1896 the State has provided for the further maintenance of these two institutions. In this year a law was passed providing for a fund to be known as the "Ohio and Miami University Fund," derived from a 0.3 mill State tax, of which seven-twelfths are granted to the Ohio University and five-twelfths to the Miami University. From this source, in 1897, the former received $25,305, and the latter, $20,511.

Saline Lands Grant

As early as May 18, 1796, in an act providing for the sales of the public lands in the Northwest Territory, Congress 62 A unique piece of legislation is worth recording. In 1841, the Ohio University trustees undertook to revalue the university lands, in accordance with the law of 1804. The lessees held that the law of 1805 invalidated the law of the previous year. A test case was brought before the Supreme Court of the State, which decided that such revaluation was legal. The pressure brought to bear upon the Legislature was so great, that in March, 1843, an act was passed annulling the decision of the Supreme Court, and declaring the revaluation clause of 1804 invalid. See Knight, Land Grants, 120, 121.

63

3 Knight, Land Grants, 121.

65 School Laws, 1898, 46.

6 Catalog, 1893-94, VII.