ourse between
nations and as the basis of future postal conventions inaugurate a general
system of uniform international charges at reduced rates of postage, and
can not fail to produce beneficial results.

I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Interior, which is
herewith laid before you, for useful and varied information in relation to
the public lands, Indian affairs, patents, pensions, and other matters of
public concern pertaining to his Department.

The quantity of land disposed of during the last and the first quarter of
the present fiscal years was 3,841,549 acres, of which 161,911 acres were
sold for cash, 1,456,514 acres were taken up under the homestead law, and
the residue disposed of under laws granting lands for military bounties,
for railroad and other purposes. It also appears that the sale of the
public lands is largely on the increase.

It has long been a cherished opinion of some of our wisest statesmen that
the people of the United States had a higher and more enduring interest in
the early settlement and substantial cultivation of the public lands than
in the amount of direct revenue to be derived from the sale of them. This
opinion has had a controlling influence in shaping legislation upon the
subject of our national domain. I may cite as evidence of this the liberal
measures adopted in reference to actual settlers; the grant to the States
of the overflowed lands within their limits, in order to their being
reclaimed and rendered fit for cultivation; the grants to railway
companies of alternate sections of land upon the contemplated lines of
their roads, which when completed will so largely multiply the facilities
for reaching our distant possessions. This policy has received its most
signal and beneficent illustration in the recent enactment granting
homesteads to actual settlers. Since the 1st day of January last the
before-mentioned quantity of 1,456,514 acres of land have been taken up
under its provisions. This fact and the amount of sales furnish gratifying
evidence of increasing settlement upon the public lands, notwithstanding
the great struggle in which the energies of the nation have been engaged,
and which has required so large a withdrawal of our citizens from their
accustomed pursuits. I cordially concur in the recommendation of the
Secretary of the Interior suggesting a modification of the act in favor
of those engaged in the military and naval service of the United State