ther, That not more than one million acres shall be located by such assignees, in any of the States; and Provided, further That no such location shall be made before one year from the passage of this act. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That all the expenses of management, superintendence, and taxes from date of selection of said lands previous to their sales, and all expenses incurred in the management and disbursement of the moneys which may be received therefrom, shall be paid by the State to which they may belong, out of the treasury of said State, so that the entire proceeds of the sales of said lands shall be applied without any diminution whatever to the purposes hereinafter mentioned. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That all moneys derived from the sale of the lands aforesaid by the States to which the lands are apportioned, and from the sale of land-scrip hereinbefore provided for, shall be invested in stocks of the United States, or of the States, or some other safe stocks, yielding not less than five per centum upon the par value of said stocks; and that the money so invested shall constitute a perpetual fund, the capital of which shall remain forever undiminished (except so far as may be provided in section fifth of this act), and the interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated by each State, which may take and claim the benefit of this act, to the endowment, support, and maintainance of at least one College, where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the grant of land and land-scrip hereby authorized shall be made on the following conditions, to which, as well as to the provisions hereinbefore contained, the previous assent of the several States shall be signified by legislative acts: First. If any portion of the fund invested as provided by the foregoing section, or any portion of the interest thereon shall, by any action or contingency, be diminished or lost, it shall be replaced by the State to which it belongs, so that the capital of the fund shall remain forever undiminished; and the annual interest shall be regularly applied without diminution to the purposes mentioned in the fourth section of this act, except that a sum not exceeding ten per centum upon the amount received by any State under the provisions of this act, may be expended for the purchase of lands for sites or experimental farms, whenever authorized by the respective legislatures of said States. Second.-No portion of said fund, nor the interest thereon, shall be applied directly or indirectly, under any pretense whatever, to the purchase, erection, preservation or repair of any building or buildings. Third.—Any State which may take and claim the benefit of the provisions of this act may provide, within five years, at least not less than one college, as described in the fourth section of this act, or the grant to such State shall cease; and said State shall be bound to pay the United States the amount received of any lands previously sold, and that the title to purchasers under the State shall be valid. Fourth.-An annual report shall be made regarding the progress of each college, recording any improvements and experiments made, with their cost and result, and such other matters, including State, industrial, and economical statistics, as may be supposed useful; one copy of which shall be transmitted by mail free by each to all the other colleges which may be endowed under the provisions of this act, and also one copy to the Secretary of the Interior. Fifth. When lands shall be selected from those which have been raised to double the minimum price, in consequence of railroad grants, they shall be computed to the State at the maximum price, and the number of acres proportionably diminished. Sixth.-No State while in a condition of rebellion or insurrection against the Government of the United States shall be entitled to the benefit of this act. Seventh.-No State shall be entitled to the benefit of this act, unless it shall express its acceptance thereof by its legislature within two years from the date of its approval by the President. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That land-scrip issued under the provisions of this act shall not be subject to location until after the first day of January, 1863. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the land officers shall receive the same fees for locating land-scrip issued under the provisions of this act as is now allowed for the location of military bounty land warrants under existing laws: Provided, Their maximum compensation shall not be thereby increased. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the governors of the several States to which scrip shall be issued under this act shall be required to report annually to Congress all sales made of such scrip until the whole shall be disposed of, the amount received for the same, and what appropriation has been made of the proceeds. Approved July 2, 1862. (U. S. Stat., 1861-2, p. 503.) This grant was accepted by act of the extra session of the Ninth General Assembly, approved September 11, 1862. Under its provisions an agent was appointed to select the lands, who made the selections in the latter part of the year 1864. The State was entitled to 240,000 of land, but received only 204,309.30 acres. This was by reason of a portion of the lands selected being within the railroad limits and accounted at double their quantity. The act of the Tenth General Assembly, approved March 29, 1864, authorizes the board of trustees of the college to sell or lease all of said lands, but stipulates that not more than ten per cent of the lands shall be sold prior to April 1, 1866. This is the only act that ever made provision for patenting the said lands to purchasers. (Except section 3, chapter 169, acts Nineteenth General Assembly, which provides for patenting to the purchaser at tax sale of a leasehold interest when he has made full payment for the lands as per terms of lease.) This provision, of the act of 1864, is not embodied in the Code of 1873, and may consequently be repealed. The act of the Eleventh General Assembly, approved March 29, 1866, authorizes the trustees to sell all the lands, or to lease them in amounts not to exceed 160 acres to any one man, the lessee to have the privilege of purchasing the land at or before the expiration of the lease at the appraisement which was advanced fifty per cent above that made by the trustees in the year 1865. This law also provides for investing the funds arising from the sale of the lands, as well as the interest derived from the leases. The act of the Fifteenth General Assembly, approved March 19, 1874, gives the trustees of the college authority to lease the lands granted by Congress as aforesaid, not exceeding 160 acres to any one person for a term not exceeding ten years, the lessee to pay eight per cent per annum, in advance, upon the price of the land, which is declared to be not less than fifty per cent additional to the price at which each piece of land respectively was appraised by the board of trustees in the year 1865; the lessee to have the privilege of purchasing the land at the expiration of the lease at the price aforesaid. If the interest is not paid within sixty days from the time it is due, the lease is forfeited, with all improvements on the land. This act also authorizes the trustees to renew leases heretofore made for a term not exceeding ten years from date of renewal, the rate of interest to be eight per cent, and in case of renewals the land to be subject to taxation at the end of ten years from the original lease. The trustees to furnish the auditors of the several counties in which the lands are situated a list of such lands subject to taxation. The re-leasing to be done by the secretary of the college without extra compensation. The Nineteenth General Assembly passed an act approved March 25, 1882, providing for taxing leasehold interests in Agricultural College lands, where the lease to such land has been renewed ten years from date of original lease. Such leasehold interest to be assessed, taxed, and sold, and redemption from sale be made or tax deed issued like other real estate. The purchaser at tax sale has the right to pay interest or principal due on the lease, and if there is no redemption from tax sale to procure patent from the State for the land leased. (See Session Laws, pp. 159-161.) This is about all the legislation affecting the College lands. There has been some further legislation relative to the College and its affairs, which it is not necessary to notice in this connection. Mr. George W. Bassett, agent of the Agricultural College, has informed me that all of the lands received by the State under the congressional grant for said College are now leased. OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. STATE OF IOWA, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. SIR-For reasons many in number and largely beyond my control, I have been unable to give, at an earlier day, any conclusions touching the issuance of patents for the Agricultural College lands. Although familiar to you, it is proper for me to give a summary of the legislation upon the subject. Congress, by an act approved July 2d, 1862, granted the lands, since ascertained to be 204,000 acres, to the State. The State, by the general assembly, accepted the grant September 11, 1862. In 1864 the general assembly, by chapter 117, acts of the Tenth General Assembly, passed the first statute upon the subject. Section one, of that act, authorized the sale of a limited part of the lands. Section two authorized the leasing of any or all the lands for ten or more years, the lessee to pay, as rent, six per cent on the value of the lands, and at the expiration of the lease would have the privilege of purchasing the same at the value or price of the land at the commencement of the lease, which value was determined at the time by appraisement under the statute. It must be kept in mind that under this statute there was no limitation either as to the amount of lands to be leased, or that could be leased to any one person. And I am advised in writing by Mr. Bassett, agent, that under this statute acres were leased, and in many in stances much in excess of 160 acres to one person. The general assembly, again in 1866 (chapter 71), passed another statute. In this there was no limitation as to the amount that might be sold outright, but there was an express limitation to the effect that not more than 160 acres could be leased to any one person. January 10th, 1881, in an official communication addressed to Governor Gear, I held, that while these leases were assignable, yet a lessee or other person could not be permitted to circumvent the law, and, by assignments, take in excess of 160 acres. I still adhere to this. I am unable to indorse the argument made before me, that while a lease of more than 160 acres could not be given, yet that, by assignments, the same thing could be done. What the law in express terms prohibited, it is now claimed can be done in an indirect way. I don't know that I am accurate when I say that in my opinion the legislature intended to prohibit the leasing of large tracts to one person, because of a policy that would more readily develop the country if leased in smaller tracts. Nor is it very important that I should try and fathom the reason. It is sufficient that the general assembly made this limitation, and not only so, but in 1874 the legislature again imposed the same limitation. So that, for seventeen years it has stood upon the statutes. A part of the lands were leased under the act of 1864, before herein referred, and a part under the act of 1866. In 1874 many of these ten year leases were about expiring. It was enacted by the Fifteenth General Assembly, chapter 71, section 2, that the board of trustees could renew the leases theretofore made, for another term, not exceeding ten years, at an annual rental of eight per cent. It is in case of renewals that are now expiring where the application for patents are made. Under the act of 1874 no authority to sell the lands is given. It simply provides by section 1 for the leasing, and, as before stated, limits the amount to 160 acres to one person. And by section 2 renewals may be made. It provides for the renewal of "leases heretofore made," and of course covers those made under the acts of 1864 and 1866. It is the first and only act providing for renewals. In my opinion to Governor Gear, of January 10, 1881, I said that in my judgment these renewals should be regarded as new and independent contracts, and not to be construed as a continuation of the old lease. As to this I have changed my mind, and now think that it is the old lease that is in force, with no change excepting as to the rate of interest. And with this change as to interest as a rental I think the contract should be regarded as the old and first one made, with ten years added as to time of maturity. With this belief, it seems to me that the leases made prior to taking effect of the act of 1866, and since renewed, should be considered as having their being under the act of 1864. Those made subsequently, and up to 1874, should be construed as existing under the laws of 1866. And those made since that time should be governed by the laws of 1874. These contracts are not only leases but are of two-fold character, they also being conditional sales. This feature of them is executory in character, the lessee cannot claim to be a purchaser until he has performed all the conditions; when he has done those things then he has the preference over all other parties. But to have this preference what must he do and who must he be? 1st. He must strictly have complied with all the conditions of his lease. 2d. He must be the lessee or assignee such as contemplated by law. This latter he cannot be if by assignment or other means he has done those things not allowable by law. If he has promptly paid his rent on the excess over and above 160 acres, although not entitled to it he has had the use and occupancy of the land. But what claim he can now make to the ownership of the land I do not understand. He has violated the law. His contract is |