In the prairie countries alone the price heretofore allowed by Congress has been enormously large. There is no daugerof striking down the surveying system bythe reduction proposed by this bill. or even by the amendment offered. If the Committee on Appropriations will jive money enough to survey a sufficient amount of lands and provide for the immigration that is coming into the country. they will have cared for the surveys of the public lands of the United States. The price paid is ample. and any man familiar with the facts will know that a fivethousanddollar contract or a tenthousanddollar contract under the old rates would yield a profit to the contractor of from 50 to 75 per cent.. and his seasons work would not be over four months long. and that. too. in days when they had to rig up teams and hire more men than they needed. and hire arms to protect themselves against the Indians. The fear. therefore. that the survey system of the United States is going to be injured by this reduction is a baseless one.
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