Political Quotes

“this morning my friend from New Jersey reflected a little history of public lands. I listened intently, and while I appreciate his point of view, I suggest there are two points of view relative to the history of public lands and the transition that has occurred in this country. Under the Northwest Ordinance, which, as a matter of fact, predated the Constitution, the prevailing philosophy was simply to dispose of lands either to the States or the territories or to private individuals. And as the several States obtained their inheritance, they for obvious reasons began to lose interest in further Federal transfers. In other words, they had achieved what they wanted. Mr. President, this goes back to the period of about 1788 when this Northwest Ordinance prevailed. So they lost the incentive once they received their land and further Federal transfers simply were not necessary. The State of Arkansas obtained over 11 million acres from the Federal Government, over one-third of its total acreage. Only about 3 percent of New Jersey currently is in Federal ownership. So the history of public lands is a history of those States, mainly the Eastern States, that have already obtained the lands needed for their schools, their roads, their economy, and other purposes. Then we have the Western States and territories that basically remain captive to the Federal Government and the interests of those Eastern States.”