Without tracing the system of preemption laws through the several stages, it is sufficient to observe that it rests upon certain just and plain principles, firmly established in all our legislation.  The object of these laws is to encourage the expansion of population and the development of agricultural interests, and hence they have been invariably restricted to settlers.  Actual residence and cultivation are made indispensable conditions; and, to guard the privilege from abuses of speculation or monopoly, the law is rigid as to the mode of establishing claims by adequate testimony, with penalties for perjury.  Mining, trading, or any pursuit other than culture of the soil is interdicted, mineral lands being expressly excluded from preemption privileges, excepting those containing coal, which, in quantities not exceeding 160 acres, are restricted to individuals in actual possession and commerce, with an enhanced minimum of $20 per acre.

For a quarter of a century the quantity of land subject to agricultural preemption has been limited so as not to exceed a quarter section, or 160 acres; and, still further to guard against monopoly, the privilege of preemption is not allowed to any person who owns 320 acres of land in any State or Territory of the United States, nor is any person entitled to more than one preemptive right, nor is it extended to lands to which the Indian usufruct has not been extinguished.  To restrict the privilege within reasonable limits, credit to the ordinary preemptor on offered land is not extended beyond twelve months, within which time the minimum price must be paid.  Where the settlement is upon unoffered territory, the time for payment is limited to the day of public offering designated by proclamation of the President; while, to prevent depreciation of the land by waste or destruction of what may constitute its value, penal enactments have been made for the punishment of persons depredating upon public timber.

Now, supposing the New York and Montana Iron Mining and Manufacturing Company to be entitled to all the preemption rights which it has been found just and expedient to bestow upon natural persons, it will be seen that the privileges conferred by the bill in question are in direct conflict with every principle heretofore observed in respect to the disposal of the public lands.

The bill confers preemption right to mineral lands, which, excepting coal lands, at an enhanced minimum, have heretofore, as a general principle, been carefully excluded from preemption.  The object of the company is not to cultivate the soil or to promote agriculture, but is for the sole purpose of mining and manufacturing iron.  The company is not limited, like ordinary preemptors, to one preemptive claim of a quarter section, but may preempt two bodies of land, amounting in the aggregate to twenty sections, containing 12,800 acres, or eighty ordinary individual preemption rights.