the privileges of _ordinary preemptors_ and be subject to the same
restrictions as such preemptors with reference to wood and timber on the
lands, with the exception of so much as may be necessarily used in the
erection of buildings and in the legitimate business of manufacturing
iron.

The parties upon whom these privileges are conferred are designated in
the bill as "The New York and Montana Iron Mining and Manufacturing
Company." Their names and residence not being disclosed, it must be
inferred that this company is a corporation, which, under color of
corporate powers derived from some State or Territorial legislative
authority, proposes to carry on the business of mining and manufacturing
iron, and to accomplish these ends seeks this grant of public land in
Montana. Two questions thus arise, viz, whether the privileges the bill
would confer should be granted to any person or persons, and, secondly,
whether, if unobjectionable in other respects, they should be conferred
upon a corporation.

The public domain is a national trust, set apart and held for the
general welfare upon principles of equal justice, and not to be bestowed
as a special privilege upon a favored class. The proper rules for the
disposal of public land have from the earliest period been the subject
of earnest inquiry, grave discussion, and deliberate judgment. The
purpose of _direct_ revenue was the first object, and this was attained
by public sale to the highest bidder, and subsequently by the right of
private purchase at a fixed minimum. It was soon discovered that the
surest and most speedy means of promoting the wealth and prosperity of
the country was by encouraging actual settlement and occupation, and
hence a system of preemption rights, resulting most beneficially, in all
the Western Territories. By progressive steps it has advanced to the