And it appropriated [blank] dollars for the purchase of the Land, which should be the property of the national trustees in trust for the uses named.
Every effort had been made to secure the refusal of the whole amount of the property of the Hawkins heirs in the Knobs, some seventy-five thousand acres Mr.Buckstone said.

But Mr.Washington Hawkins (one of the heirs) objected.

He was, indeed, very reluctant to sell any part of the land at any price; and indeed--this reluctance was justifiable when one considers how constantly and how greatly the property is rising in value.
What the South needed, continued Mr.Buckstone, was skilled labor.
Without that it would be unable to develop its mines, build its roads, work to advantage and without great waste its fruitful land, establish manufactures or enter upon a prosperous industrial career.

Its laborers were almost altogether unskilled.

Change them into intelligent, trained workmen, and you increased at once the capital, the resources of the entire south, which would enter upon a prosperity hitherto unknown.
In five years the increase in local wealth would not only reimburse the government for the outlay in this appropriation, but pour untold wealth into the treasury.
This was the material view, and the least important in the honorable gentleman's opinion.