Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1851-07-18


ally pertains to an official authority,
says that the contract was given to Gem
eral Booth because it aoas difficult
one, and no person but the General
could be found qualified for us erecu-
tion! We know the intimacy which
subsists between the Editor of the Ex-
press and the late Surveyor General,
and we know that if General Booth
needed champion. there is none more
ready and more able to fill that capacity
than his friend Mr.. Merritt, but we shall
want strong evidence before we can be-
lieve that General Booth ever authorized
such reason to be given for his having
received boon from the hands of his
gentlemanly successor. Where are the
evidences that the contract given 10
General Booth is any more difficult than
those assigned to other surveyors during
the presen, season, and when they are
shown we shall not be satisfied; we shall
then be constrained 10 call for the evil
dences of Mr.. Booths superior ability
over many others now in the field. We
would not disparage his merits as a
"practical Surveyor" for although he
has never to our knowledge "run CON-
pass" upon the surveys. we believe him
abundantly capable of doing so, or in
common with the two thirds to whom
we have already referred, capable of be-
coming good practical surveyor on
three days tuition, and doubt not he will
execute the work assigned him to the
satisfaction of all concerned. We con-
fidently believe that General Booth, on
his return from the swamps of Wiscon-
sin, will utterly repudiate the back hand
ed compliment which his friend Mr..
Merritt has given TO the "practical sur
veyors" Of Iowa and Wisconsin.
But we have picked this bone SO long,
that the second one must be but slightly
touched, or laid over for future eating
The Editor of the Express don't like
it that the Surveyor General has appoint
ed Mr.. Wiltsa to examine the work of
the deputy surveyors as it progresses in
the field, so that there may be surety
that the work is well done before it is
paid for. We will not run the risk Of
the charge of "spinning i. ont," by stop
ping to examine this question, but will
merely say that the few facts which have
come to our knowledge are sufficient to
induce the belief that some such plan
must be adopted in order to arrest the
fraud which has been practiced by sur
veyors upon the public lands for many
years back. Thousands of dollars have
already been appropriated by Congress
for resurveying the public lands, in diff
ferent parts Of the Uuited States, and if
we are not egregiousfy mistaken, thous-
ands more will be appropriated for re-
surveys in the very district where Cen
eral Sargent is endeayoring to introduce
this reform.
Complaints are coming from the set
tiers upon the public lands in many parts
of our own State that they cannot find
their corners, and this too upon land
purporiing to have been surveyed by
what are technically called practical sur
veyors. But few days since, as we
are credibly informed, deputy surveyor
returned to the Office in this city, with the
report that SO lily defined and marked
are the township lines of the portion Of
country assigned him for subdivision,
that it was impossible for him to pro-
ceed with his surveys, and what adds
particular interest to this case is the fact
that an old practical surveyor from the
Legislature Of Wisconsin has received
full pay for running these same township
lines. The Lynn shoemakers have a
maxim that no man is master of the
trade until he is able to make bad work
pass for good, and for aught we know,
old practical surveyors have adopted the
same. The fault is not. as we a?pre-
hend. in the appearance of the plats,
but the marks that are left upon the
ground, evidencing tha. il has actually
been travelled over by the surveyor, and
that the lines have been run and the cor
ners distinctly and permanently marked
according to law. There is no difficult
ty in proraciing right lines upon paper
to an indefinite length. nor is there the
least difficulty in making these lines
close upon the plat. All this may be
done in the shade Of camp, but fixing
corners and marking them upon the
ground is another and quite different
operation. ~
The examination os the work in the
field, it strikes us, will have a tendency
TO correct these growing evils, and SO
salutary, in our opinion will be its effects,
that we predict its universal adoption
in every surveying district in the United
States. Had the plan been in operation
since the commencement Of the public
land surveys, we doubt not but the gen.
eral government would have been spared
the necessity of annual appropriations
of thousands Of dollars for re-surveying
what was once been paid for from the
public treasury.
We have taken up this subject, not
from any desire to JOIN ia what bids fair
to be newspaper battle, bu. because j,
does not suit our temperament to sit 81.
lent and witness an evident attempt to
detract from the merits of worthy man,
or an independent and faithful public Of
ficer. a8t