The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1859-08-13

making sales by ranges, thereby virtually
making continuous sale, as from week t.
week the ranges were offered to purchasers
who hung around the Office, and saw JUS
what lands were daily subject to entry. Lei
US instance the working of this rule.
a settler from Mills County. having select
ed his land, came to the Office expecting ii
open for private entry. He was told the en-
tries were made by ranges, and they were
then calling ranges fifty miles north. The
settler must, therefore, either wait at the
hotel several weeks, paying heavy bills; or,
he must employ u land agent, and pay a
heavy fee, to watch the time when his selec-
tons would be called. Thus the expense tu
settlers was greatly and unnecessarily in
creased, it seems to Us.
But, this was not the worst Of it. The
settler was conscious that the office was con-
stanty surrounded by spectators, who were
anxious to secure the best entries, and ready
to bid on settlers selections, because it was
well-known they were carefully made; hence,
when the land is called, competition was
thus invited, and many poor settler found
IL competitor who bid on the land, even Il
few cents per acre over its minimum value
either took the land, or required cash in
stead Of varTGn!s in payment therefor. So
the settler had to sacrifice his warrant to q
Spectator. anI give forty or fifty per cent
per annum for money, to save his home from
the grasp Of !and-sharks.
Nothing could have been moro oppressive
to our settlers. Many of them, because Of
this Grange rulc,' were induced 10 make
special efforts, by borrowing at runous
rates, to secure their entries on The day their
CtaiHLs were Gated; when, if no such rule
had prevailed, they might have rested easy
till their circumstances would have enabled
them to pay for their homes.
Tho range rule " forced more sales, and,
by toldinJ on to the fees, land officers made
more money; but who can estimate the dam
age thus rendered to our infant settlements,
cncumbcring SO many farms by a kind of
mortgage that draws from the settlers forty
or even fifty per cent. per annum as interest
for the purchase money.
How tree We cannot say, but We are told
this "rangG rule" was made by the local
officers. 1t was waived on one occasion, we
believe, to accommodate Senator BRIGHr
and others, about the time when the Le-
compton Bill was hard pressed by executive
officers. The settlers are still sore under the
Affections Of Col. BAuR!rr's range rule
and before he gets their votes for Lieut..
Governor, they want to know more about
his official acts, and especially this - range
rule which put SO much money in his peck
ct, and made so many families uneasy for
the safety of their homes.
The land system is every way oppressive
and hcarticss towards the settlers, and our
ip"oPl. should all unite in supporting the Re-
publican party, which has declared and roted
for homestead law, which reserves the pub
lie lands TO-. the sole use Of those who will
cultivate and use them.
What we have here written in regard to
the - range rule y system, has been at the
instance Of many sufferers from this seeming
uni just aud i'll devised rule. We may have
done Col. BABBlTT injustice in stating that
this rule was adopted by the local officers.
We are 50 aduised--of our own knowledge
We make not tho allegation. If wo are
wr0n, i'll this, the Col. will doubtless set it
al right, ~ jvtips down emphaticalIy, as
Is his wont, those two expressive words
"g2u If ~
"Ihose VI no Dance Should Pay The Fiddler.'
This would seem to be very Just and
reasonable proposition. In fact, we new
err heard the correctness Of the principle
therein embodied called int question:
Now, as the Grand Jury Of th, County, did,
for nearly one whole day, furnish " Palmer
the nasty" with ravishns music" at an
expense Of at least Fifty dollars, to the Coun-
ty, it would seem to US no more than fair
that the said Palmer the nasty after
dancing all day TO the music, thus furnished,
should at once step forward, and pay the
ildlers. We don't know, too, but the would
be Licnt. Governor, ought, in justice, to.help
bis man Friday pay the bill. Through false
rcpres entations he made " Palmer tho mas
ty' believe be (tho said P.) was greatly
injured individual. Deceived by those repre-
sentations, the latter danced before the
Grand Jury nearly day, only to find that
his character was not all that the Buqle had
painted it. Be that Us it may, " Palmer the
TASTY" danced, and he should meet the bill.
The County should not pay for his decisions.
If his character God save the mark y had
been blasted and knocked into cooked hat.
by us, why did he not institute suit against
MS, on his own hook, instead of calling in
the aid Of the " State of Iowa." and mulct-
ing this County in tho sum of at least fifty
dollars The reason is obvious. He knew
we could and would prove him up in his true
co!ors- and that, so far from getting judg-
ment against us, we would get verdict in
our faver, and mulct him for the costs Of
suit. He dare not try that game, but, for
tho purpose Of manufacturing little poIiti-
cal capital, he endeavored to get the Grand
Jury of this County to indict Us for libel
lie failed, as everybody in this city, but the
individual concerned aad bis blower and strI-
ker, the would-bo Lieut.. Governor, knew he
would. There is too much proof here in
this city, against this palmer the Nasty
for him to ever expect verdictin his favor,
in q case of libel. The thing can't be did.
II he thinks it can, let hin, try it on, and not
nut the county to an unnecessary expense IN
order that the Grand Jury, by their actions
may virtu.lly place him before this commu-
nifty, as O person devoid Of the least SEM
tlance of character. We hope he will not
IL. be said, that, at the expense of Potta-
waaamie County, hessands befa7s'h COM