Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1864-01-02
[coxMUNlcArED.1
Pacific Coast Land wattara


The Union's Washington cbrespohth...
contains the following So
The Gener al Land Office has iust co,,
pleted an arrangement, which goes At or..
into effect, by which the compensation ~
the employees of.the Land Department =.
the Pacific coast, and all other expen.e.
will be more promptly met than heretofore
1t has been the practice to have each quarter.
account of expenses from all the Land OfI,re.
forwarded to the General Land Office At The
expiration of the quarter, where thew ws,s
examined, and, if approved, drafts were for.
wardcd at the earliest convenient time: but
by the new arrangements the Land Offices ia
California, Washington and Oregon are to Ia
allowed to make out and send on their Quar-.
terly accounts six weeks before the exnirs.
ton of the quarter and if any changes are
made up to the end of the quarter the G.n.
eral Land Office is to be notified by tcle.
graph, when the account can be audited and
drafts transmitted, SO that the long DELAYS
heretofore existing can be obviated by thin
convenient plan Of Commissioner Edmuuds.
The General Land Office is now doiup A
large amount of business under the Oregon
Donation Law, there being now over two
thousand applications, for patents under The
new law. The old law being Objectionable
in many of its features, there were but few
applications under it. and during the past six
months a new impetus seems to have been
given to the desire of settlers to procure land
in this way, SO that more patents have been
issued during the present year than for the
space of twelve years anterior, there being. a.
above stated, more than two thousand such
cases from Oregon and Washington now in
process of completion at the General Land
Office in Washington. The general average
of these claims under the Donation Act IN
Of 320-acre tracts, SO that the logical conclu.
sion is that over 100000 acres of land in
Oregon and Washington have been taken up
by actual settlers. This is gratifying fact
for the consideration of our enterprising and
thriving neighbors ON the Pacific coast
The above is bundle of absurditics.
lst The acquisitions for compensation Of
employees have always been made in ad-
vance.
3D. 1t has not been the practice to make
acquisitions for the expenses Of tho last quar-.
ters, but for coming quarters.
Sd. Drafts have not been RENTED to meet
these acquisitions at the earliest conrexiest
time" Such HAS NOT BEEN THE PRACTICE.
4th. The neW arrangements are not NEW
at all.
5th No instructions from the Land De.
partmcnt in regard to tclegaphing.' have
been received by Local Landa Officers in
this Territory.
9th. Even if such instructions had been
received. who is to pay the expense for the
same, the local officers doing treble the du.
tics of their predecessors, and for onc-third
the former compensation! Certainly they
would, for telcgmpAiag is prepaid. What .
blessed privileged!
7th. The objcclional features of the old
Donation Law are not OLeiakcd.
9Th. There is no NEW Donation Lar!
9th. The Donation acts, all Of them, ex.
PRED December LIST, 1851!
10th. Therefore, no xcw impetus has been
given to acquire land in that way. d.
Finally, if but few applications were
made under the old Donation act" then Of
course, there are no 1000 Donation cases be-
ing adjudicated at Washington. and the Ia
IONS correspondent has, instead of finding
"new Donation Lac" only found mare's
nest or o soap mine. b..
OUTrv SApYf