The Placer herald., 1871-08-26
Sargent Tool of the Central Pacific Rail.
road Company.

gents Swamp Land bill
A. A. Sargent has again been nominated
for Congress by the Radical party, and it
becomes our duty to fhow where he belongs
We here solemnIy aver that if any Demo-
cratic nominee had a record so glaringly dis
honest as Mr.. Sargent's, we should oppose
his reelection. We shall take up the swamp
land matter, leaving his climber bil'' for a
future issue.
In July last, Geo. w. Julian, of Indiana,
either through misapprehension Of the facts
or the influence of divers bits Of green colored
paper, introduced a bill 4" Defining Swamp
and Overlooked Land" the intention and
effect of which was to take the swamp lands
of California from the purchasers under the
State and give them to the railroad conf
pany. Mr.. johnson, the honorable and
faithful Representative from this District,
put stop to its passage at that time. 1t
was made the special order for December
2lst. The bill, for some reason we could
never understand, had the endorsement Of
the Sacramento Union, the Alta, and sew
eral of the leading papers of this State; but
the writer hereof, through this paper and the
Sacramento tnton, exposed the rascality Of
the thing, until the editors of the Union ad-
mitted that it should not pass as it was, but
should be amended in accordance with our
suggestions. The several thousand men in
the State who held under the swamp title,
and who had expended vast sums of money
in attempted reclamations, became alive to
the fraud about to be practiced upon them,
and measures were taken to defeat the bill.
Mr.. Sargent, who had favored the Julian
iniquity, now pretended that he was con-
vinced that amendments were necessary, and
promised to introduce a substitute by which
the rights of the State purchasers should be
protected from the railroad company. Many
OF those who had been active on the side OF
the State purchasers, ourself among the
number, expressed the belief that Mr.. Sar-
gent did not belong to the railroad company,
that he had been laborng under some strange
and unaccountable misapprehension of the
facts Of the case, and, from the tone of his
letters to different parties, he would 8" do
about what was right in the matter. He
introduced his bill, and, that we may not be
accused of misrepresenting him, we insert it
here entire.
BE it enacted by the Senate and House Of
Representatives of the United States OF
America in Congress assembled, That all
selections of swamp and overlowed lands
heretofore made and reported to the Com
missionerof the General Land Office, so fan
as the Same remain undisposed Of by patent
or 10y statute OF confirmation, which are
shown in the greater part of each smallest
legal subdivision not to be swamp and over
flowed TO such an extent as to render them
unfit for cultivation in their natural condi-
ton at any period Of the year, or which may
be valuable Tor grazing or other agricultural
purposes without reclamation, shall be ex-
cluded from patent as swamp, and restored
to the public domain by the Commissioner
Of the General Land Office.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted That
where selections of swamp lands may here
after be made, under any Act of Congress
heretofore enacted, the actual condition of
the lands thus selected, at the date of selec-
tion, and at the times Of the year preceding
their selection, must be shown by the testi-
mony Of at least three credible and disuter-
ested witnesses under oath.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That
where lands selected as swamp, or which
may hereafter be selected as swamp, are dis
posed OF under any law of the United States,
or to which any adverse right may be at
tached under any law of the United States,
prior TO the issuing Of patent under the
swamp grant, snch disposition shall be con-
sidercd pri ma facie establishing the arabic
condition of the lands disposed of as afore-
said, and they shall be accordingly rejected
as swamp and stricken from the swamp lists
provided, that such disposition shall not
preclude the investigation hereinafter provid-
ed for, unless the lands have been patented.
See. 4. And be it further enacted, That
to enable the Commissioner of the General
Land Office the better to carry out the OBJ
jects of this act, he is hereby authorized,
whenever in his judgment it is deemed nec-
essary, or on the application of parties desir-
ing the same, upon satisfactory showing
that the same is necessary, to order investl-
cations respecting the character of the lands
alleged to be swamp, which investigation
shall be at the expense of the parties making
the application.
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That
all questions or controversies respecting the
true character OF lands which may be claimed
as swamp and overAowed shall be heard be-
fore the Register and Receiver of the proper
land office, subject to the right of appeal to
the General Land Office, and not as hitherto
by the Surveyor General. and such Register
and Receiver shall have power to compel the
attendance of witnesses by process in the
same manner as witnesses are compelled to
attend courts of record in these and other
land contests; provided, that nothing con-
tanned in this Act shall be construed to abro-
gate any right conferred by the Act entitled
"An Act to quiet land titles in California,
approved July %, 1866.
Sec. G.. And be it further enacted, That
this Act shall not apply to any lands which
may have been sold to actual settlers prior
10 the passage Of this Act by any State of