The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1872-01-05
DEFAULT IN THE SALES OF
SCHOOL LANDHy

0ChHOOL Ian D0t
The progress of the work OF the
Board of School Land Commission
ers shows most dangerous class of
defaults, connected with the last
Radical State Administration. The
Board is provided for by the Consti-
tuition OF the State. Article VIII,
Sec. 5th, provides that "the Govern
or, Secretary OF State and State
Treasurer, shall constitute Board
Of Commissioners for the sale of
School and University Lands, and
for the investment of the funds aris-
ing therefrom. The law providing
for the organization aud regulating
the duties OF this Board places all
the lands OF the State in their bands,
which have been authorized to be
sold, and requires these officers to
act as Board, TO keep q record, TO
execute deeds and official certificates,
and TO receive and invest to the sew
eral public uses. the proceeds Of the
sales Of these lands. In authorizing
the making of deeds to the public
lands Of the State, the law is specific
in pointing out the manner Of pro-
ceedure, giving the form in which
the deed shall be executed, and re-
quiring public record of the same.
in the following words: Code p. 8s6,
"Sec. 6. Which deed, without ac-
knowledgement. shall be admitted to
record, and shall convey to the
grantee all the estate which the State
had In the land at the date thereof !;
and the Commissioners shall preserre
IN a bound roiun.e, duplicates Of all
such deed,s, with an alphabetical in
dex of the names of the grantees,
and such duplicates shall be prima-
ry evidence of such conveyances."
During the whole of Gov. Woods
iministration, the law authorized
and required public lands TO be sold
and deeds to be made to applicants
entitled TO them. Deeds were exc
cuted from time TO time, and appli-
cations aud moneys were received
from time to time, for the purchase
of lands. But the Board, as such,
never kept any record of its proceed
iugs and orders, and during the
whole period no record Of deeds tcas
opened or kept, and not single deed
,cas recorded, IN duplicate or other
wise. So that up TO the time that
the present Democratic State admin
istration came into power, there Was
no record Of the doings of the Board
OF School Land Commissioners, and
not single State deed recorded.
In view OF these facts our readers
will perceive at a glance, what diff
culties the present Board encounter
in seeking to find out what lands
have been sold. and how much mon.
ey the people lave paid to the former
Board for the various public funds
arising out of these sales. Had the
deeds alone been recorded. they
would have shown what lands had
been sold, their quantity and their
price. from which it could have been
ascertained what moneys should be
in the several funds created by the
sales. In the absence of these rec
ords, positively required by the stat.
ute, the process of discovery of what
has heretofore been done, is a slow
one, and can only be wrought out by
the ordinary working of the. Board.
This Board has, 10 some instances,
sold land to an applicant who did not
know of any previous sale, and the
record showing no sale, the ordinary
course was taken on the application !;
but when improvement was com
menced on the land the previous pur-
chaser gives notice Of his former
purchase. In many cases, we lea, n,
purchasers who have paid part, ap-
pear to make final payment and pro-
cure q deed, and the Board cannot
find by any Of the minutes or papers
in the case, that any moneys have
been paid. In most of this class OF
cases the applicant has been able to
prove. by receipt or otherwise, that
he has really paid the installments
which he claims TO have paid. The
receipts of this class, thus far,
which have been discovered, have
been traced to the hand of Secretary
May. The amount of these receipts,
not accounted for by May, discover
ed at the time of the meeting of the
last Grand Jury of Marion county,
was 81 ,152, for which an indictment
was found. Two items of this class,
not included in the indictment, have
come to light, amounting to between
three and four hundred dollars more.
It is impossible to estimate what
amount of the peoples money has
gone through this hidden leakage. =
It cannot be told until the public
land sales reich near their close, so
that it can be known what had been
disposed Of before any record was
kept by the Board, and what amount
of installments had been received on
! partial payments by former officers
or any one of them. What COM
mentary on Radical.official delin-
quency and corruption in Oregon =
The Board of Public Lands without
a record ! the Auditor of the Treas
Jury without accounts = Herald. st
Here's the way San francisco
, belle "went off when she heard thai
Alexis was not coming to California
"The Grand Duke is not coming Il
California. All, cruelest of inven
tons! pittiless telegraph! coul'd's
! thou not have delayed those fata
: words? Verify, this is sthe most un