Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-10-09

patty for the poor settlers. It is sympathy,
Mr.. Chairman, for the thief, and for nobody
else, and the thief does not ask for sympathy
unuisuch time as he gets caught in the meshes
OF the law and is unable to go further"
Well, here we have Mr.. Washburns
speech. The only speech he made in Con-
gress, upon the only subject that his gigan-
tic intellect grappled with. He says:
"The remarks of the gentleman from Michigan
lMr Congerl and of the gentleman from Wis
consin Mr.. Bragg seem to have quite a
familiar sound. have heard just such kind
or talk before. Those in want of legitimate
arguments are very likely to ring the changes
on tse terms thief" ''swindler. !" 'sscoapdrel,"
and everything Of that kind It seems to me
that 1t is entirely unfair.
Now, what are the facts. This bill was
submitted to the committee on public lands of
this House early in the session, and after care
full consideration by it. was unanimously re-
ported. similar bill has already been CON.
sid'red by the committee on public lands of
the Senate, and unanimously reported by that
committee. The public lands commission.
which was appointed by the President, in its
general revision of the land laws, has intro
duced a provision doing precisely what this
Dill proposes-making clean sweep
of all litigation relating to old
general land office has also recommended the
place of settlement proposed in this bill as the
most practicable and equitable that can
be had.
Nov, there certainly cannot be such swind-
ing and thlevng operations as the gentlemen
would indicate. Such statements place the
matter in an entirely false position. The
facts are simply these: For many years this
government permitted timber to be cut from
the public lands. 1t was not until the incom-
Ing of the present administration that any
efficient steps were taken to put a stop to
hJa qatI o1r
efficient steps in that direction, and commend
1t for doing 30. Now, in the course of the
examination which government officers have
made, they have gone back and found timber
cut from the public lands as long as seven or
eight years ago, when it was the practice of
the government to permit such cutting. They
have traced timber taken at that time into the
hands of innocent persons, who paid the full
price for it. The government now demands
that these parties shall pay for it a
second time. And now suits are
being brought against the parties who have
already paid for timber which the government
permitted to be cut by Others"
Then Mr.. Bragg replies in these words:
MIR. Chairman, / am not surprised to hear
from the gentleman from Minnesota Mr..
Washburn) that he has heard something about
Tim Der thieves" before. If the history of the
Northwest has been properly reported there are
in aCongressionai district in Northern MILO
nesota corporations and mlll-owners that have
largely and often heard the term "timber
thieves" applied to them" Laughter and ap-
plause.
What have stated has been learned by
me in the progress of the litigation in the
case.
What did Washburn and his friends do?
They acquiesced in the amendment to the
bill in the House, but they went to the SEN
ate and got the Senate to revive the old
provision of the bill. They got commit
tee of conference, and in the last days of the
session they sneaked the bill through in such
a way that every one of these four hundred
and odd suits and these two hundred arrests
were dismissed, and the poor devil who
steals ham or q loaf of bread goes to Jail,
while the timber thief who steals thousands
of dollars escapes. "The law" says the old
proverb. "is web where the big flies break
through and the little flies are caught
Now my friends, that has been the sole
fruit of Mr.. Washburn's action in Congress.
DO you want to send that sort of man
back there again? / do not think you do;
"a voice-"No''), and I appeal to Republi-
cans, to honest men of all parties, to sustain
Gen. Slbley in the present contest. (Great
aopIoroe,