Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-05-11
Fraudulent Land Reformers.

Ed. Register-The fraudulent land
fiasco of which you have treated in late issues
of your excellent paper, seems to be drawing
to close. Those excellent patriots and land
reformers, Bliss g. Co., seem likely to rest
from their labors; and it is intended that
their works shall follow them. 1t may be
admitted that great deal of land-espocial-
ly in Southeast Missouri-was unproductive
OF revenue to the State. With an honesty OF
purpose which cannot be too highly COM
mended the Legislature undertook to reme-
dy this evil. As soon as it appeared that the
result was for the interest of the State, likely
to bring matters into a sound and reliable
shape, inducing immigration, and so build
up the State, Bliss g. Co. raised the hue and
cry all over the United States that the titles
to eight millions of acres of land in Missouri
were fraudulent, and that the Government
would raise the whole thing from the begin
ming. Not satisfied with making the general
charge of fraud, letters were written to
county officials forbidding them to sell lands
advertised for taxes, thereby hindering the
collection of the revenue of the State. Es-
pecial activity has always been put forth i'm
But there have been some who did not
become scared, and who, when Bliss & Co.
talked of suing, requested them to begin.
Confronted by these, the land reformers
have discovered that there are several classes
of people whom they can not disturb, and at
last have been forced down to bed rock aud
compelled to admit that, under existing
laws, they can not disturb anybody; thereby
admitting that the cry of land frauds, as
raised ;by them, was from the beginning a
premature explosion of virtue. In this
extremity Mr.. Bliss frames bill such as he
considers needful to enable him to carry out
his plans. The great point in this bill is in
the following points:
1. tits eT post tdcto; it runs back of the date
of its passage and makes criminal transac
tions which had been fairly legalized.
III. 1t revives the title of the United States
to lands where in many cases that title had
been relinquished by the Government for
more than twenty five years, and it revives
that title in the interest of fraud and strife,
when it had been relinquished in the interest
of equity and peace.
III. This bill throws the burden of proof of
the soundness of the title on the owner of the
land.
The Government merely asserts that IL
tie is fraudulent, and the owner of the land
must go back to the very beginning and
show, beyond doubt or cavil, not only that he
is an honest purchaser, but that all those
under whom he holds were honest purchas-
ers; and he must go back stripped of all the
protection of State law or of United States
law, and he must do this under penalty of
eviction, in, it may be, 4 weary, poverty
stricken old age. When Congress passes
that bill, it should build monument to
Jesse James, whose friends have now docu-
mentary evidence that he was not the great
est scoundrel in the State of Missouri. But
why must all this violation of public faith by
the Government-all this upheaval and dis
placement be produced? The answer is,
to let Bliss & Co. out of the pit into which
their mischievous, meddlesome bludering has
thrown them. Will it pay to save them at
such a cost? X. w.
PIEDMONT, May 9Th, 1882.