The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1883-03-15

who made applications, preSumlng
hat they were going according to
aw.
3. Another requirement of the law
IS, that all applications shall be made
10 the surveyor, whose duty it is to re-
cord the application and return it
marked recorded" and sign it official
". That so soon as the application is
made, the applicant shall execute his
note for nineteen-twentieths of the |
purchase money, and have the same |
registered in the general land office,
which note must subsequently be |
filed in the office of the state treas
urer.
As to whether these provisions of
the law have been complied with, l
will simply read the evidence of two
heads of departments.
Commissioner Walsh says:
Il suppose there are five or six
thousand notes due not yet filed; that
is, there has been land sold enough in
advance of the notes to leave deficit
in notes of that number. | am salts
fled that great many notes have not
been forwarded on purchases prior
to the first day of January, 1888.
About 100000 acres have been sold
since the 9th day of January, 1888"
Governor Lubbock, the chief
officer in another depart
ment, testified on this point as fol-
lows:
1--WE have paid but little attention
to notes; very few, if any. have been
sent. / think it has been twelve
months since the commissioner has
sentsa note to my office
may be wrong, Mr.. Speaker and
gentlemen of the house, in my con-
struction of the law. but l believe,
sir, that this note is the basis of any
legal contract between the state and
the individual who has purchased
any of these school lands. l believe
that without this note, which con-
summaries the contract, that 1t Is
''nudum factum."
The evidence of both these distin-
guished witnesses shows that five or
six thousand of these notes have
never been executed and delivered,
registered and filed as required by
law.
The evidence of both shows that
if they had not been totally dlsre-
garded they have been considered OF
minor Importance.
l say | may be wrong in my con-
struction, but one thing l do know,
sir, and that is if notes had been re-
quired in every case-if the law had
been rigidly enforced in requiring all
purchasers $50 soon as applications
were made" to execute and register
their notes-that not one-tenth of the
illegal and fraudulent sales would
ever have been made. L do know, sir,
if such had been the case no such
anomaly as now eXists-such as the
state of Texas being a party to a con-
tract with a baby not six months old
and the only evidence of that con-
tract being an open account between
such minor and the great state OF
Texas.
Another provision of the acts OF
1879 and 1881 says: "All applications
to purchase must be made in the real
name of the person intending to be
the actual purchaser"
This provision of the law has been
almost generally violated. When l
assert that 10 per cent of the pur-
chaSeS that have been made were not
made in the real name of the pur-
chaser, l may miss the mark, but if i
do, sir, it is because the percentage OF
illegal sales is too small, instead of toe
large.
The best way to show you that this
is the case, is by the sworn testimony
of witnesses examined by the commit
tee. One witness testified that he
supposed files had been made through
him in five hundred names.
IL g.. EnA hot
he was approached by prominent
land agent and asked if he wanted to
buy school land; that he asked what
was necessary to be done, and was
told to furnish list of names; thai
acting on the suggestion he wrote tC
a distant state and a list of two hun
bred or three hundred names was
sent; that he filed on land in the
name of these parties; also seven sec
tions in his own. name, seven in his
wife's name and seven each II
the names of two of his minor chill
dren.
The evidence of this witness fur.
ther developed that a syndicate OF
about five persons, non-residents
owned nearly every acre OF the land
filed on in the names or
the list of two hundred, OF
800 sent him. But this syndicate
were little too previous in having
the bogus transfers made to them be
fore first payment, and when they
found that the commissioner of the
general land Office would not recog
niZe the transfers and issue certiti
Gates of payment, they telegrapheC
this land agent and he cancelled the
transfers by stroke of his pen.
Think of this, gentlemen of the
house A legal transfer-a deed OF
conveyance, too, really made on tht
single stroke of pen, and that, too
on the authority simply of tele
gram. The title to real property car
only be vested by duly executed
deed of conveyance, signed and &C
knowledged before a notary
public or other officer legal
iy authorized to take acknowledge
ments, and can only be Invested il
same way. But how is a case where
minors, married women and person:
incapable of contracting, transfer al
their right, title and claims to hun
dreds of valuable sections of lane
without any such useless formality-
simply on the authority of perhaps ;
ten words telegram.
The land agent, who acted for thi
witness, says that he made applica
tions for about $50 sections for hin
and that transfers were made befor
first payment. He declined to an
sWer in matters in which he was pecu
niarily interested.
Another witness on this same poin
stated that he heard land agent, OF
several occasions, ask parties to ALLOW
their names in making applications
merely for accommodation, ant
that this land agent FLEE
on about 200 sections. H
even goes so far as to give tn
names of many who simply lent thei
names for the accommodation of tn
> agent, and says: 81 have been aske,
, to allow my name to be used in thi
! way and it may be found somewhere
but if so, l have never been nor in
, tended to be the beneficiary"
The first clause of the first section
of the bill submitted by the commit
tee saws: All sales in which the coun
ty or district surveyors acted in tn
; dual capacity of agent for the purcha
ser and representative of the state ar
fraudulent and void.
i will read you the evidence of on
, witness on this point:
, THE county surveyor and his depu
ty had a contract with Mr.. IT to bu,
, up all the school lands in the easter
part of the county. The county SUI
; veyor told me that he and his deput,
were to receive 5 per cent of the pric
naid for lands. th # he WAS tn racaiV