Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1883-12-13
LAND FRAUDS

The officers Of the gov, rnment will louh,.
less inform us thati.. is none of our buti.
ness, but Tor all th ut we beg leave to inquire
what the government hopes 20 accomplish
In THIS fraudulent land entry business The
chances are that II n quarter section of
land has been fraudulently entered, the
party who practiced the fraud sold the land
10 innocent parties as soon Ms he could get
rid OF 1t. Does the government propose TO
declare this land forfeited and thus rob an
innocent purchaser Of his home. When
we come down to a strict construction of
the law there are, nc doubt, hundreds and
hundreds OF claims in this country that
have been illegally Eldorado Re.
publican.
Last winter there were four special land
agents appointed from Kansas, by the gen.
erai government, Al. Green, Geo. Orner,
Ihos. james and Tom Cayanaugh. Their
duties have taken them all over The United
ssates, where public lands are to be found.
In view Of the recent fraudulent entries Of
lands unearthed in the Wichita district, It
may be interesting TO know what work is
being done by these agents. Commissioner
Mcfarland, Of the general land Office, was
Interviewed by New York Tribune report
er, when be said, in answer TO the question,
How 10 the system OF special agents work
ingr'
The special agents have been ia the field
ABOUT SIX months, and reports from some
OF Them are received every day. | have
examined and acted upon about 500 Illegal
ana fraudulent entries reported by them.
Those entries covered about Ia, 900 acres,
OF which the government would have been
deprived except for the new service"
I'm eighty eases only, out OF the 500 ex-
amined under this system, have objections
been offered to the proposed cancellation
Of the entries.''
very large per cent of these lands have
been pre-empted by cowboys from the Tex
AS and Indian Territory ranges. and the
money for proving up has been furnished
by ranchmen and cattle companies The
lands were selected lying along the streams
reaching for miles and miles, said streams
were Immediately enclosed in wire fences,
and in this way the poor settler coming in
TO the country with 4 family and half a
dozen head of cattle was crowded out both
for the want OF water and land, as the BEST
land in those counties, in fact the only land
that IL susceptible of cultivation, is en-
braced In the valleys along the streams
And unless these fraudulent entries are
cancelled and the land thrown open for set
tlement, ~ IL ought TO be, it will remain a
herding ground with only here and there a
settler when every quarter section ought TO
have settler upon IL. Senator Ingalls,
bill, just introduced, will defeat all further
fraudulent entries. II proposes 10 amend
the homestead act by prohibiting cOmmu-
tation hereunder until two wears have
elapsed from the date OF settlement, one
year OF which must be OF record in the land
Office. II also repeats the provision law I'M
der which local land officers are authorized
10 receive relinquishments and immediately
throw the claims relinqushed open to en-.
try. In effect, ii requires all relinquish-
ments TO be forwarded 10 the commissioner
OF the gederal land Office and approved by
him before the land IN question is thrown
open TO entry.
IL is expected that the Inauguration of
the measures proposed by these three bills
will result in limiting the amount OF public
land n single individual can secure under
government title TO 100 acres. To secure
land under these bills, two years actual res
idence will be necessary, with the payment
OF Sl.23 per acre. Five years actual resi-
dence will secure 100 acres without the
payment OF money.