Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-08-18
applicant and his Witnesses are reouiraa
TO answer under oath. =

applicant and his Witnesses are reauirea
70 answer under oath. -
Ihe Law does mot require that the sf.
ndavit shall be prepared by the register
or receiver, or in all cases sworn 70 b.
fore either OF them, and even il il did.
tney are not authorized to cross- examine
either the applicant or his witnesses 70
ascertain the truth on falsity of shs aIle-
cations Contained In the afidayit. WITH
out which II is impossible 70 detect the
fraud or false swearing. In my opin-
ION there should Be carefully prepared
cross s-questions attached to the af6da-
Wits now used, to be answered kv
both the claimant aud his witnesses.
and no entry should be allowed until
every Question vas fairly and satisfae-
torily answered. By such q course Of
examination, the factA, and not ia
conclusions of the ATLANTA A 10
the claimants compliAnos With the
law, would be obtained, upon which the
reRistec and receiver could base a satis-
factory opinion, and hundreds who ars
now IN A general way swearing. them
selves and friends into the poee9ion Of
land, wonid, for fear of Dissection and
prosecution for perjury, refuse TO make
the necessary affidavit, and much land
that is now passing into the hands of
the Spectator would be retained for the
actual sealer. Az farther prscautien
and TO enable the Government to more
readily discover the guilty parties, ev-
cry Application to enter land shoQld set
forth the actual residenosof the porty
making the application, and the actual
residence of the party making the de-
claratory statement, Immediately prior
TO making the prs-smption settlement
should be given, and both application
and declarstory statement should BE-
made under oath. The place Of residence
should be entered on the books SO
that. although t.s application was
sent TO the general Office ct
Washington. the place of residence
might still be ascertained from the
books in the local Off 70. At present, in
both application and declaratory state,
ment, the residence IL usually given, for
instance. as Walla Wallis county, w. T.,
and though tho applicant we're living
and doing business within a block Of
the land Office. and the owner of large
property in town, II personally unknown
to the Government ofiicer who was max
m2 an examination for the discovery OF
fraudulent entries, he would stand
an equal chance of escaping detec
tion that a person would living 20 orl
80 miles distant from the office; while
with his residence given and entered
on the books. it would be made very
mnch less difficult to trace his where
abouts during the time that he swears
that he was residing on the land en-
tered. The very fact that he was not
then, at the time of the investigation,
living upon the land, and was engaged
in business in town, being snfioient evi-
dencs TO put the officer upon enquiry.
without some radical change in the
aanner of taking proof, and the adoption
OF some plan for retaining In the local
offices evidence of the actual resi-
dence of tue claimant at the time of |
making entry of the band, the effort |
on the part Of the government to pre-
vent the character Of frauds referred to |
will be unavailipg, unless the gov |
ernment should kpnr an agent at each |
land Office. whose business Il shouid lie |
10 make the neces sary cross-examina- |
ton and even thenthe GRE ter PARTON |
Of the frauds would not he discovered, |
as large part Of the proof is lot made |
ut the local land Office. . II
BY the adoption Of such rules and reg |
ulations as indicated. the Government |
could safely recall her special agents |
and leave the whole matter in the hands |
of her land officers, as under such a |
sy stem of procedure, the facts, as CON-
ira distinguished from the conclusions |
Of the parties making oath, would not |
only be laid before the local land OH
GERS, ~ basis for their action. but in a
review at the General Land Office Of
the entries made. all the data upon
which tue decision was made would be
supplied upon which to make final
ruling. IL. GRASS.