The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1883-12-15
Stealing the Public Land.


II there is any one thing against
which the people of this country have
the right to seriously complain, it is the |
way the public lands have been stolen
from them. The controversy is with |
the Republican party, and it will be
difficult for the leading men among
them to defend so gross violation of
public confidence. The great wealth of
broad acres, the magnificent heritage of
the people, has been gradually taken |
from them; the most of it by grasping
| railway corporations, and every once in
awhile big slices cut off by fraud and
outrageous theft. Any government but
one wholly given up to schemes for
I the retention of political power would
| have found time to overhaul these land
robbers. whether in the form of organ
| lied corporations or simply acting as
| individual Adventures. But this boast
ed Republican protectorate finds no
/ time to look after anything except the
spoils of Office, and the retention of
favorites in the soft places of Govern
mental control. 1t has, therefore, come
to pass that what little public land has
escaped the ravages of grasping cor
porations is being gobbled.up in every
conceivable fashion by men who care
nothing for public rights and still less
for the arm of the law. The most out
rageous and astonishing frauds have
been perpetrated upon the Land Office
of the United States in the far West,
frauds SO gross and monumental in
their character as tosalmost surpass be-
lief. Complaint has been made time
| = Al 10,
ing robbed and plundered by these bold
Adventures, but their complaints were
left unheard and UNDECIDED until these
violations had grown to such proper
tons as to demand attention by the
danger of great public scandal. These
things have long been known to the
authorities, but the scene of the rascal
tiles being far removed from the theater
of political activity, delays were al
lowed to go on, disheartening the
efforts of the settlers, and still more
firmly intrenching the robbers in their
schemes of greed and conquest When
the muttered growls Of discomfort could
no longer be postponed and action was
forced upon them, special Land Agent
was sent West into the Territories to
investigate and examine. and the pict-
ure he draws of Republican carelessness,
iDattention and neglect would be dam
aging in the extreme if the party whose
agent he is had any conscienento reach.
or any sincere regard for public opinion.
This agent says:
"The Desert Land Entry act has been vio-
lated with a recklessness that was positively
| astonishing In many cases It was found that
claiming the lands. and yet what are known
| and regarded as good citizens have gone be-
fore the land officers and made solemn oath
that the land had been reclaimed and all the
conditions of the law complied with, when, in
fact, no mark made by human hands could be
found upon the entire tract Other tracts
no more desert than the Valley of the Ohio
River. Other land was found to have been
Which there rev was growing at the time of the
original fling more. forest trees than the law
requires when final proof is to be made. The
Homestead law has not been fairly construed,
and thousands of acres have been patented
by persons who have not complied with one
single requirement of the law. and who have
tent and purpose to defraud the Government
Tens of thousands of acres of public lands
are fenced OF by wealthy stock raisers, thus
the family COW. In one instance IT was found
that men living near city In Montana had
fenced up three thousand acres OF public
lands and permitted the town people T.
pasture their stock on the Enclosure for one
dollar per month per head"
We have here string of charges
which are disgraceful in the extreme,
including perjury and villainy. THAI
such state of things could exist under
the eye of men charged with the duty o.
protecting the public interest seems al
! most incredible, but so much has hap
pened during the past twenty years O
3 like character. not only out in the fal
West but much nearer the haunts o.
! civilization, that one need not be aston
ished. If the common people of this
country, they who must work hard TO
living and have not the time to read VI
closely the current political doings o
the party in power, could know full,
and completely how the interests of thi
country have been trifed with, betrayed
and abused by those charged with it
protection and defense, they would no
honest patriotic citizens. A sweepin,
; indignation would overwhelm the mel
) who, prating of their zeal and fidelity
J waste their time in political schemin,
and delude the people by honeyet
words, when broken promises and be
trayed trusts rise up to condemn then
upon every hand. What that agen
says of the manner the public trusts ar
administered in the Territories
? equally true of public concerns neare
; home, and every intelligent unpreju
diced man knows it. Neglect and in
difference is written up against most o
the public duties of the Republics
; party, and it is high time to call tina
l party to account.-American Register.
Neal Dow and the Republican Party