Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1884-03-14
4 Gigantic Land Seal.
Jne Of the Frauds of Which Our P~o-
pie Have Some ;,ov i~d;Sr.


The Grand July Of ilendocjno
ami Hnmholdt cOrltips. California
nave brought III luD c'menis against
oe' al ilom,n II; ~ - of liza
district charging them with suhurna-
ton OF peilurv, ~ 3IaDUin- i!m"ti
land under tbs 80 .. June 5. 1875,
the same law, whic., b,I :. oiva, i.cr-
version of ii, pro,Iei"lo and .l-o most
unb.ushlny eIjury las placed tfou-
sands of acles Of our best lands
within the grasp OF we;,Ii y cotror
ations and Spectators.
The plan pursued III California
was substantially the same as here,
only the price for sloo'-pieeons
seems to have been Less. Fifty dol
lars was the price paid Ior llnrecc-
NOUS Individuals to enter the land
and the country YVES secured by au-
lhorized agents OF II sIudica'e e. OBJ
tain men who were Wiling to sell
their birthrlSht, while tue corrora-
ton met all the expenses at the
Land Office, paid for the land. re-
ceivine al assignment at the same
time of the person making the atfi
davit. The perjury is sometimes in
swearing that the land is unfit for
agriculture, for very often the appli-
cant has never seen it; but more
especially, in this class Of cases, it
consists in the aveyment that the
tract is intended for his Gown ex-
elusive use and benefit. The Ian
guage, if it stopped here, might be
so ambiguous as to clear an elastic
conscience, bu; unfortunately for the
applicant it is not, for he must swear
that he has not in any manner, III
rectly or indirectly" made any
agreement or contract whereby the
title shall vest in anybody but him
self.
The Sonoma Democrat, in allud.
ing to the court proceedings, char.
acterizes it as zone of the most gi.
gantic land steals ever pcrpetrated
on the Pacific Coast" This Ian.
suage is not too strong, and the
apathy of the public can only be &C.
counted for on the hypothesis that
familiarity with all species Of job
berry the past decade has blunted
the moral sensibilities so that it is
looked upon rs a matter of course.
Can such things oercome us as Sum
! mcr cloud,
And not excite our special wonder?'
IT will be seen that Judge Greene,
in his late decision on the effect OF
the amendment to the exemption
law, says: 81 desire never to be
one of those Judges, who, when
they discover in legislative proceed
ings clerical mistake, an advertance
or blunder, will push it to extremity
and give to an unhappy effort sense
and power palpably never intended
We commend the Judge for this evil
dence of returning reason. but can
not forget that ha turned loose two
indicted felons at the October term
of Court on just such al admitted
"mistake or blunder." He even
stated that it was his conviction that
q crime had been committed; that
the alleged defect in the law was a
blunder made in compiling the
law at the time Of codifcation," but
held that a false affidavit did no.
constitute perjury. The emission of q
specific form of expression, although
$, nonymous terms were used, and
the lawmakers specifically declared
in subsequent section that any in
formality i'll the administration Of M
oath should not be defense to a
prosecution for perjury, was fatal to
the validity of the Law. Either the
Judge has experienced chunse
of heart" as has been intimated, OF
he has poor memory, for one deci-
sion is exactly the opposite Of the
other.
The Seattle Mtelligencer in Oppos-
| o.