Weekly Phoenix herald., 1884-01-31
TEsE LAND SWINDLERs AT
 WORK.

The Senate Committee on Priv tt Lands has introduced bill whic has been made a special order foi next Monday, to which we wish tc direct the attention of the press ant people of the Territory, and in f act the whole south vest. It is dod gc of the land grabbers, and makes q proposition which brands il as the most .scoundrelly thing that Con- gross has had to consider for long time, md the wonder of the thing is that the Senate has already passed this same bil! on two previous occa- sious.
 Tie bill assumes to provide for the method of perfectlng titles to lands lying within the limits of ter> ritory received by the United States from Mexico.
 l provides that any person or cor pora!icn claiming lands under such lawful, though incomplete, Spanish or Mexican grants, warrants, conces> sions or surveys as the United States is bound to recognize in virtue of treaties or sessions, may petition the United States District Court for the district in which the land is situated setting forth the ature of the claim, and the Court is vested with power to hear and deterninate the matter and fix ard complete the title.
 The bill virtually transfers from the Lard Depnrtme e''t and rom Con- grcss the power of determining the claims of the land sharks to a single mar, the Judge of the U. s. District Couit, in which district the land is located, For exa-.pl,: The claim of Reavis, instead of beias deter- mined in the Land Department and by Congress, if tr E people so desire, will be determined by the Judge of the United States District Court here in Phoenix, so far as the DOT tion lying within this district is con- cerncd.
 The idea of the bill is to get the whole matter away from the proper Department and from Congress, and to put it where 1t will be easily man~ aged, in the hands of single man, and Of course it is no difficult mat ter to have that man within the ring. If man already ou the bench does not fill the bill, he can readily be busted and a man to suit put in his place In fact the bill is one of the 
 blackest and most infan1oust that a body of supposed honest citizens and lawmakers ever considered, and it is astonishing that single mem Der of Congress would entertain a favorable idea of it for a momert, and pretend to be an honest man and to be working for the best interests of his fellow citizens
 Already this bill has twice passed the Senate, as we. have already seen but how remarkably quiet the mats ter has been kept. Nothing in the press dispatches 10 show the nature of the bill, nothing but q simple mo- tice that bill 50 end so had passed 1; no discussion of the matter, only private examination by Senators, or examination by 8 few Senators in committee and yet it is one of the n ost important measures to the whole southwest that has ever come up.
 Dare the Tucson papers, the pa- I pcrs of Florence and Globe and Benson, take hold of thIs matter anG help to call the attention ot the press and people of the whole coun' try to this nefarious business?
 There is conniv1ng and under. handed play going on that leopard 1 izos the rights and homes of I large majority of the people of th' southwest and there should be some concerted action to head it off Vii the press of this Territory and New Mexico take hold of the mater.
 r-------- Chief Justice French, City Attor