The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-12-07

1.-THE law of private land claims is not occult,
however obscured may have been some decis-
ions and rulings adapted to the effect of sustain
ing claims of mythical origin or swollen proper
tons. The DEGREES and statutes of Spain and
Mexico. as of all civil law nations, are simple,
and their public land system, while voluminous
IN details of precaution, was Q model of per-
spicuity and exactness. 1t is not impossible to
ascertain nor a never ending labor to settle the
actual obligations of the United States to claim
ants of private land grants. The aim in times
past seems to have been in the direction or
tavorlng the expansion of those obligations. L
propose, under your direction and with your
assistance, to administer the law as it is, and not
the mere gratuity of the department as it is de-
sired to be, in my treatment of claims against
the United States arising from these or other
sources"
The report treats at some length of fraudulent
land entries, the Commissioners saying:
"At the outset of my administration I was
confronted with overwhelming evidences that
the public domain was being made the prey of
INSCRIPTIONS speculation and the worst forms
OF land monopoly through systematic frauds
carried on and under the public
land laws. My predecessor had for three years
called the attention of Congress to the extent
ana magnitude of fraudulent appropriations of
public lands, and, as shown by his general and
special reports, had found it necessary to sus-
pend the issue of patents in several States and
Territories. either wholly or in certain classes of
anu special QlSurlcLS OF country. It aD-
pears that at the approaching end of the last ad-
ministration these suspensions were removed by
onlclal order, and that a food of suspected en-
tries had been passed to patent and we're passing
to patent when | assumed the duties of this Of
fee. Applications for suits 10 set aside patents
ON ground of fraud, where the patents had
been issued as late as the Sd of March, 1885, had
already been presented. Reports of special
agents, registers and receivers, and inspectors of
surveyors-general and local land Offices, COM
| m NY W nf,Anr 80 -
other officials. and letters from public men and
private citizens throughout the country, were
laid before me-, all detailing one common story of
widespread, persistent, public land robbery COM
united under guise of the various forms of public
land entry.
I'm many sections of the country, notably
throughout regions dominated by cattle-raising
lnterests-the vast area lying west of the ninety
ninth Observation-Disclosures, wherever made,
had developed at all points that entries were
chiefly fictitious and fraudulent and made in
bulk through concerted methods adopted by or
CARNATIONS that had parceled out the country
among themselves and were maintaining seized
possessions of unentered lands by boundaries
and Enclosures defended by armed riders and pro-
tected against immigration and settlement by
systems OF espionage and intimidation.
In other cases, as in farming regions approx
innate to the cattle belt, it was shown that indi
vldual speculation, following the progress of
public surveys, was covering the townships of
agricultural land with entries made for the pur-
pose of selling the claims to others, or by entries
procured for the acquisition of lands in large
bodies.
Again. in timbered regions, the forests were
being appropriated by domestic and foreign cor
p%oratlons through suborned entries made in
fraud and evasions of law. Newly discovered
coal fields were being seized and possessed in
like manner.
1.-The question of my own duty, as the admin
~lstratlve officer Immediately charged, under the
law, with seeing that the public lands were dis
posed OF only according to law, was at once
forced upon me. Should l continue to certify
and request the issue of patents by the President,
lndlscrlminately, upon entries which there was
every reasonable ground to believe were fraudu-
lent In greater part, or should l withhold such
hnal action until examinations could be made
and the false claims separated from those that
were valid? Should l disregard cumulative evil
dences of the universally of fraudulent appro-
prlation of public lands, and become an official
instrumentality of their contamination, or should
| say: L mean to know what l am doing before
l ask the President of the United States to sign
any more land p~atents?'
1T is true that l could not, and ought not. re-
Ject and cancel entries on general suspicion, but
the notoriety of fraud as the rule of public land
claims, and the index of general facts officially
established by numerous Investigations of par
tlcular cases OF every class and in every locality,
at least put me upon earnest inquiry.
A a measure, it appeared to me, of indis-
pensable precaution, | notified the several divis-
ions of this office that final action should be sus-
pended upon entries made in States and Terri.
tories in which the greater degree of fraud had
been developed, and where the larger disposabIe
area of public lands remained.
The result Of this action has been s~alutary.
and has, when fully understood. met with hearty
approval from bona fde settlers. I have re
celved many letters expressing gratitude that
steps are being taken to arrest the disposal of
lands for speculation and monopoly to the disad.
vantage of those who desire to secure permanent
homes. Settlers who 60 out on the frontier
and endure the hardships of pioneer life do so
with the expectation that they will be Joined by
others; that communities will spring I'D, churches
and schools be established, the value of their
possessions enhanced, and the convenieuces and
advantages of civilized life attained; but spec.
ulatlve appropriations of public lands DESTROY
these hopes, and leave actual settlers isolated
for years, or they are compelled to remove to
other localities. From this, the bona fide. hon.
est class, assurances Of satisfaction have been
voluntarily rendered for the action taken.
This notification, or order. was not expected
TO De acceptable to those whose purpose it is
falsely and fraudulently to acquire title to pub
lie lands, nor to those whose profitable vocation
was to promote the speedy obtainment of patents
for compensation or fee. 1t was a public meas
ure in the public interest, and was intended To
check, and not to facilitate, conspiracies against
the government.
IL have caused lists of suspended entries to he
placed in the hands of special agents for exami.
nation and report, and an convinced that it is
not safe to issue patents on pre- emption. com.
muted homestead, and other entries in which
fraud most largely prevails without such exam.
nation"
BASE BALL BY ELECTRIC LIGHT.