Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1885-12-11

with such filings, cause claim shanties'
10 be erected TO mark the claim and
serve as notice 10 seekers of land and
then advertise ACCOMPLISHMENTS for
sale" Columns of such advertisements
appear in the newspapers of the farm
ing states and territories. Bona tide
settlers must buy off the pretended
claims or risk contest. The dishonest
Spectator thrives; the poor man, who
Is seeking a home, is robbed of his hard
earnings, and the government keeps a
force OF officials to sOlemnly record these
filings and ACCOMPLISHMENTS. When the
claim" is sold the shanty is removed
to another ''claIm" ard the party APP
plies for permission to file again. l
found the allowance of second lilIngS an
established practice in this Office, al
though the law is peremptOry in per-
hitting but one. The proportion of
fraudulent filings to tile total number
of filings made and relinquished may be
estimated i'll round numbers at exactly
100 per cent.
The commissioner next treats of COM
muted homesteads. five-year homesteads
and the timber culture law and their
abuses, and he recommends the repeal
of the original timber culture law, as
well as the one of June 3, 1873, appllca-
BILE TO the Pacific slope.
Speaking of the desert land act, Mr..
Sparks describes its intent and the man.
ner in which vast tracts of valuable
grazing lands have been obtained fraud
ulently, and he closes by recommending
its repeal.
As to final proofs in homestead cases
and final aflidavits in pre-emption cases
the commissioner says:
The latitude of the law has been en-
larged by departmental construction
and regulation. Numerous deputies
are allowed to exercise the functions of
clerks, and in cases where proofs can
| only be made before the clerk In the
absence of the judge it has been ruled
that the judge is absent from place
where no court is held. BY regulations
promulgated shortly before the change
of administration an ancient rule,
adopted under different conditions than
now exist, was revived, allowing the
I testimony OF witnesses in pre-emptiOn
cases TO be taken before any officers
authorized to administer oaths. not
withstanding the opinion of prosecuting
| officers of the government and the judy
ment of courts in cases tried by the
government that witnesses swearing
| falsely before others than those provi-
| ded for in the statute could not be con-
victed of perjury. Under this rule the
! prOcureTs of fictitious and fraudulent
/ entries have only to employ their own
nOtaries public 10 secure the admission
! of palpably perjured testimony with
/ lmpunity.
1t is found that notaries taking proofs
/ are frequently the parties causing the
/ entries to be made or purchasing them
| afteTward.
Speaking of the rapid absorption of
public lands, Mr.. Sparks quotes from a
recent letter from the register of the
land Office at Garden City, Kans., as
follows:
The rush for land in this section OF
! Kansas is unprecedented. Every train
brings in crowd of landseekerS. For
more than an hour before the office
opens mass of humanity throngs the
doorway, and it is a remarkable sight
to see the press and excitement. There
are fifty or more land agents or attor-
neyS who, L may say, facilitate this
rush. They make out the papers OF
hundreds and present them at one
charge. The aggregate becomes over
whelming. Besides. i'm all the little
towns dotted through this valley there
are numerous land agents who send II!
enough mail and express packages tC
keep us ordinarily busy. l look upor
this state of affairs as a real abuse o.
the privileges designed by law, for ;
majority of the patrons swept through
by these land agents never see the lanl
they make entry upon, fail to realize
their obligations to the government am
scheme, by following the form. to avoi,
the spirit and intent of the law. W,
have no time to correct these things
we can not have time to attend to tina
!, patron who is in real need of our assist
ance. The result of this needless rusl
is that work is poured in without re
straint, and we labor in vain when w
try to keep up with the work.
In closing this portion the commits
sioGer recommends the amendment o
the homestead law so as to provide tina
public lands shall be disposed of onl
under its provisions, actual mhabitancy
) improvement and cultivation being re
quired as precedent conditions.