Western Kansas world., 1885-04-11
MORE ABOUT SCHOOL LAND.


MORE ABOUT SCHOOL LAND.
There are several points connected with
the sales of school land in this county,
which our people generally, as well as
those abroad, should be given chance to
understand.
Among two or three of the officers oil
the higher rank at the state house, there
is said to lurk the conviction that every.
thing is not right in western Kansas con-
cerning the sales of this class of land. As
we intimated last week, this view, as gen.
eral proposition, may not be entirely er-
roneous. AS far as it applies to Trego
county, it is. On this point, Prof. Law
head, our efficient state superintendent OF
public instruction, while he was here last
week, satisfied himself fully. He made a
searching examination CT the school-land
papers in the Offices Of the county super
intendent, the county treasurer and the
county clerk. He piled the treasurer
with such questions as were suggested by
the examination of the papers, and by
such other incidents as arose naturally,
and, as has already been stated, was COM
pletely satisfied that the proceedings in
this county had been strictly honorable,
and, in the main, perfectly regular. The
state superintendent expressed his inten-
ton to carry this news into the state
house.
AS to the several points which the peo-
pie should be given a chance to under
stand, it: has been charged that the school
land in this county was brought into the
market by speculators and purchased by
them. One day last week the Topeka
Commonwealth stated that forty thousand
acres Of school land were advertised to be
sold in Trego county during this month.
In answer to these propositions, the
WORLD now states:
Firss-Speculators have nothing what
ever to do with bringing this school land
into the market. Each petition, in order
to be effective, has to be signed by atleast
twenty householders. It is useless for us
to squander time to add that our house
holders are not speculators.
Second-Our information comes from
headquarters. 1t is to the effect that if a
person from abroad comes into competi-
ton with settler at school-land sale
for given tract of land, the almost uni
form custom has been, and is, for the
for the former to withdraw from the con-
test in favor of the latter. As clincher
to this point, we here spread on record
the fact that at least three-fourths of the
school land which has been sold in this
county have been purchased by actual
residents.
7Aird-No large quantities of school
land have been sold in this county in any
one month. The forty thousand acres
which the Commonwealth asserted
through ignorance, of course-were to
be sold in April are in reality just about
eleven thousand acres.
This article would be incomplete if the
WORLD we're to fail to call the attention
of our people to the fact that there is in the
eastern portion of the state, even in high
official places, strong sentiment in the
direction of legislation increasing the
prices of this school land. Without
knowing, at present, what the result OF
this agitation will be, the question occurs
whether now is not the time for our old
settlers to "fasten onto" such tracts OF
school land as they may desire. Against
the creation of state land department to
take charge of this land, and divest our
neighbors and county officers of the
rights which they now have in connection
with the sales, the WORLD takes firm
ground, for reasons which we have dis
cussed heretofore. It is well to remem-
Der, however, that legislatures are uncer-
tain, and the very next one may create
this state-land-department monopoly.
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