The Northern Pacific farmer., 1885-05-28
THE HONEST sEFT1E8s SAFE.
commtssioner SPARKS Explain. tho Scope
Of the Late Order suspending Final 40
ton on Land Entriax

commtssioner SPARKS Explains tho Scope
OF the Late Order auspending Final 40
tion on Land Entries.
the commissioner OF the general land Office
dated April 8, declaring that final action upon
all entries Of the public land, except private
cash entries and such scrip locations as are no
dependent upon settlement and cultivation
should hereafter be suspended in Colorado, Da-
kota, Idaho, Utah, Washington Territory, New
Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada and a
and also declaring that final action should be
suspended upon all timber entries throughout
the country, has caused great controversy in
the territories named and decided opposition
from the agents and attorneys at Washington
ana ana elsewhere, who are engaged in the busl-
It is claimed that the order in ques-
ton is paralyzing land business in all
parts OF the country and doing great injury to
settlers who wish to prove up on their claims
80 80 that they can borrow money to go on with
t1e Improvement of their lands. Commissioners
Sparks said recently, when asked for his
opinion upon this point
That order was intended to cover what term
infested districts. I have written number ct
letters to people who are complaining about 1t,
and want it thoroughly understood that there
!c AO OAoPoo ooAoAOA OA uy p6IS W W AOuo6S oot-
tiers an injury. It IS only the knaves and
thieves that am after: I have dozens of lot
ters FROM persons living in these districts who
approve Of tho order. They say that in many
regions not one entry in fifty is bona fide; that
it is business practice to do false swearing to
uniformly fraudulent Now it is to catch these
people that have said that we should sus-
pend final action on claims This whole Office,
including the assistant commissioner, the law
clerk and the various chiefs, are in harmony as
to the necessity and wisdom of that order: We
to be employed for the end desired. One was
to close the local land Offices; but in that event
settlers arriving in the district would find
themselves unable to locate. That plan would
not work. Then it was suggested that we
close the land Office here, but that would be
obviously unadvisable So there was nothing
for me to do except to say that would not ask
the secretary Of the interior nor the president
to approve aud sign patents when believed
that fully one half of them were fraudulent. In
this way l believe I have saved the public
domain,
FULLY MILLION ACRES
of land since April g. The charge has been
made that the order was political and geograph-
ical in it's character, that tie south was ex-
cepted. There are but four states in the south
where the United States has land efices-Flor-
Ida, Alabama, Louisiana and Arkansas. Texas
fraud in Florida. In due time will reach that.
1t cannot be said that the south is excepted be-
cause Secretary Lamar is southern man. The
south was excepted because the bulk Of fraud is
not in the South. There is five times as much
territory in the North that is not included in
the order: Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, nearly
all of Minnesota, Nebraska and Kansas are not
included, and in two of these states-Michigan
and Wisconsin, know there is fraud that We
ought to look after. TWAS not the intention to
PROSTATE tho land business all over the country.
Nothing Of the kind has been done. What we
are really after is to prevent the public domain
from going into the hands Of ranchmen and
spectators. The bona fide settler can borrow
just as much money on his certificate of entry
or his duplicate papers as he can upon the pat
ent All the frst-class loan and trust CON-
panies of the East desire to know is that the
borrower should be a bona fide settler and that
he will be entitled to a patent 1t is the knave
who wants his patent rushed through in twenty
four hours. You will find that to-day in llli-
nois forty out of every one hundred entrymen
have never COTTON their patents. They lie here
in this Office, and the settlers were satisfied to
have simply the duplicates But you will find
that the Louisina backbone patents were taken
out of this Office promptly, just as you will find
patents have been taken in all cases where
there is fraud.
ENCOURAGING THE SETTLERS.
WhenI am satisfied that there is good faith
on the part of the settler, there will be no diff
fculty in his getting patent shall satisfy
myself by means of special agents and detec-
tives whom I can thoroughly trust and upon
them shall put such checks and counter de-
lection as will make it absolutely certain that
no false swearing or fraud can secure pat
tent I see that the fight is begun upon mo
from the land Office lawyers here and all
over the west and that the newspapers large
ly' interested in the whole subject of land
Office business have opened fire upon me;
but I have determined to stand by the order:
Meanwhile, bona fde settlers all over the west
pick out their land, file their entries upon it,
and 60 on with their Improvements. The land
is theirs just as much during the five years
which the law requires them to stay upon it as
it ever can be-, and it. they are worthy people
there will be no dfic1 in their borrowing If
they need TO dc-x$zN 1ot see that .in order,
should allow thieves and rascals to take NIL
lions of the public domain bY false swearing