Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-07-31

mile or granted limits on each side
of the road in the Territories. and
the " lieu" or secondary limits are
ten and twenty miles beyond the
granted limits. The act provided
for the reservation, at q certain time,
of granted lands. 1t did n OF provide
for reservation of indemnity lands.
The express mention in a statute of
one person or thing is the exclusion
of another. The express reservation
of granted lands excluded authority
for any reservation of lands not
granted. The statute expressly de-
clares what land shall be reserved
No other lands should, therefore,
be reserved. But the statute does
not stop with that declaration. 1t
proceeds to explicitly declare that
the -emption and homestead law
shall be extended "to all other land
on the line of said road" The legal
principle that no other lands were
or could be reserved than those es-
pecially mentioned. is thus enforced
by statutory provision equivalent
to a mandate that no other lands
should be reserved. 1t is clear to
me that there is no authority of law
for q withdrawal of lands within the
limits of indemnity selection under
this grant. 1t is equally clear that
II reservation of such lands from pre-
emption and homestead entry is pos
itively inhibited by the statute. In
giving notice of the resolution of
granted lands, which the law pro
vides should be reserved in certain
time and manner, the jurisdiction
nnd power of the adminisll alive Off
Ger wa uece saliy exhausted. Con
,,rcss Las exclusive power to reSu.
late the disposal Of public lands.
If Con., ress did not choose 10 pro-
vide fo. tho reservation If lands to
await selection by the rpil,oad COM
pany, j. is not easy to see how tho
Commissioner of the Land Office
could extend the law TO effect such
reservation.
1t was held by Mr.. Secretary Tel
Ter, in 1853. as n general principle,
that the power of this Department
to withdraw lands within granted
limits for the benefit of the grant is
well settled, and by parity of good
reasoning that authority to withdraw
lands in the indemnity limits must
follow. The Supreme Court, how
ever, in recent cases, asserts that the
conditions and rules applicable to
granted limits do not follow in re-
respect to indemnity limits. TIE
time when the right to lands be-
comes vested, which are to he select
ed within given limits under these
land grants, whether the selection is
in lieu of lands deficient within the
primary limits of the grant, or lands
which, for other reasons, are to be
selected within certain secondary
limits, is different in regard 10 those
that are ascertained within the pri-
mary limits by the location of the
line of the road. That is the deci-
sion in st. Paul Railroad Company
vs.. Winona Railroad Company.
The principle that the railroad COM
pany has not and cannot have any
claim to indemnity lands until spe-
cific tracts have been selected in the
manner prescribed, as announced as
the " foundation of the judgment OF
the court" in cases cited. "The
reason Of this is" says the court,
"that no vested right can attach to
the lands in place." the odd-uum-
bered sections within specifically
granted limits, until these sections
are ascertained and identified by a
legal location of the line OF the road !;
SO in regard to the lands to be Sc.
lected within a still larger limit,
their identification cannot be known
until the selection is made" The
law as settled by the court is that no
rights vest to lands embraced in
granted limits until the granted Sec
tons ARE defined by tue lawfully
fixed Location Of the line of the road,
aud that no right whatever vests to
lands within indemnity limits until
the right of selection has been ac-
quired and a selection of particular
tracts to supply ascertained detclen-
cies in granted sections has actually
been made. In either case it is the
acquisition of vested right by the
railroad company which cuts off the
right of entry to lands in either
limit. The time when such right
may accrue is different in respect to
the different limits. Following these
decisions by the authority by which
l am governed, 1 must hold that
withdrawal of land by the Commits
sioner of the General Land Office,
when Withdrawals from settlement,
entry or other appropriation serves
only as information in defining the
limits within which indemnity selec-