The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-05-29
EHzHoNEsr srrr1ras ar,
Commissioners Sparks Explains thu So.
Of the Late Order suspenaing PIN, ~
tion on Land Entries, az

Nne commissioner OF the general land oflcs
dated April 8, declaring that final action nro..
all entries of the public land, except Oriysts
cash entries and such scrip locations asaro -.
dependent upon settlement and cultivst,or
should hereafter be suspendedin Colorado. NJ
kota, Idaho, Utah, Washington Territory NJ
Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada anS
small part of Kansas, Nebraska and Minnesot.
and also declaring that final action shonlS {.
suspended upon all timber entries Throughout
the country, has caused great controversy 4.
the territories named and decided onnos;};ama
from the agents and attorneys at Washinoton
and elsewhere, who are engaged in the bnsi.
ness or securing patents for claimants
1t is claimed that the order IN onase
ton is p~aralyzing land business n ~
parts Of the country and doing great injury a
settlers who wish to prove up on their nilssrns
so that they can borrow money to 90 on w;th
the improvement of their lands. Commissions.
Sparks said recently, when asked for M
opinion upon this point:
That order was intended to cover what 7 ta~r.
infested districts. have written a number - y
letters to people who are complaining about Il
and l want 1t thoroughly understood that thsrs
Is nc disposition on my part TO- do honest set
tiers an injury. 1t Is only the knayes ana
thieves that l am after. / have dozens Of let--
tiers from persons living in these districts who
approve of the order. They saw that In MAN.
regions not one entry in fifty is bona fde: thst
1t is a business practice TO do false swearing -
get a title to land Timber entries are aImSost
uniformly fraudulent Now it is to catch these
people that / have said that we should sus.
pend final action on claims. This whole ofice
including the assistant commissioner. the law
clerk n the various chiefs, are In harmony 81
TO the necessity and wisdom of that order. Wa
talked it all over and thought of various means
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 Rna
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 and sign patents when I believed
that fully one-half Of them were fraudulent In
this way / believe / have saved the public
domain,
FULLY A MILLION ACRE
of land since April 3. The charge has been
made that the order was political and geograph.
ical in its character, that the south was ex-
cepted. There are but four states in the sonih
where the United States has land ofices-Fior-
ida, Alabama, Louisiana and Arkansas. Texas
own her own lands. / fancy there is some
fraud in Florida. In due time | will reach that
1t cannot be said that the south is excepted be-
cause Secretary LAMAR is asouthern man. The
south was excepted because the bulk of fraud ia
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. 1t was not the intention To
PROSTATE the 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 .duch money on his certificate Of entry
OF his duplicate papers as he can upon the pat
emit All the first class loan and trust COM
panies of the East desire to know is that the
borrower should be a bona ide settler and that
he will be entitled to o patent. 1t is the knaye
who wants his patent rushed through in twenty
four hours You will find that to-day in ILL
nois forty out of every one hundred entrymen
have never cotton their patents. They ishSss
IN this Office, and the settlers were satisfied to
have simply the duplicates. But You viii find
that the Louisina backbone patents were taken
out of this Office promptly, just as you willfnd
patents have been taken IN all cases where
there is fraud.
ENCOURAGING HI SETTLERS.
When am satisfied that there is good faith
on the part of the settler. there will be no dlf-
ficulty In his getting a patent. / shall satisfy
myself by means of special agents and detec-
tives whom / can thoroughly trust and upon
them I shall put such checks and counter de-
lection as win make ii absolutely certain thai
no false swearing or fraud can secure q pat
tent. i see that the fight is begun upon me
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 IRE upon mel
but / have determined to stand by the order.
Meanwhile, bona fide settlers all over the wess
pick out their land, file their entries upon y,
and 90 on with their improvements. The lane
is theirs Just as much during the flye years
which the law requires them to stay upon ~ ~
ii ever can be. and If they are worthy peopie
there win be no difficulty in their borrowing y
they need to do so. / cannot see that, IN orde,
to relieve these people Of some anxiety, :
lions of the public domain by false swearing
Consul Leonard ON India Wheat.
A letter has been received at the state de-
partment Washington, from Consul General
J. A. Leonard OF Calcutta, formerly OF
Rochester, MINI, furnishing interesting fac's
in relation 70 the production and exporsauonoi
wheat from India. The expectations OF ias'
year were 9,37755, Al tons. Mr.. Leonard says
The question to what extent wheat growing
will increase in India is one that cannot %
ans wered either ACCURATELY or definitely ~ u
certain that the wneat-growing area is increas-
ing, and there is good reason to believe thai y
will keep on increasing, and there can pc nu Il
doubt that the wheat Of fields Of India WI l
Weld abundantly; but / do not think rehapis
information either as to the amount OF 'Anu
under cultivation or the yield per aafe is Cd
tainable. Wheat is and will be raised cheaper
in India than in America. Our improved ma
chinery annot compete with the laporsI W. w,
works for z to 10 cents q day, and WITH tuA'
sum feeds and clothes himself and fanny
who lives in a house that can be built for iesf
than SIS, and waits scarcely any cio,nins.
no furniture, and less and cheaper food ina
any other civilized human being. ,.
Il e doubtful whether this cheap wheat can bf
got 10 England or Europe as cheaply, or caL
Be sold there for any less than the wheat ron
America. The transportation Of grain, ana 60