The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1885-12-07
STARTLING STATEMENTS.
TAKEN FROM THE ANNUAL REPORT
OF COMMISSIONER SPARKS,
Alleging That Certain Railroad Corpora.
tions Have Overdrawn Land Grants
to the Extent of 10000, 900 Acres
The Senate Presidency.

WASHINGTON CITY, Dec 7-Winiam A.
j. Sparks, commissioner of the general land
| office, in his annual report makes the follow,
| ing statements:
During the last fiscal year the sales, en-,
| tries and selections of public land under
various acts of congress relating thereto eni.
brace 20, l13, ,663.37 acres, and of Indian
lands ISL ,s502 acres, making total of 20.
95,5l35s acres, being a decrease as com.
| pared with the year 1854, of 6,535, $50. Al
acres and an increase over the year 1888 of
| 1866, 4S07S acres. The receipts from tho
disposals of public lands are s., ,69G, rs; from
| sales Of Indian lands, 1893, ,is3; ii total of
e, S,Gl9, ,59S, being decrease. as compared
with the year 1884, of 4l59, 53s2, and with
1888 of So, GS6 l67, to which is To be added
s., ,S2l for certified copies of records furnished
by the general land Office making the total
receipts for the year from all sources s., S,C29,-
40 The public surveys during the year
embraced over 81 900, 900 acres
The widespread belief of the people of this
country that the land department has beer
very largely conducted To the advantage Of
speculation and monopoly, private and cor
porate, rather than i'll the public interest, |
have found supported by developments in
every branch of the service It seems that
the prevailing idea running through this
office and those subordinate TO it was that
The government had no distinctive rights to
be considered and no special interests to pro
te,.t hence os betvvaan Tho ,,o,.o,n,,..,,. ma
erniIc,x ,f tba rul,i, domain IT, ,,.,.,,
mont usu.lI,, had tl,o u,ore+ ,f !, ~. cot
istieI thn} Thousands of ol,i,,s ,,-iti,,,, r,,,,
dation i'll law and equity involving millions
of acres of public land, have been an
nually passed to patent upon the single
proposition that nobody but the government
had any adverse interest. The vast ma
b,x,, Lao, lo,,otol =, a., ,l;', ,.,,i, ~ - ~
erng the title of tbe United Stot,s to ,,,,,l,,.
lands unon fraudulent ant,ias md. t,.ainnl
constrrrtions Of in,,.rr,nt ,,tIi'' ,,,, i,',
and unon il,egal rl.ins ,i,l1a, ,,rIi;,,, ,,',I
nrivota Grants Th.t s,,ch 1n,,s,,,ae, ~, ,,,1
admin sfrntinn nf tr,,sts of tba ,,ou,i,,,3, ,t
roiIroad Iand o,rarts abn,j La,.l ,.7,,I''', T.,
nxrassive ,1loTr,ncou r.,
NIL land within tho nossibi1itia. nf ti,ai,
reach was in.yitoIIn An ,linst,,o,,t of t,,
grant for the Alabama 4. Elori,lo roirro,.i -,
Alabama nov, about cnr,,lotad ,l,,., .i,,t
tbo o,,,+ol hit, ,,,o,.,, at,,,rl.,, .I'
amount of q. 733 3G acres. o,. at tbe r,+n nf
245 acres mar milo An .yoroo,o ,,,,o,
withdrawal of thn six-nil. un,its - ,,,o
Grant for tbe yinon, 4, ~ pntl,, ,,,, ~
Minnesota is shown ,t Tho ra+o Of o,,o,1t so
orres ner mie maxine a +ot,I ,,,Iar,r,,',,,,,t
of tba grant il, or,,iraI limit, f., a., o,,,,,,,t |
of nearly 15O oOo acros hocid,o . f,,,tI,,,, ~,
larpe,nent Of indenuitv En,its a,,,n,ntir,,r e.,
some 400 ooo acrns ~ t,,a
for this road as hefore noted n,o,. aoo nno
1crec ara foupd to Iva o,t.;jo Of all E,,it
An accurate measurement of n enctiou If
forty miles of the granted limits of tho
Atchison, Topeka q Santa Fe rood
IN Kansas shows TINT II 900 ocre.
have been treated as granted land. far
rl,- x,f,