River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-05-28
THE HONEST SETTLERS SAFE.
commissioner Sparks Explains the Scope
OF the Late Order Saspending Final Ac-
ton on Land Entries.


ton on Land Entries.
Washington special:-The order issued by
the commissioner OF the general land office,
dated April 5, declaring that final action upon
all entries of the public land, except private
cash entries and such scrip locations as are not
dependent upon settlement and cultivation,
should hereafter be suspended in Colorado, Da-
kota, Idaho, Utah, Washington Territory, New
Mexico, Montana Wyoming, Nevada and a
small part of Kansas Nebraska and Minnesota
and also declaring that final action should be
suspended npon all timber entries throughout
the country, has caused great controversy in
the territories named and decided opposition
from the agents and attorneys at Washington
and elsewhere, who are engaged i'll the bust
ness of securing patents for claimants.
1t 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 proyeup on their claims
70 that they can borrow money to go on with
the improvement of their lands. Commissioner
Sparks said recently, when asked for his
opinion upon this point:
That order was intended to cover what term
infested districts. have written number of
letters to people who are complaining about it,
and want it thoroughly understood that there
is no disposition on my part to do honest set
tiers an injury. 1t Is only tho knaves and
thieves that am after | have dozens of let
approve of the order. They say that in many
regions not one entry in fifty is bona fide; that
it is a business practice to do false swearing to
get title to land Timber entries are almost
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 III harmony as
TO the necessity and wiz j N of that order. We
talked it all over and thought of various means
ff,h ao ,ofal,x ya1 klfan
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 unadyisable. 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 sigIR patents when l believed
that fully one-half oi them were fraudulent In
this way l believe have saved the public
domain,
FULLY MILLION ACRES
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-
copied There are but four states in the south
where the United States has land ofices-FIor-
ida, Alabama, Louisiana and Arkansas. Texas
owns her own lands L 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 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 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 much money on his certificate of entry
or 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 bona fide settler and that
he will be entitled 10 patent 1t is the knave
who wants his patent rushed through in twentv-
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 Louisna 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.
When am satisfied that there is good faith
on the part of the settler, there will be no diff
ficulty in his getting patent | shall satisfy
myself by means of special agents and detec-
lives whom | can thoroughly trust and upon
them | shall put such checks and counter de-
lection as win make 1t absolutely certain that
no false swearing or fraud can secure a pat
tent / 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 III the whole subject of land
Office business have opened fire upon me;
but | have determined to stand by the order.
Meanwhile, bona fide settlers all over the west
pick out their land, file their entries upon it,
and go on with their improvements. The land
is theirs just as much during the five years
which tine law requires them to stay upon it as
it ever can be, and if they are worthy people
there win be no difficulty in their borrowing if
they need TO do so. | cannot see that, in order
should allow thieves and rascals to take mil
lions of the public domain by false swearing.