St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-20
He Talks About His Recent Ruling Con-
corning Telling Timber on Govern
ment Lands.
Much Opposition to the Commissioner Ex-
pected to Arise When Congress
Assemblies.
Democratic congressman Reti cent al
to Their Views on Organization
of the House..
Another Minnesota Land ONCE APP
nt--Cleveland and the
Omce-Seekers.
Nyr. Sparks Explains.

Special to the Globe.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19.-NOthing is
more apparent than that the lot OF Land
Commissioner Sparks after the assembling
of congress will not be happy one. The
West, and especially the Northwest. will
array a solid front against the important
rulings he has made since he assumed Office.
Though it is carefully concealed, the real
cause of the bitter opposition that will be
manifested is his order last April suspend
ing the issue of patents. His opponents
keep this fact in the background, and base
their objections to his course upon his
rulings in reference to timber on mineral
lands and his recent decision against double
entries. Your correspondent had quite an
extended conversation with Gen. Sparks TO-
day in reference to the protests alleged to
be en- route from the miners OF Montana.
He said they had not yet arrived; that the
scope of his ruling was misunderstood, but
that he was prepared to maintain an unal-
terable position in reference to the matters
that really were decided. His order does
not at all interfere with the law permitting
individual miners to use the adjacent timber
for mining purposes, but it is an endeavOr
to stop the depredations upon timber COM
mitted by corporations of great capitalists
who use the good lumber for commercial
purposes. The
REPORTS OF THE SPECIAL AGENTS
clearly establish this state of affairs. In
Arizona corporation is charged with fur
nishing timber for the construction of the
Mexican Central railroad. In Montana
lumber has been similarly cut for the pur-
poses of commercial use. Gen. Sparks
order overrules the latitudinarian decision
of Secretary Teller in the San Juan COM
pany's case, wherein that distinguished and
elastic Colorado schemer found in the pre-
amble of the act of 1878 some language as
the groundwork of his decision which he
could not discover in the provisions of the
bill itself. In that case Secretary Teller
| went as far as the most audacious timber
thief could desire. He held that the per-
versity of human nature is such that the
citizens of the territories would never alter
their belief that timber could be cut for the
building of school-houses, the development
of mines. and for the necessities OF smelt-
ing. Although the strict letter OF the law
related to the telling of timber from ''min-
eral land'' the preamble of the act mem
toned the telling of timber from the ''pub-
lie domain" and from these words Mr..
Teller supported his theory that timber
COulu w APPROPRIATED WlIllou1 oPpooitioii,
and for almost any purpose that the in
truder desired. Gen. Sparks order to the
Montana improvement company is but
strict
CONSTRUCTION OF THE LAW
in reference to the telling of timber by
miners from the adjacent mineral lands.
whose boundaries are well defined and with
a knowledge Of which the mineral
claim is made. In answer to
a question whether the mining
industry would be paralyzed by this order
the commissioner said that he did not be-
leve any such state of facts could arise,
and if any such lamentable result would oc-
cur it was in the province of congress to
amend the law. 1t was his sole duty to
construe and maintain the law as it now
stood. He said that in all the mining ter
ritories coal coke was available. This
was especially true in Colorado, and in the
Black Hills territory of Dakota there were
many coal beds. Mining companies oper-
ating upon large scale, instead of appro-
priating timber far and wide and for pur-
poses lndefensiDle, would have to
suffer from curtailment of their profits,
and like other manufacturers eXpend this
margin in the purchase of coal. From an
other source it is learned that in fact this
order has never been officially promulgated.
1t has been much discussed, however,
and in truth the department favors its
terms. The protests that are expected soon
to arrive are intended to suspend this an
nOuucement