Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1885-12-08
1a,lu gress aaa 9akotaiaa
SPARKS, COMPLAINTS.

W u AfE-''' ElHIEER .
SPARKS, COMPLAINTS.
Annual Report of the Commissioner
OF the General Land ONCE
The report OF Commissioners Sparks,
of the general land Office, starts of with
the statement that the commissioners
has held the office onIy three months,
which 10 insufficient to enable him to
more than realize the situation and to
make u commencement Of such reforms
az he believes to be necessary. he
makes 8 general and sweeping assertion
that there had grown up great abuses in
the land Office. and the report is largely
made mp OF amplltication Of this idea.
The commissioner says that the vast
machinery of the land department APP
pears to have been developed to the
chief result of conveying OF the United
Ststee public lands upon fraudulent en-
tries uDder strained constructions of I'M
perfect public land laws and under
public and private grants.
From the reports of the subordinate
divisions of this Office 1t appears that
during the last fiscal year the sales, en-
tries and selections OF public land under
various acts of congress relating thereto
embrace DOLLS, 633.37 acres, and of
Indian lands 88I ,850.21 acte g making a
fetal OF 20,995. BLISS acres, being q de-
crease as compared with the year 1884 of
6.535. 6564 Al acres, and an increase over
the year 1888 OF 1866 ,4S0.78 acres.
Tue receipts from the dispesals OF
public lands are 1906, III, 80; from Gales
OF Indian lands, $685. S3 81; a total of
$S. 9l9. $685., being . decrease, as com
pared with the year 1884. of $4. 1853, $50,
oil, and with 1883 OF $3,0S5, 157, 33, to
which is to be added $6,82l,66 tor certi-
fed copies OF records furnished by the
general land office, making the total
receipts for the year from all sources
S8.62S, 420, l8.
In regard 80 public surveys the COM
missioner says that there is no adequate
system of ascertaining the correctness
OF surveying returns and accounts.
Township plats appear to have been &C,
cepted and payments made amounting
to millions of dollars annually, solely
upon faith ard without an effective
u~talization OF even the Insufficient
means that congress- has provided for
testing the accuracy OF the work. Evi
dence is cumulative that surveying ma
beer done with great laxity, and there if
abundant reason to believe that numer
ous returns have been made and paid
for of work that has never been per-
formed. Complaints Of this character
have been before this Office
for years and are c~ontaInaly
arising. Applications for the amended
surveys md for resurveys, which are
chiefly made necessary in consequence
oil fraudulent or imperfect surveys, are
continually presented. Under the an.
nual appropriations by congress since
1883 OF $4,000, which, or a part of which
may be expended in occasional exami
natsons OF surveys in the field" oom
p%aratiyely few examinations have been
made. Some Of the agents appointed
Tor this purpose were c~onspiouously un.
faithful, bat go far as efficient service
was performed by any of them the re
suits have beer uniform in establishing
the fraudulent practices alleged in the
surveying service.
An examination of twenty-four miles
on the Grand Ronde meridian in ORE
ss:ess. eur s;y;s ia 1873, showed that NJ
corners had been established, and thu
fourth. standard parallel surveyed 81
the same time was found incorrectly
laid down. In five townships examined
In Idaho n wa found entirely desti
tute OF any evidences OF having been sur
yeyed at ell, while in the other four, mani
CT the corners were wanting, and those
that were found were deficient in SIG
In two townships in Montana, the con.
Tracts for which were awarded in 1884
the Hubdivisionala Zines were only partly
run,and existing corners were not accord.
ing to contract. In twenty-seven town.
ships examined in Colorado in 1883 81
no evidence was found that subdivisions.
surveys had been made in any one Of
them, and in eight other townships there
wal no evidence that any government
surveys whatever had been made, the
only corners exlsting being those estab-
hshed BY Local surveyors in the absence
OF public surveys.
So thoroughly organized has been the
entire system, continues the commits.
sioner, OF procuring the survey and
I making Illegal entry of lands, that
agents and attorneys engaged IN this
business have been advised oil every
Official proceeding and enabled to pre-
sent. entry applications for the lands al
the very moment of the fling of the
Rhes1 pHKfoy Al LuO lUChk lAl Ouuc6S,
Dc cttes . single case reported by special
agents in California, where it wal dis.
covered that an English firm had OBJ.
tanned 100000 acres Of the choicest red
wood lands in the state, worth perhaps
an average OF $l00 per acre, while the
cost OF procuring surveys and fraudulent
entries did not probably exceed $500
per quarter section, or at the rate OF
$500 per acre. In the same manner ex-
tensive coal deposits in our western ter
rltory are acquired in mass through ex-
pedited surveys, followed by
fraudulent pe-emption and com
mnted homestead entries. The commIs-
6loner recommends the sweeping repeal
Of the laws which make possible these
alleged abuses, and the enactment OF a
new and rigid system of public surveys.
The report then enters upon q discus
sion OF alleged manipulation of the land
laws in the interest of monopolies, pri-
yate n corporate, md particularly by
cattle syndicates. 1t quotes at great
length from the reports OF inspectors
and agents of the office. Nearly all of
this matter has already been made pub
lie.
The report concludes with q review of
the presumption, homestead and other
o laws. q commissions says:
That the abuses of the public land
laws are largely due to inefficient
administration, to the conduct OF weak
or corrupt officials and to cratic and
fanciful decisions, is nndeniable; but
that the laws themselves aIe defective
IN want OF adequate safeguards is also