Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1885-05-29

a
Asn fr~@ eSnamsfB&s1er sparks-
WEzzIssros. Nay za-Ths or5er "a
sued ~ the Ciountasioner of tue Gen.
sral Land OH&- dassd April "a, dssiar-
ln2 that NAL ecfioa Gpon all entries Of
tns p1bile land. exsept lEivsts eash en-
fflss and sash sorspt IocatiJns a. are
n0t dependent upon set1ienent and c1l-
tivaison- should hereafter De sqspeod 4
N Colorado. Dakota. Idaho, Ctah,
MsshinRtoR Territory, Neg Mexico,
Montana, Wyoming. Nevada, and \
small part Of Kansas, Nesrssks and
Minnesota and also declaring thai Anal
sessen should be suspendsd spon Al
tim ser e1tries throuQhoos the eoaurrv.
nas ea1ssd great eontroyersy Ia The Ter
gstoFies named and dscided opposifion
from the agents and attoeneys st wash
inRton and else ubere, WAC are engaged
10 the business OF securing patents for
eiaimanta- Il 10 claimed that the order
n question IL paralyZing land business
10 all parts Of the eJuntry. and dong
great iHjzry 20 settlers Who wish 20
prsve up on their claims 90 that they
can borrow money 70 20 on with the
improVement Of their lands. Commis-
sionsr Sparks said today. Shsn asked
Tor his opinion upon tAis point:
Aa8s SAaEE No1 H1kCH0CSl 70 cover
what term infested dissriots. / have
written number Of IsstsFs 70 pSople
sh0 are Complaining aboat il, and |
uxnt it thOroaRhly understood that
there il no di positioa on my part 10 do
hoaest settlers an injury. Il Is only the
knsves and thieves tn4s / Am after.
have dozsns Of letters from persons
living in those districts who approve Of
the order. They say that in many re-
Rtons not one entry in fifty are boaa Jfde;
that is u 9 bnslness practices to do false
swearing % get title % land. Timber
enfries are almost uniformiy fraudulent.
Noe Il - to oatoh these people that
have said that we would suspend fual
action on claims This whole Office, in-
eluding the Assistant Commissioner. the
Law clerk and the various chiefs, are ia
harmony as % the necessity and Wis
dom of that order. We talked il ali
over and thought Of various means to
be employed for the end desired. One
vas to close the local land Offices: bat
IN thai event settlers arriving in the dis
trict would end themselves unable 20 To-
cate. That plan would NOS work. Then
IL vas suggested that We close the land
Office here. but that would be obviously
uaadvisable. So there vas nothing for
me 10 do except to say that would not |
ssk the Secretary Of the Interior nor the |
President b. approve akd sign patents |
when / believed that fully oae-hslf Of |
them we're fraudulent. In this way be- |
lieve | have saved the public domain |
FUI1LY MILLION ACRES
OF land since April Sd. The charge has
been made that the o der vas political |
and geographical 10 character, that the |
South WAS excepted. There are bat |
four States in the south where the |
United states has land ofiices-FIorida. |
Alabama, Louisiana aGd Arkansas. |
Texas owns her own lands. / fancy |
there is some fraud In Florida In due |
tine / will reach that. IL caunst be |
said that the South is excepted because 1
Secretary Lamar 10 a Soas ashern man.
fhe south was excepted because the
bulk of the fraud is not IN the Soath. |
There 10 five times as much territory 10 |
the North that 10 NOS included in the or |
der. Michigan. Wisconsin, Iowa, GEAR
~ sIl of Minnesota, Nebraska and Kan |
ss are not included, and in twO Of these |
Ssatss-Michignan and wisconsin, |
know there Is fraud that We ought 20 |
look after. Ii Was not the intention to |
PROSTATE the land business all over the |
country. Nothing Of the kind has beeu |
done. What we are really after Is 10 |
prevent the public domain from going |
into the hands Of ranohmen and speca. |
lators. The bona tide settler can borrow |
Just as mucn money on his certificate |
of entry or his duplicats papers as he |
can upon the patent. Ali the frst- class |
loan and trust companies Of the East |
desire TO know is that the borrower |
should be a bona ySde settler and that !
be will be entitled 20 patent. Il is the |
knave who wants his patent rushed |
through 10 twenty four hours. Yea will |
find that today in Illinois forty out of |
every one hundred entTymen have never |
gotten their patents. They lie here IN |
this offios, aud the settlcrs were satisfied
10 have simply the duplicates. But you
will find that the Louisiana backbone
patents were taken out of this Office
promptly, Just as you will fiud patents
hsve been taken in all cases whsFe there
Is fraud.
ENCOURAGING TEE sETTLERs.
when am satisfied that there is
good faith on the part OF the settler,
there will be no difficulty in his getting
patent. shall satisfy myself by
means Of special agents and Detectives,
s~~-4 s~@1a1N&oAy Ao1At oAAS 14SA%
them shall put such checks and eoun-
ter detection as will make it absolutely
certain that no false swearing or fraud
can secure patent. ] see thst the
fight ts begun upon nas fFem the Lana
Once lawyers here and ell over the
West, and that The Newspapers largely
interested IN the whole subjsot Of Land
Oftice b0siness hare Opened IRE upon
me; bat have determined ts stand by
The order. Msanwhiis. bona nds set
tiers all ever the West pick out their
land. alc their entries upon u, and 90
90 with their improvements. The land
h theirs lust ~ much durine the i've
years which the Law requires them 90
stag upon ID as Il ever can be. and II
they are worthy people there will be no
oifhCulty IN their borrowing money. II
they need 90 de %. I cannot see that.
in order 10 relieve theee peopss of SOME
snxiety, should allow thieves and rss-
Gals TO sake milliens Of tne pnblio do