Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-01-25
OUR SCHOOL LANDS.
A Scheme by which the School Fund is
Being Defrauded

S"S OcirduOeu.
EDS. RECORD UNION Please 10 inform
me through your columns whether the sale
OF State school lands does the public schools
much If any good. If so l fail to see il
There IS under my observation several in
stances IN which parties have purchased
school lands and paid 20 per cent. down.
and have their own time in which to nav
the balance by paying very low rate of in
terest per annum. The parties referred to
go rlght TO work and cut and haul the tim
Der all away, and if they are lucky enough
10 get the timber all cut and hauled away
IN one year, of course they have to pay but
~ per cent. down and one years interest.
and they have got all they want of the land
ana never pay anything more on il. They
have got all the value of the land cut and
hauled Oft; then how do cur public schools
receive much benefit from those lands? Is
that the law which controls those lands I?
Ii SO, II Is very unjust law In my opin-
ION the purchaser should not be allowed to
cut tne TIMBER and haul it away until the
last dollar is paid down for it. / think
that TINS IS only practiced by parties pur-
chasing those lands, because they are not
molested in so doing, or does the law up-
mold that kind of a stealing scheme
Please INFORM ne through your columns,
and oblige, yours truly. w
Nevada City, January Is, 1856.
uryeyor-General Wiley, being interro-
gated by REcoRD-UNIoN representative
concerning the alleged practice, SAYS "Of
course, the State school fund receives the
moneys paid for all school lands. and the
interest derived from the investment of
such moneys is apportioned and used for
TIE maintenance of the public schools
OF the State. But the evil of Which your
correspondent complains has indeed been
| great one, many thousands of acres of the
choicest timber-land of the State having
been despoiled of their valuable product,
the, applicants only having paid 20 per
cent OF the purchase money therefor. I'm
fortunately the laws of the State We're such
as TO permit OF this great wrong. When a
person holds q certificate of purchase
(Which is issued upon the approval of an
application and payment Of the 20 per
cent? he has the prima face evidence of
| title, and the consequent right to sell, assign
or convey his title to the land OF its products
to any one.
a Il Acts of the Legislature of this State
providing for the sale of State school lands
should have provided for the payment in
full of the purchase money paid for timber
LANDS, upon the issuance of certificate of
purchase, and the price per acre should
nave been twice or four times what it is.
and has been. But ii was not until March
Is, 1883, when the Legislature passed what
was known as the Britt BILL that payment
IN full was required, the price per acre re-
| manning 81 %.
Occasionally it is reported that persons
who have merely filed an application for
schooi lands are engaged in stripping them
ny han. . = 81 IL.
discovering this vandalism TO report the
tranSgressor to the District Attorney of the
county III which the. land is situated, and
! the duty of said attorney to proceed
against the vandal, as provided in the Act
of March y, 1868, as follows:
| SECTION /. Any person or persons who shall
| cut down any timber growing or standing upon
| any swamp and overflowed, tide, or marsh or
| school lands belonging to or claimed bv the
| State or who shall destroy or carry away any
timber when cut down. for the purpose of sell
ing, or IN any other manner disposing of the
same Ior noney or eny valuable thing, shall,
| upon conviction in a Court of competent iuris-
| dictlon, be lined in any sum not exceeding one
| thousand dollars nor less than fifty dollars or
imprisonment in the county jail not less than
| twenty-five or more than one hundred DAYS or
both such fine aud Imprisonment, ct the discre-
| ton OF the Court; prOuided, however that moth
ing in this Act shall be so construed rs to pre-
vent any person f,om removing and selling any
wood which they may have cut or caused TO be
! cut previous to the passage of this Act, on any
lands belonging TO or claimed by this State
| "SECTlCN ,. All fines collected under the pro-
visions OF this Act shall be paid into the County
Treasury of the county where the lands are stu
| a'ed, and placed to the credit of the School
| FUND If the lands upon which the trespass was
| committed were school lands, otherwise to the
| credit OF The swamp Land Fund
Relative to the sale of timber lands,
permit me TO state that it would he wise
! precaution for Congress and the Legislature
OF this State to enact stringent laws, hav-
ing for their object the preservation of the
| remaining timber lands of the State The
| sources of our water supply will gradually
be affected by this wholesale dispoliation OF
| lands OF their luxuriant protection of tim
Der, and the day soon come when we will
be compelled to resort to the restoration OF
the forests we have permitted to be des-
| troyed."