Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-01-29

/ for the best interests of the whole
country" and thus defends my ac-
tion. But, let me admit, for the sake
OF the argument, that some OF my
!, votes are indefensible. Does that
; prove that he is not land stealer?
Mr.. Dorsey further holds me re-
sponsible for the provision in all our
railroad grants compelling the settlers
} on the reserved sections to pay w 5O.
per acre for their lands instead OF the
ordinary price, $1.25 per acre. lie
says II thus added more than two
hundred millions of dollars to
the burden of the settlers who sought
homes along the proposed lines
of the railways" while / put an addl-
tional "two hundred millions OF dol
lars into the pockets OF the railroad
lob n.y." l think am safe in saying
that this example of parliamentary
almightiness has no parallel in the
annals of the civilized world. Both
houses of Congress and the President
of the United States were my play
things, and nv diabolism had full
sweep from 1850. when the first land
grant was made. till left Congress in
1871! Such flashes of imbecilify are
really somewhat dazzling and specta-
tular. but life is too short to be wasted
in fight with dissolving views.
Gmust not conclude these illustra-
tions of the ethical side of Mr.. Dor
sey's character without noticing the
display he makes of himself in con-
nection with the Una de Cato grant,
| in ,xb; ;ob bo io poroopa1lv ipvoIvad
This is what said on that subject in
my article:
"The area OF this grant, according
to M. Dorsey, its chairman, was near
ly 600, 900 acres. 1t was reserved
from settlement, and is so reserved
| today by the act of 1854, but when
the forgery of the grant was demon
strated in 1879 and he thought it I'M
safe to rely upon that title, he deter
mined to avail himself of the home
stead and pre-emption laws. This he
could not legally do, because the land
was reserved but the Commissioner
of the General land Office was touched
by his misfortune ,aud in defiance of the
law 'rdered the land to be surveyed
and opened to settlement. Mr.. Dor
sey, who was already in possession of
thousands of acres of the choicest
lands in the tract, at once sent out his
squad OF henchmen, who availed
themselves of the forms of the pre-
emption and homestead laws in ac-
quiring pretended titles, which were
conveyed to him according to the ar
ran = ements previously agreed upon.
No record of this unauthorized action
of the Commissioner is to be found in
the Land Office. What was done
was done verbally and in the dark,
and nothing is now known
OF the transaction but the |
fact OF its occurrence, and the init
mate relations then existing between
Mr.. Dorsey and the Commissioner
and his Chief of Surveyors. OF
course, he and his associates in this
business have no title to the lands |
thus acquired, and their entries should |
be cancelled, not only because the
land was reserved from sale by act of |
Congress, but because the entries |
were fraudulently made, as will be
shown by investigations now in pro-
gress."
These are exactly the facts as shown
by official documents. Now, how
does Mr.. Dorsey answer me? Upon
investigating the title of this grant he
says he became convinced it was
fraudulent. When did he make this
investigation and reach this conclu-
sion? The records of my Office and OF
the Interior Department give no an
swer to the question. They do not show |
that he ever made an investigation,
but the contrary. He says he wrote |
to the Hon. Carl Schutz, then Secre
tary of the Interior, stating substan-
TALLY all the facts in his possession
granting the grant, and asked him to
send a special agent to make care
full Investigation. and turned over to
the Secretary all the papers in his
possession. Unfortunately for Mr..
Dorsey these statements are unsup- |
ported by the records OF the Land |
Department and contradicted by them.
They show that he persisted in his
claim for years following the first
agi alton of the validity of his title,
and up to January, 1879, when the
forgery of the grant was demonstrated.
He did nothing whatever in instigat-
ing the inquiry which led to this
demonstration, whicn inquiry was set
on foot by Lewis Kingman and Henry
w. Arms in the year 1877. The papers
show that he was displeased with their
inter-meddling with his title, and that
it was solely at the instance OF these
men that the Land Office directed an
investigations to be made. In the light
81 4hooo fo ntc flo 10 dow ,o,, it,1co fo,.
himself as to Mr.. Dorsey's reverence
for the truth when he says: 81 ex-
posed the fraudulent nature of the
grant with which Mr.. Julian attempted
to link my name unfavorably" The
audacity of this statement is fascinat-
ing. 1t is charmingly Satanic, and it
settles the fact that Mr.. Dorsey, in
his way, is a genius.
But he says he applied to the Sec
retary Of the Interior to have the land
within the bounds of this fraudulent
grant thrown open for settlement, and
that it was done accordingly. This is
what said in my article; but l
stated, further, that the Land Depart
ment had no power to do this. One
Surveyor General had pronounced the
grant valid, and another had do
clared it to be forgery. Congress
alone could determine the question,
and the land was absolutely reserved
by law in the meantime. Secretary
Schurz and Commissioner William
son knew this perfectly, and for this
reason, doubtless, no written order
for the survey and sale of these lands
was made, and the business was
done Gin the dark"
Nor is there any mystery about this
action. Mr.. Dorsey was then power
in politics. He had neared the sum-
NIT oil his remarkable ascendency.
1t was in the following years (1SS0)
that his genius lighted the way to
national victory for the Republicans,
for which he was banqueted and lion
| ~