New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-07-30
FIGURES MADE TO LIE.
srocKsIAGER's CAMPAIGN DOCUMENT.
MISLEADING AND FALSE STATISTIC HOW PLAT
FORM PLANK WAS MADE.


Iav TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIRuNEl
Washington. July ga statement show
,ne the quantity Of land actually restored
% the public domain, and of land
mended for recovery by the action of the General
Land Office and Secretary of the Interior, from
March 4, ss5, to May q, sss." has been issued
by Commissioner StocRslager, and sown broadcast
over the country for campaign purposes. This
socalled statement is printed upon one side only
for more convenient by newspapers and cam
paign orators and the Commissioners signature
is neatly appended in fac-simile, which is designed
70 give additional weight to the startling propo-
sitions contained in the circular, which has re-
ceived the warm approval of President Cleveland.
Under the head of lands actually restored to the
public domain" are given 2,1Os4I7.33 acres of
lands in granted railroad limits. This is made
up Of four items whch'are follows:
1.-The decision of the Interior Department that
.hc forfeiture Of the Texas and Pacific Railroad
grant carried with il forfeiture Of the Southern
Pacific grant within conflicting limits. This
was decision made purely and sim
ply for Democrat buncombe," as no forfeiture
Of Southern Pacific lands had ever been made by
Congress Whenever the Southern Pacific Rail-
road wants the $50, 600 acres now claimed to have
been restored, it will unquestionably get them.
And this is So well known that not a single entry
application has been made by settlers or out
siders" for lands embraced in this bogus
ton.
The second item is the claimed restoration of
1900 600 acres of Atlantic and Pacific Railroad
lands in California. The late Commissioner Sparks
held that there was no grant of these 100000
acres. Judge Sawyer, of the United States Cir
cult Court, had previously so decided and the De
partmental restoration calleo-was mere
clerical act.
The third item IS restoration Of 32,4OO
acres Of Northern Pacific lands. The question
in this case was in what direction certain ter
minal should he drawn. If it was drawn in one
direction the grant would take land on one side
and if the line run in the other direction the
rarond would get the same quantity of land on
the other side. The railroad got its 32,4OO acres
IN any event. and no lands were saved to the pub
lie domain.
The last item IN these restorations7 is 26.017
acres of 81, ux City and ST. Paul Railroad lands in
Iowa which the State had refused to accept and
which were reconveyed 10 the United States upon
a request originally made by the Republican Com
missioner Of the General Land Office n. c. McFar-
land.
The present Administration is merely resduary
legatee, and not discOverer or owner of this
rCstoration-
The Congressional forfcitures. of which 2s. 253,-
347 ere claimed in the statement" were
simply the elimination of measures origi-
mated in the preceding Republican Congresses. The
claim of restoration includes the nominal Of
lands once purported to have been granted to
eight Southern railroads. while not an acre of
land ever passed TO the grantees, no lands what
ever were conveyed. withdrawn from
the public domain and every acre-sc purporting
fo IaN-a hoo nfad- of nv he
United States many years ago. The circular
claims that 2,l32,360,O0O acres of railroad In
demnity lands " were" restored. This claim is
also false. Not has been restored so
far as diligent inquiry has discovered Orders
for restoration were issued, 1t is true, but a
sufficient length Of time was allowed for the
companies to select all hitherto unsolicited lands,
and they were duly notified to come forward
and make such selections. II is generally under
stood that the railroad companies selected,
single acre TO be restored
StOcllslager's statement reports $4,000 acres
Of private land claims withdrawn, lands
stored" This is a claim of restoration in a
the Nolan grant-where the grant claim was
settled by Congress some years ago, and that
settlement made these lands more public
lands restoring them to the public domain;
which fact was simDlv recorded by the General
Land Office and nothing more.
sToCKsLAGER's SCHEME or RESTORATION"
Mr.. Stocksager's extraordinary statement
chlnS tnat -, bO. bUs acres nave DeeN actually
restored under the heading:
Entries under pre-cmpuon, homestead timber culture,
desert mineral and timber culture land cancelled in
regular Of examination and proceedings in General
Land once for abandonment Aegaity and other causes
Careful investigation discloses that this par
tcular item is an eXaggeratiOn by just about
% O0o, 900 acres. The manner in which this item
of the statement was constructed is indicated |
or suggested, by passage in the Commissioners |
report for 1887. He
Under the Timber Culture laws accomplishments OF
tries and the making Of entries for the purpose Of selling
fenquishments is business OF magnitude and
unqualified abuse OF the privilege Of the laws The same
tracts Of land renqushed and
again Generally in each entry Is filed simul
taneousy with the presentation OF REIMBURSEMENT OF
the former; AMI the process indefinitely. Mean
while the lands held from settlement and remain
inhabited, uninproved and uncu.tvated.
The Commissioner then cites number Of ex-
amples from the official records. In one case the
same 60 acres in Nebraska had been entered
sixteen times, and rclinquished and cancelled"
i've times in the last eight years-four of the
entries and three Of tie rclnQuishments having
been filed under the present Administration. In
another case, in Dakota, 60 acres had been
entered and relinquished and cancelled five
times. II appears that the ingenious but not
ingenious, Democratic mathematicians have taken /
these and thousands Of cases. and counted each
OF them as many times they were relinquished
and cancelled according TO the records In this
way the same so acres would figure AS 500 acres
II five cancellations had been recorded. and the
two SPECIFIC cases cited would yield aggregate
Of 500 acres 10 be credited TO the i" Reform Ad-
Could anything be- rloTc false or
cal leu lationsP
Given sufficient number OF cancellations"
for multipler and the same quarter section would
yield Stockslager's total Of o75GO SOS
acres Now, everybody knows that "(;cncral5
SparEs was q more energetic, fearless and in
SSusIIous hcIormer than StoeIslager, but
Sparks declared officially that between the first
day OF April 1885, and the 3Oth Of June. 1857,
1.I91 entries only we're clCd embracing
55l $40 acres II Stockslager statementT were
true, he would have investigated. examined re-
viewed adlpdged and cancelled about So 900
entries IN the short perlod covered by his own
lncumbency which began only about eleven
months ago Sparks assaulted ConpresS crc-
9uently and violently for increase of force mon
the plea that his clerks had disposed of Inc stm