The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-01-27

HON. STH0THIR II. sTOCKsLA0ER, Of
THE 0IMERAL LAND OFFICE.
Since last November the Office o.
Land Commissioner, made vacant by
the retirement of William A j Sparks
has been filled by the Assistant Com
missioner, Strother NJ. Stockslager. Of
Indiana. It IL now regarded as almost
certain that within the next few days
the President will send to the Senate
the name Of Mr.. Stockslager as thu
official successor of Mr.. Sparks. He
has been the acting Commissioner fol
many weeks. and a nomination for tn;
vacancy would probably have beer
made some time since had it not been
for the recent complications resulting
from the nomination of Secretary La
mar as an Associate Justice of the
supreme bench.
Mr.. Stookslager IL an Indianian, hav.
ing been born In the State. His home
is at Corydon. He enlisted during the
warm an Indiana company and rose to
a captaincy. Subsequently he served
his country in the Forty.seventh and
Forty-eighth Congress. He is level
headed, unpretentious gentleman,
with vast amount of courage, and has
handled with much skill the delicate
questions which have come before
him as acting Commissioner. He is
not yet forty-six years old.
The retiring Commissioner. Sparks,
had 50 many pecullarites and 90 much
positiveness Of character that there
was constant friction between his
bureau and the officers of the Interior
Department. In the early part of the
present Administration Sparks de-
cisions were reviewed by Judge jerks,
then First Assistant Secretary Of the
Interior Department, but now Solicitor
General. jerks and the Land Com.
missioner generally made different
interpretations Of the law, and the
result was that sparks decisions were
being constantly reversed, sometimes
at the rate of two or three a week.
On these occasions Sparks made Wig
orous protests, which consequently
made the feeling between himself and
the Assistant Secretary rather IN
and was one of the causes of
the latter's retirement from the In.
terror Department.
This state of affair, was we'll known
to those posted on Department affairs.
When jerks made up his mind to
rerign the office of Assistant Secre-
tary 1t was known to but q few. A
Bohemian writer was the first MEM
Der of the prese to gather it in. Con-
[ident that 1t was a scoop he headed
for T. c. Crawford's office to sell the
Information, Crawford then being at
the head of the Worlds Washington
bureau.
Have an important item for you,"
,aid Bohemia.
"Who is it about?" inquired Craw-
lord.
"About Assistant Secretary jerks"
"Well," continued Crawford. "has
be finally murdered Sparks?"
"Not 40 good as that; he's only
"Then," said Crawford, who would |
lot give up his point, "he resigned to
Keep from killing him."
The recent operations of the General |
Land Office have called attention to |
he magnitude of the labors imposed |
lpon it. While few people in the
East think or care much about it, it is |
fact that during the
course of a year it passes upon matters
INVOLVING more money value than
ZONES before the Supreme Court of the
United States in the same period Not
nfrequentiy 1t occurs that the title to
whole town site is involved, and the
General Land Office must settle the
light Of ownership. There was dis.
,ute of this kind over the site of Lead
lille, in which the amount involved
vas over $75O,9O0. Lamar, Col, is
low In dispute, and there are q
lozen places in New Mexico and
Arizona where towns of more or less
Importance have been built upon land
he title to which now Is disputed.
1t requires great deal Of legal talent
o unravel these entanglements, and
here are fully $50 lawyeIs holding
lerical petitions under the Land Com
most Of them underpaid at
hat. Another inconsistency in the
of salary, $4,000, which
he Commissioner of the General
and Office receives, when it is consid-
red that his decisions involve more
ctual money than those Of the Chief
ustice, and that the Commissioners,
espectively, Of Internal Revenue,
'atents. Pensions, and Indian A fairs,
those duties are far less delicate and
all receive more salary per
mum. |,
HON. z. II. FUNSTON.
A special Correspondent Of the To-
eka Capital writes interestingly ;