River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-08-23
LAND RESERVATIONS.

Ana equal fame
" B. Hlmlt0n. a. y. y Tri5ras.
- S
LAND RESTORATIONS.
A Democratic Statement Which Is 10th .
ing More Than a Collection of Lies.
The Democratic Administration has 1
issued pseudo-official statement, .
which is being sowed broadcast over 4
the land as a campaign document, 4
which purports to show the land
: actually restored to the public do .
main, and the land " recommended T.
for recovery" by the present Demo T.
cratic Administration. Its statements /
are utterly misleading, however. 1t
gives ,, los. Az acres as the quantity of .
lands actually restored to the public .
domain made 90 Of four items.
The first is a d. cisiOn of the Secre- +
tary of the Interior that the forfeiture
of the Texas and Pacific grant carries .
with it the forfeiture of the Southern
Pacific grant within conflicting limits.
amour ting TO $50. 900 acres. Congress /
has never passed bill for the forfeit
ure Of Southern Pacific lands, and
lAAAS NEtASADils NnlNh " atc AAAtttAC AN4
effect. can not stand for one moment in
the courts. This is so well known to
settlers in that region that not one APP
plication for entry on this area has
ever been made.
The second item claims the restora-
ton Of 1000, 900 acres in California of
Atlantic Il Pacific railway lands.
Judge Sawyer. of the United States
District Court, in case brought be-
fore him some years ago, decided that
there was no Congressional grant of
these lands; hence there could be no
restoration. The road claimed the
land, the department had put the claim
on record. the court decided the claim
invalid, and now the correction of the
record Is claimed as a restoration.
The third item is thus explained by
the Washington correspondent of the
New York Tribune:
The third item is a restoration" OF S2.410
acres Of Northern Pacific lands The question
IT. this case was in what direction certain
terminal should be drawn. II it was drawn in
one direction the grant would take land on one
side. and il the line was run IN the other direc-
tiou the railroad would get the same quaint "
of land Oh the other side The railroad got its
g. 400 in any event and no lands were saved 10
the public domain
The fourth item claims the restora-
ton of 26.0l7 acres in Iowa of Sioux
City Il St Paul railway lands. The
plain fact is, the State refused to ac-
cept the grant, and reconveyed the
land to the United States on a request
made by Land Commissioner McFar-
land, a Republican. This Admlmstra-
ton has no claim to having accom-
plished it.
The document also claims the restO-
ration of 2S. 253. 347 acres. forfeited I'M
der laws passed by Congress. These
laws were passed by Republican Con-
crosses, long before the present Ad-
ministration came into power, and it
IS therefore claiming credit for results
flowing from legislation adopted years
ago. and which results would have
been accomplished under any admins
tration. Republican or Democratic. A
change in administration does not an
nul laws. The correspondent above
quoted says:
Tie claim OF restoration includes the nom
inal area Of lands once puTported TO have been
granted to eight Southern railroads, while not
an acre OF lald ever passed to the grantees no
lands whatever were conveyed, none were
withdrawn from the public domain and every
aere-so purporting 20 have been granted-was
disposed OF b. the United States many years
ago.
This circular also makes the stu
pendous claim that ?, 1872. 800, 900 acres
of railroad indemnity lands have been
restored. This claim Is a falsehood
Not an acre has been restored. Or
ders of reservations were issued. and
time allowed for the companies TO Sc
lect what was their due from the unse-
lected lands. The railway companies
did this. but there was not enough in
the tracts named from which selections
might be made. The enormous figures
above represent the area granted above
the area there was to grant. Not an
acre was left to be restored.
The statement is made that y, $50,
COS acres have been restored of entries
/ under pre-emption. homestead, timber
culture. desert, and mineral land laws.
cancelled in regular course of examiua-
ton and proceedings in the General
Land Office for abandonment, illegality
aud other causes. These figures are
enormously over-estimated, and the
proof is found in the Commissioner :
own report for 1887. where he says:
Under the timber culture laws rehnquish-
ments Of entries and ,ns making of entries for
the purpose Of selling Accomplishments Is %
business OF great magnitude and an unqualified
abuse OF the privilege Of the laws. The same
tracts OF land are entered and relinqu shed over
and over again. Generally, m each case anew
entry is flied simultaneously with the presenta-
lion Of a REIMBURSEMENT OF the former; and
the process goes on indefinitely Meanwhile
the lands are held from settlement and remain
uninhabted, unimproved and uncultivated
The falsifier who got up the circular
has counted each tract every time il
was entered and Cancelled. II viii be
seen that a big total can be made with
comparatively few quarter sections
There is no means of ascertaining the
real area of land restored under this
inflated item.
A. VIII be seen, the enormous total
which j. shown in this circular shrinks
into insignificant proportions when the
wind and faIsehood are eliminate 1
from it. and the miraculous Iand-saving
Of the Demo sracy. like the party itself
Is shown to be fraud and a sham
Toledo Blade.
81 AVE-DRIVER BROOKS.