Wichita eagle., 1888-01-11
ONIAMAR,S LAST ACTS.


WASHINGTON, Jan. l0-One of the last
official acts of Mr.. Lamar, as secretary of
the interior, was to remove Mr.. John w.
| Lebarnes, one of the two clerks in the gen
eral land Office, and to appoint in his place
John n Wright, of Tennessee, who was
last summer member Of the commission
to conduct negotiations with the north
western Indians, and who has recently
been chief of the mineral division in the
| land office The removal of Mr.. Lebarnes
means something more than mere change
in division clerkship. 1t indicates that
Lamar before leaving the department, de-
| cided to rid it of the. last vestige of the
policy of the late General Land Office Com
missioner Sparks. Lebarnes was more
than the law clerk under Mr.. Sparks. he
was the person who, to a very great, and 1t
may almost be said, to a controlling eX-
tent, dictated the policy for which Sparks
became noted and unpopular
When Mr.. Sparks entered the land Office
as its chief he had little practical know
ledge of the theory of the modern land
Office system, though he was accustomed
to boast thirty years or more ago. when a
younger man, he was register in n land
deposit the funds of the government in a
cigar box. This explanation he made at
one time against authorizing the purchase,
bya reg lister at an important land office, of
safe in which to keen his money. La
barnes had long been law clerk of the land
Office, and while Il very able man, and
thoroughly informed as to the duties Of
his Office, he was an enthusiast on the anti
monopoly policy which Mr. Sparks adopted
long before that gentleman had decided
upon the course which he should pursue.
The policy which Mr.. Sparks ultimately
adopted as to nearly all the relations of the
government the land grant railroads was
the policy of Lebarnes under another
name Mr. Lebarnes pointed out the
points which could be made and the law
by which they could be sustained, and Mr..
Sparks adopted these views
Iebarnes was generally accredited at the
department with having been the author
OF a good many of the decisions of Mr..
Sparks, and especially of those which We're
in such direct, hitter and oftimes personal
and iuSubordinate opposition to the views
have been Mr.. Sparks law clerk, moreover,
who was able to convince his immediate
chief that the supreme court of the United
States did not know rs much about law
as that tribunal ought to-, and that
it was unfortunate that the highest ap-
pellate tribunal in the land should differ
with the Interpretation given to the law
by the commissioner OF The general land
Office, but il happened that the court did
disagree with the commissioner of the
| land office more than once, and that the
secretary of the interior and not the COM
missioner of the land Office was sustained
by the court. Lebarnes, when Mr. Sparks
came to sudden official end, is under
stood to have been very helpful to his de
posed chief in the preparation of Mr..
Sparks letter to the president and to Mr.
Lamar, and, according to the gossips Of
the land Office, the passage which was the
most particular personal to Mr. Lamar,
was the exclusive production of Nj. Le-
barnes.
This, in general terms, is the comment
which has all along been made in land
Office circles as to the relations of Mr.. Lee
barnes to General Sparks and to the secre-
tary of the interior. Mr.. Lebarnes was
very capable land Office official. All admit.
SO far as knowledge OF the law goes. in all
its relations to the land grant railroads,
and to private interests, Mr.. LebarneS has
never had superior in the government
service. and he has probably been removed
solely for the reason that he was not con-
tent to give the land Office and the interior
department. the benefit of his most yalu-
able experience and extended information.
but that he was part of IA policy which the
interior department, through the enforced
retirement OF Sparks, has abandoned. and
it was deemed eNpedient to leave Mr.. Villas
unembarraSsed in the administration of
the land office 1t was, in fact, logical
that if Mr.. Sparks should go Mr. Lebarnes
should follow him, for they were parts of
the same policy.