Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-02-06
LAND SHARKS.
What the Heavy Hobbies at Austin Mean-NOt
the Friends OF Actual Settlers.
PANHANpLE. Tex. Feb. 2. 1889.


PANHANDLE, Tex, Feb. 2, 1883.
TO the Gazette.
VIII you allow me space in your columns
on the much discussed land question? I
see it stated that there is strong active,
working lobby in Austin, and its pur-
pose, doubtless, is to influence votes in
favor of legislation for their purposes. .
Now, who are those lobbyisrs2 Not of the
actual settlers, not farmers. They must
be, and are, spectators and the agents
of land syndicates. The actual settlers
have neither the time nor means TO spare
for such purposes. They trust the good
sense, honesty and integrity of
legislators to MAINTAIN their rights
While they have found that money ca Il
buy votes and trickery can win pres =
Dental elections, and the possession of
millions can secure seats in the United
States senate, they are not alarmed at
the presence of land sharks and their
agents at the capital Of our state. They
fear only their powers of misrepresenta-
ton; their willy arts and schemes. Now
it is a fact, patent to all observers, that,
Notwithstanding the efforts of our law
makers to prevent it, large quantities of
our choice school lands have been lariated
out by land grabbers and held off the
market for purposes of speculation.
Falls to Texlfne on the Fort
Worth and Denver City railroad. 1t was
the case also from No Man s Land to Pan
handle on the Southern Kansas railroad.
Spectators followed the surveyors when
locating the roads. And when they
could not take and hold all The choice
sections on the route, they employed
others to take and hold for them and in
this way, along both roads, hundreds of
sections have been laTiated, and are yet
held off the market for higher prices.
The consequences have been that when
the home-seekers have come prospecting
they have found all the choice sec
tious tied up by these fraudulent
claims: and if they settled
at all, they had to go outside of the Sc
lected section and away from the settle
ment. This they have refused to do. III
this way the settlement of the Panhandle
has been prevented and the objects of the
law and policy of the state have been de-
feated.
In January, 1887, when the Southern
Kansas survey was located to this place,
there was a rush from Kansas, Kentucky
and elsewhere to Carson county, and $50
SGCLlOuS OF ScuOOl IdQQS- were
taken. In April, 1888, Gen. McCulloch
came around inspecting. He found,
of the $50 sections, only seven
actually settled or occupied at all.
One hundred and forty-three had been
taken on speculation and nearly all Of
them lie vacant to-day, unsettled, un-
occupied. Now the OBJECT of those active
lobbyists must be TO get an act passed
dispensing with the necessity Of occu-
pancy holding their claims so that they
can defy the law under which they took
such land, defy the rights of actual set
tiers in good faith, defy the policy of the
state and still hold these choice lands for
the purposes of speculation
In some instances actual settlers have
gone on lands so lariated out and made
Improvements, believing that fraud
vitiates all contracts. Now, can it be
possible that any senator or representa-
tive in the legislature viii relieve such
spectators from complying with the
terms of the law. apa not save the rights
of such actual settlers ON lands so fraud
ulently taken and held in defiance of
law for speculation? The great object of
the law is settlement-aetual bona fide
settlement Shall this object he defeated
by spectators and then their schemes
upheld by new enactments?
J NJ. THOMSON.