Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1889-03-29
uNFoIsTUNATis SETTLERS.

Cloud land officers have been advised
by the Commissioner cf the General
Land Office that persons who made
entries on the Northern Pacific indem-
nifty lands, outsidetne thirty-mile and
inside the forty mile limits, known as
sthe second indemnify belt" have no
claim TO the land which will be reeog
nized hy the Department The priv
ilege Is given such settlers as have To-
Gated on these lands-and there are
many hundreds of t!iem.--of choosing.
between maintaining a long and en-
pensive suit with the railroad compa-.
ny or rcfnquishing their entries
without prejudice to their future
right of entry" and after a settlers
original entry is cancelled his appli,
cation for ''the repayment Of the
amount paid by him as fee and COM
missions will be considered when.
properly presen ted .. =. H.. 5 +. II,
This entire procee ding, from its be-
ginningto the present time, is a bis
tering shame ON the Democratic adj
ministration, which happily for tht
people Of this country is no longer in
power. The Commissioner-the
Democratic incumbent, who yet holds
his place-admits that the settlers
who went onto these lands, making
their entries in good faith and their
improvements at heavy expense,
did SO upon the direct and authorita-
tive assurance Of the Secretary of the
Interior that the railroad company
had no claim to the lands included In
this second indemnity belt, but they
were owned by the government and
were subject to homestead and pre-
emption entry. He says: SIN fact it
is doubtful whether any of these ap
plications would have been presented
had they not been invited by the Sec
retary's accession of Aug. Is, 1887,
and the instruction of Oct. 25 and
Nov. 5, 1887, issued Hereunder and
quoted above.p If the Secretary's
decision was not inspired by dema-
Hgosueism, a desire to win popular APP
plause and political support by an os-
tentatious show of antagonism to a
railroad corporation, it was piece OF
inexcusable stupidity OH the part Of
so high an official. 1t was probably
both. The settlers who have been ST.
grossly wronged may we'll ask why
the Secretary did not submit the mat
ter to the Attorney General for an
opinion before instead of after ''invit-
ing them to go on these lands and
thtIAC llOilAcs. AcllS VI CtiouSiiIuS VI
dollars in the aggregate have been
lost by men who have no dollars to
lose. They are now informed that
they can carry on their fight against
the railroad company at their own
cost and risk, or they can surrender
their entries, after which their appli-
cation for the repayment of the fee
and commission they paid the land
officers will be considered. Even if
this paltry sum is repaid, who will re-
pay them the hundreds Of dollars ex-
pended for supplies Improvements
and for labor and material, as we'll as
tor loss Of time? Many a man who
has invested and lost his all in one of:
these entries will find scant satisfac-
ton in either Of the alternatives pre-
sented him by the Com missioner. It
is one of the grossest Of the many
outrages from which the settlers IN
the northwest have suffered at the,
hands of the last administration.
It has been suggested, on behalf of
these unfortunate settlers, that the
government issue TO each of them
paid-up script for as many acres as he
had entered and lived upon under
Secretary I.amar's ''inyitstion,' this
scrip being good for location on any
offered public land in one piece. This
would be merely justice.