The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1890-05-24
PENNOYER AND ACTUAL SET
TIERS.

ILEhS.
The letter which we published yes
terday from the register and receiver
of the land office in this district is very
significant in more particulars than
one. To understand the matter thor
oughly, the facts should be known.
By an act of congress sections l6 and
36 were given to the state of Oregon
as school lands, and these are disposed
of by the governor, secretary of state
and state treasurer at Sl.25 per acre.
Some of these lands are comprised in
the Warm Spring reservation, and,
according 20 the rulings of the depart
ment, the board of the state is allowed
to indemnity itself in selections con-
tiguous thereto and in tracts of at least
l60 acres. A portion of one of these
sections lie on Mutton mountain, unfit
for any purpose except for grazing,
and the number of acres of school
lands comprehend in the reservation
amounts to about 10000. The board
of school land commissioners, of whom
the governor is chairman, selected
small tracts, of forty acres each, in the
most favored portions of Morrow,
Gillian, Sherman and Wasco coun-
ties, and syndicate of three or more
gentlemen sold these IN advance for
$3.50 per acre. In order to make the
title clear to these tracts they must be
approved by the commissioner of the
general land office and ''listed" as
school lands in the land Office of the
district. The selections were sent to
Washington City, and that depart
ment asked the opinion of the local
office. Before this the register was
approached in the most attractive man
ner to approve these selections. In
fact, he says in his letter, that the office
was besieged in the same manner that
the "bung-hole of cider barrel is in
tested with flies" to do the bidding of
the state oficisls TO the honor and
credit of the register and receiver of
the land Office in this district they re-
fused to do anything which would de-
fraud honest, bona fde settlers out of
their rights in the public domain, and
plainly signi6ed this in the letter to
the interior department. To the dis
credit and dishonor of Gov. Pennoyer
and other officials deeds were
given to these indemnity lands, with
out the least regard to the rights of
bona fde settlers or the integrity of
the state. According to the letter
from the register and receiver of the
land office. these lands were sold in
advance for So. so an acre, and were
selected in the most eligible 40-acre
tracts in the counties in.this district.
The facts are simply these: A syndi-
cate Of three or more persons pur-
chased these lands from the state for
$l.25 an acre, and sold them for
$3.50, thereby realizing.a gain Of $67,-
500 on the purchase We do not say
that the governor or clerk of school
land commissioners realized anything
from this manipulation; but they were
very anxious to have the lands listed
i'll this Office, and even offered personal
perquisites if 1t should be done. The
syndicate realized s67, 800 from this
"deal"; but Gov. Pennoyer is too
honest for the idea to be entertained
for moment that he reaped any ad-
vantage. OF course not. The only
mystery about the natter is that he
and Napoleon J. Davis should have
been so importunate that this land
Office should sslist" these sections. 1t
could not have been in the interest of
the bona fide settler, and must have
been for the benefit of the syndicate
which was making princely fortune
in the transaction. Voters in the
June election should bear in mind that
a ballot for Pennoyer is one in favor
of this unblushlng larceny of the pull
lie domain, in which the best land in
Morrow, Gillian, Sherman and Wasco
counties was taken from the public
domain and from the operation of the
homestead law, for the benefit of men
who owned countless wealth, and who
were eager to increase their riches by
any means. Gov. Pennoyer, by the aid
of his Greek classical erudition, may
be able to explain this; but the honest |
toiler who is attempting to make a
living on the bunch. grass prairles Of |
the Inland Empire, cannot he satisfied
with any such sophistry.
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