The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-09-12
A 46SSLE WITH MORGAN.
Col. Sanders and Senator Morgan
Lock Horns on the Land
Grant Subject.
The Former Says Settlers Have
Lost Nothing by the North
ern Pacific.
Land Laws to be Considered by the Senate
"A Land Once Opinion An
.w nounced.

debate this morning over Mr.. Morgan's
resolution calling on the secretary of the in
terror for a lot of information with refer
ence to the Northern Pacific land grant and
the relations of that company to settlers
claims which it antagcnized. The Montana
man objected to the consideration of the
resolution and moved to send it to the pub
lie lands committee. Mr.. Morgan said this
was simply to move to smother the infor-
nation asked for. He said he wanted the
situation between the company and settlers
who were itiRating for their claims pub
lished to the whole country. he alluded to
the company's rights as to mineral lands.
That brought Col. Sanders up. He stated
his position and belief squarely in refer
ence to this trouble. He stated that no re-
linquishment of mineral lands by
the company was needed. It
has no interest in mineral lands
and any act of REIMBURSEMENT was as un-
necessary as if the mineral lands along its
line lay in the District of Columbia. He
opposed any legislation which assumed or
limited that the company had any right or
title to mineral lands except such as were
specially named. Senator Morgan used
some strong language with reference to the
fact that the Northern Pacific railroad had
been constructed on lines other than those
first shown by the maps recorded. After
settlers had acquired certain rights the To-
cation was changed so that these rights
were lost. This change of route Senator
Morgan characterized as vast. oscillatory,
undulating scheme of public plunder. San
ders replied expressing the opinion that in
all this changing of routes the law had al
ways been such as to protect the
settlers, and he said there was
not case where settler
had lost title from this cause, to
which Senator Morgan replied that there
were many such cases. Finally Mr.. San
ders withdrew his objection and the resolu-
tion passed. r"
The action of the republican caucus is of
prime Importance to the northwest and to
every section having public lands, as the
repeal of the timber culture law and modi-
fication of the land laws was made second
upon the order of business agreed upon.
The contest was between this bill and the
anti-lottery bill for first place and the
western republicans, with the exception of
Casey, voted to have the land laws consid-
cred. The vote stood fourteen to thir-
teen for second place. The court bill
was the chief rival. Senator Fettigrew,
of South Dakota, made an earnest speech
in favor of the land bill, saying that two
hundreds of thousands of settlers in the
west want this legislation, and it would
give the men whsse crops had been
destroyed an opportunity to commute their
tree claims and mortgage them for two or
three hundred dollars more than they paid
the government, giving them money enough
to live on during the winter. Senator Allen
also supported this bill in preference to
the other as vastly beneficial to the north
west.
The question has been raised in the gen
eral land Office as to the intention of con-
gress in the sundry civil bill with reference
to settlers on mineral lands. The desert
lands section of idat bill limited the amount
of land which single settler might acquire
to 32O acres. An Interpretation of the law
was asked from the land commits
sioner, the point being made that
mineral lands were within the scope
of this section. The commissioner has
made no formal ruling but has expressed
the opinion that this is the case. Should
this be the formal ruling of the department
as to the meaning of the act, the change
will be an important one as heretofore
there has been no limit to the number of
acres of mineral lands which individuals
might purchase.
Senator Squire has been informed that
the Northern Pacific road would carry the
car load of black bass which will be used to
stock lakes in Washington and Oregon,
from st. Paul to Seattle free of charge
Senator Allen says that the tariff bill is as
satisfactory to Washington as it could be
made. The industries of that state are all
we'll protected and there are few schedules
which are in any way inimical to the people
of the Pacific northwest. He claims the
republicans can go before the country on
that bill.