Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1891-12-16
LAND OFFICE REPORT.

GENERAL LAND OFFICE REPORT.
 Hon. Thomas H. Carter, commis- sioner of the general land office, fur nishes some very interesting reading in his annual report. He makes a comparison of the methods of doing business under President Harrison's administration and those of his pred ecessors, and gives the results of these methods which are in pleasing contrast with those obtained under Commissioners Sparks, of Cleveland's administration. On the opening page of his report the honorable commissioner says;
 1t will be remembered that in 1885, and for several succeeding years, the commissioner in charge of this bureau conducted his admins tration upon the assumption that a very large proportion of the settlers on the public domain were dishon- est, and disposed to evade the law, and defraud the government. In the presence of this violent assumption, each settler was placed at the dis
 advantage of being presumed guilty of evil intent until he made the con trary appear.
 .'On page seventy-one of his report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1885, in discussing tho subject of commuted homesteads, the commis- sioner says: The proportion of fraud ulent entries of this kind can be more nearly estimated at the whole num- Der of such entries than ia any other manner
 And of homestead cases he says: The average proportion of fraudu- lent entries made for five years set clement is estimated at about forty per cent
 "All pre-emption entries were pro- nounced bad. and of timber culture entries he sets down ninety per cent. as fraudulent. To sum up, however, it is but necessary to quote from page forty-eight of his report the sweeping conclusion of Commis- sioner Sparks, which reads as follow: At the outset of my administration l
 was confronted with overwhelming evidences that the public domain was being made prey of unscrupu- lous speculation and the worst forms of land monopoly through systematic fraud carried on and consummated under the public land laws
 "Entering such views it was but natural that the commissioner should in every possible way impede the transaction of business in the bureau. Such was the policy pursued. On April 8, 1885, an order was issued suspending action on all entries lex cept on certain scrip locations and on private cash entries) in the whole of Colorado, except the Ute reserva- ton, and in all of Dakota, Idaho, Utah, Washington, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, and portions of Kansas, Nebraska, and Minnesota. While this order was modified at a later date the spirit which prompted it controlled the administration of the land laws for many years. The great body of honest settlers were enormously tainted with suspicion. created by the acts of very small percentage of evil-disposed persons.
 ''On vague and indefinite charges large numbers of public land entries were suspended pending investiga- tions conducted at the expense of the government to discover supposed frauds. Suspected settlers were re- quired to travel to lccal land offices in every public land state and terri tory, to furnish proof of the good faith on their part which the law presumes in every mans favor until | the want of it is in some way affirm atively shown.
 "The energies of the working force | of the bureau were diverted from duty and employed in an effort to discover how to avoid transacting public business. In consequence of this policy thous- ands of well-meaning settlers were burdened with heavy expense they were i'll able to bear, and all busi- ness in the public land states, and in he territories, was very injuriously Titles became unsettled, md the pioneer, engaged in clearing he way for advancing civilization, 'or the first time in quarter of a century, was made to feel that the power of the government was arraye against him. Efforts made to estab- ish the wholesale charges preferred against settlers practically failed, as he records of the bu.eau show. Nevertheless, land patents were very lowly and reluctantly issued between he close of the fiscal years ending tune 30, 1885, and June 30, 1889. About the last-named date the fleets of change of policy became ovious. Under the changed order f business, and legal constructions, ettlers were presumed to be honest nd we'll disposed toward the gov and its laws. "This policy has controlled the ad- of the general land V ffice for the last two fiscal years, r nd as contrast of the substantial n 'sults evolved in the way of actual Il usiness transacted under the re- U ,ective lines of administrative pol O y may be of value" U Here follows, in the commission P