The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1892-12-15
OUR LAND OFFICE MIDDLE.

BY reason of a ruling, made at the in
stance and dictation of United States
Inspector, HARRISON by name, the re-
ceiver at United States land Office. The
Dalles, Or, refused on Saturday last, to
issue any more final recei pts to entry
men offering proof as required by law;
assigning as reason the sickness of the
register, Capt. Jno. w. Lewis. 1t will
be remembered that during the first
session of the present congress-, efforts
were made to secure an extension of
time in which claimants, under act of
September 18th, 1890, were allowed to
offer proof and pay for lands embraced
within the law, generally known as the
Railroad Forfeiture act; bat notwith-
standing the com bined efforts of the Or
egon delegation. the democratic house
could not be induced to allow said ex
tension 20 embrace only such entries as
where claimants were actually residing
upon such land at the time of the pas
sage of said act, and the time allowed
for all other claimants was restricted to
February Sd, 1898. This was a small
concession by a large democratic house.
and was a gracious boon to a righteous
few only, as nine-tenths of the claimants
under the act of September 18th, 1890,
were either living on other lands, or had
exhausted their rights under the general
land laws then in force.
Our object in calling attention to the
provisions of the forfeiture act, is to
show the condition which ''confronts"
entrymen, now ready and anxious to
make final proof; and to show the
grounds of com plaint which the general
public are now making of the way busi-
3 ness in the U. S. Land Office at The
Dalles is now conducted; and to show
the manner in which this important
branch of the public service is being run,
Z through the oyer-otficiousness and domi-
nation of q. :. Land Office inspector,
whose assumption of authority, is
= cheeky to say the least, even in the
-f'wild and woody west"
TO say that this man has made him
self obnoxious, in his official capacity,
with the general public is putting it
mild, and the sooner he is ordered and
directed to seek other fields of labor and
pastures new, the better it will be for the
splendid record of the U. 5. Land Office
department under Mr.. Harrison's ad-
ministration. We of the west had a
surfeit OF insane circulars and arbitrary
rulings from the general land Office in
the. DAYS of Andrew Jackson Sparks; and
we vigorously 'kick," just at the close
OF well spent life, to be subjected tc
the idosyncracies of this government
official
But few days since number of citi
zens from Sherman county came to The
DallesI bringing their witnesses with
them for the purpose of making tina
proof on entries under the forfeiture
act; but upon application at the lanc
office were informed that the receives
would not issue them final certificate
(receiptsl, but that the receiver woulC
issue them receipt dictated by Mr.
HARRISON, which in effect can only b
construed as a personal receipt. Ii
this connection we call attention to tn
decision of Secretary Villas, in the cas-
of Mathieson and Ward, upon applica
ton to purchase, from which we quote
1.-The receiver has no authority to re
ceive money except when rendered Il
payment upon an application made
the register for the purchase OF land
upon which the local officers having au
thority to act, etc, and further: -
pavment received by the local officer
in advance of the time when they al
ready to act upon an application an
allow the entry, is not in pursuance {
any duty enjoined by law"
We believe enough has been said
show the necessity of calling the atteI
tian of our delegation in congress to tn
conditions which now obstruct entryme
upon forfeited railroad lands, and i
uiging that the attention of the com
missioner OF the general land office b
called to the situation; to the end tha
some definite instructions may be giver
looking to the relief of this class OF ell
tries.