The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1893-04-20
THE SUIT IN MANDAMUs.

The management of the RECORD
UNION brings suit in mandamus to COM
pei the Surveyor to file the ap-
plications locked up in his safe. The
complaint in full is set forth in another
column. It is not the object of this suit
20 compel the Surveyor-Generalto make
these filings in the interest of firms of
attorneys who have filed them. The
simple object is to expose their contents.
TO the end that their legality or lille
gality may be known. While they
remain in the safe, they are menace to
the exercise of lieu right on the part of
actual settlers. The Surveyor-General
himself admits that the allegation of loss
absorbs the lieu right, to the exercise of
which the State would become entitled.
The facts within our knowledge justify
the opinion that the allegations OF lieu
are in many cases fraudulent, and that
the applicants, or their attorneys, intend
by way of amendatory applications to
correct their defects, thus acquiring
through a false allegation of loss, pri-
GRITTY of application.
An illustrative case may be cited. A
Deputy Surveyor in the field completed
surveys of a township to the north line
of Section Is. Without completing the
survey of the whole township, he re-
ported to the United States Surveyor-Gen-
eral at San Francisco the partial survey,
certifying to the mineral character of that
portion surveyed, and expressing the
opinion that the remainder of the town
ship was mineral. We have the number
and range of that township, and we de-
sire exceedingly to know whether or not
the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections of
this township, though confessedly unsur-
veyed, were alleged to have been lost in
order to originate right of lieu selection
in the amount of !, $50 acres of land.
Recently the Secretary of the Interior
has restored to operation of the home
stead and presumption laws a large num-
Der of townships originally withdrawn
to satisfy forest reservations made in
pursuance of the Presidents proclama-
ton. We desire to know if the town
ships restored to the public domain by
the action of the Secretary of the Interior
within the past few days have been
treated as if they have been lost to the
State, and whether lieu selections have
been based upon the sixteenth and thirty
sixth sections in said townships
But beyond all this, we have desired
from the first to know the nature and
character of the applications which were
placed in the vault of State officer, I'M
der written stipulation between the State
officer and the persons placing them
there that the public should be kept in
ignorance of their contents.
1t Is not the fault of the REcoRD-U UNION
that proceedings in mandamus must be
resorted to in this instance and it will not
be its fault if, when the applications are
exposed, their irregularity or illegality,
If such exists, is not at the same time as
thoroughly exposed. The system of adj
ministration and general practice by
which the lands granted to the State have
never been available to the homeseeker is
10 be broken down. Publicity is power
full lever, but there are abuses which
cannot be cured in this way. Under
ordinary circumstances, fair Judicial
criticism and impartial publicity would
seem to fix the bounds of journalistic
interference, but in the case in hand
something beyond this has become i'm
perative. We repeat what cannot be too
often repeated, that the sole object of the
REcoRD-UNIoN in this inquiry is to re-
form an abuse, and ascertain clearly and
impartially the methods by which these
abuses have been accomplished in the
past and are liable to be repeated in the
future. We are not seeking to condemn
public officers or private individuals.
We will, however, relentlessly pursue
this matter to its ultimate conclusion,
whatever steps may be necessary to a
full and complete exposition of the entire
system.
THE BELGIAN REACTION.