St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-06-29
STATES HAVE RIGHTS.
Secretary Smith Will Allow No
More Wholesale Surveying Con-


SPECIAL to the Globe.
WASHINGTON. June 2S.-"I am. there
fore, of the opinion that, when the states
make application for the survey of q
township of public land, non-mineral in
character, and which is subject to entry
under the land laws, and which is stu
ated within the range aud progress of
settlement. even though there are no
settlers thereon, and the land is hot
adapted to agriculture, the application
should be granted; care, however,
should be taken that no undue pro-
portion of the amount apportiOned to
state be used for the survey of town.
ships applied for by the state authOri-
ties, to the exclusion of the survey OF
townships occupied by settlers. Appli-
cations for the survey of Isolated town.
ships, distant from the range and prog
reSS of settlement, for the purpose or
Obtaining Valuable Timber
thereon, rs rule, should not be grant
ed, and the application for the survey of
the same isolated townships, which has
formed the basis of this correspondence,
should be rejected ifbut for the fact that
there Is not sufficient time between this
and the close of the fiscal year to make
this amount available for other sur
veys."
In the words quoted above Secretary
Hoke Smith lays down one of the rules
of the department in regard to the i'm
portant matter Of land surveys. The
decision was drawn out by request by
the state of Montana through Gov.
Richards for the early survey OF the
lands in the Kalispel or Flat Head
Valley in the Stub-toe state.
Nelson Should Move.
Inasmuch as Minnesota is interested
in the early survey of the lands in
manv of the extreme northern counties
this ruling Is of especial interest to the
North Star state. Perhaps now that
the governor of Montana has blaZed the
way the governor of Minnesota may
feel called upon to take action and
secure portion of the benefits for his
state. Secretary Smith believes that
the federal government has no right to
reJard the growth of state by I'M
reasonable delays in making surveys of
public lands,as his words show. 70 the
surveyors general of the states having
public lands within their borders, Secre-
tary Smith says:
''The surveyor general shall submit
all applications for survey at the earli-
est moment practicable, so tnat tue APP
preparations may be properly appor-
toned"
No More Wholesale Contracts.
Hereafter, too. no wholesale contracts
for surveying will be let, as has been
the custom in years past. The discov-
cry has been made that quite often in
these large contracts the surveys made
have been unreliable. aud frequently
great frauds have been perpetrated.
This whole matter came up, as stated
before, on an application of the gov
ernor of Montana. The latter state was
granted large body Of land upon its
admission, and Gov. Richards asked
that for the purpose of allowing the
state to make selections seven town
ships on both sides of the Fl1thead
river Immediately south of the interna-
tional boundary line be surveyed. The
land is not near any settlement, but
was selected because it will be very
valuable in time for its timber. Objec-
ton to the survey was made by the COM
missioner of the land Office. because the
land is not agricultural and within the
range OF settlement.