The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1893-04-07

many years ago. The statute was about
as IT is now. that when application is
made to the Surveyor General to select
land N lieu of land lost that he shall file
the same and SEMI il to the Register OF
The United States Land Office and ask
that 1t be granted to the State in part
satisfaction of the Land Office. An at
torney would have his superscription on
the application a broker, perhaps-and
he would present
THE AFFIDAVIT OF SOME FELLOW,
Who, for small fee, had been induced
10 make the application and verify it be-
lore the Surveyor-General. He would
represent himself as attorney for the
party. The Surveyor General would file
mat application and make, as the Federal
Land Office requires, a selection in tripli-
cate That selection in triplicate would
De handed to the attorney. The applica-
ton would show the tract of land the APP
plicant wanted, The attorney would
pocket the duplicates and never present
them to the United States Land Office,
ana SO no charge was made against the
State for that selection. He would carry
That In his pocket until he had an oppor-
tunlty to sell the lieu, which means an
opportunity to locate some land for a
Spectator which afforded him price in
AhSNildbe D6IW0eu lDo oldlS price ANU
the price he got from the purchaser. That
price has been about 81 an acre. When
he had that done he would tell the Sur
eyor-General that he had made an error
IN the application he made before, and
amend 1t and tear up the old, and he
practically pre-empted the States right.
mat Is what L wanted to address you
people about, and that has been going on
ever since the State Land Offices have
been inaugurated.
The next system was what was called
the erroneous basis racket. Parties
would apply for land they wanted and
name loss that had not been sustained
by the State. That would go to the
United States Land Office and if rejected
an appeal would be taken, and pending
the appeal the land would be taken in
lieu of that section. This was during the
old practice, not during my time. They
would come in and amend the old appli-
cation and substitute good loss.
DOUBLE BASIS RACKET.
Then there is the double basis racket.
he would come here and make good
selection. 1t would occur to him after
awhile that his loss was not good, and on
his importantly he would be permitted
to amend an original selection, and so
practically $50 acres became bound up
or, in other words, pre-empted by the
operator.
With respect to what these papers are
in the safe of the rveyor-General, l do
not know, and do not want to speak of
things whereof 1 do not know, but [ can
imagine how it may be very mysterious.
L regret tor the present inexperienced
that the system was ever adopted. APP
plications, as l understand it, were pre-
scented in bulk and labels put upon the
applications as they were received. The
lnh cd Nnh 1Nr l. M &c
what is inside. AS matter of law, if the
application is valid one the applicant
must obey the statute and, ipSO fucto, it
became a legal document when it was
filed. Ii it was not fled what it is doing
in this public safe do not understand.
WHAT IS IN THE SAFE?
Another inquiry would be the number
of those things that have gone into the
safe, and what the fund is entitled to for
fees, because each application must be ac-
companied by So for fees. A question is
put as to whether amendments of old
selections shall be permitted in prefer
ence to new selections that are presented.
l think that all the people who will make
arguments upon personal claims here
are from the same firm, though appearing
here by different names as attorneys.
Suppose then, that the several amenda-
tory applications appropriate all this loss.
L
makes. If you decide that the Surveyor
General has the right to exercise the OPP
ton without the statute of the State say
ing so, that is one thing, and it might be
that the safe would disclose that the par
ties had amendatory selections in the
safe.
Commissioner Hart--Is there any stat
ute authorizing an amendment to that?
Mr.. Singer-No, sir. There is not any
O G hat hIlt ar
ton is very easily operated so as to be
practically a new selection, the only diff
ference being the blank upon which it is
written and the one furnishing an addi
tional s. fee. For instance, go acres of
loss have been locked up by the opera
tors. They do not want the land but
they pre-empted the lieu with that selec-
ton. They abandon the new one.
Mr.. Reichert-That is not an amend
ment.
Mr.. Singer-No. l stated that, GEN
eral. That is a part of what might be in
the safe. will say for the Surveyor-Gen-
eral that he has during his administration
corrected several abuses of which l know
that are very creditable.
The sixteenth section was operated in
another way. On the filing of the appli-
cation and payment of the So, a dummy
would tie up sixteenth section until the
person who appeared here as his attorney
had market for it. That 50 fee held it
locked up, and most all the lands of the
State were locked up in that way.
Mr.. Reichert-For six months.
Mr.. Singer-I will get down to that.
Before your six months statute there was
no definite life to those applications.
HOW THE APPLICATIONS LIVED.
They lived because they came to exist
and were not eXtinguishable in any way.
Through the instrumentality of the pres
ent Surveyor-General the fixed term of
the life of an application is six months.
At the end of that time the Surveyor
General cancels the selection. That, how
ever, is defeated on the immediate pre-
sentation of another application, so that
for So he holds it for six months. The
benefit of that is that it brings to the State
Treasury 50 every six months for that ne
farious system. Another thing the Sur
veyor-General should have credit FOR is
the S20 that is, that the applicant should
pay $40, which goes to his credit, and be
forfeited to the State at the end of six
months if he does not consummate his pur-
chase. TO that extent the system is beue-
ficial-not in inviting Immigration to our
country-it merely adds more money to
the library fund. These statutes are very
creditable, and particularly So because
they are the first in many years that
tended in that direction.
Mr.. Reichert-They prohibited the
holding of lands for more than six
months?
UNIVERSITY SYSTEM.
Mr.. Singer-Yes, sir. The aggregate
grant made to the University of this State
was 10000 acres. That was handed over
to the State Board of Regents. The Re-
gents fix the cost of the land at S. an acre
The lieu land grant closely resembles
that for this reason: That that land was
not ''in place." but was land that might
be selected from the public domain. The
State Board of Regents established a
price for that land at 50 an acre, and the
land was readily sold for the full amount
of s. an acre, and l say that is about the