The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-12-04

Alaska as we'll as military reservations
and railroad and other sections OF
lands yet unadjudicated.
The total cash receipts from the SAFE
of lands amounted 20 S2,6I4,zSo.t9 IN
GLIDING s91, 9S1.0S received from Indian
lands. Thirty-five thousand patents
were issued Indians on allotments OF
their lands in severalty, the land so
allotted being inalienable by the Indian
allottees for a, period of twenty-five
years after patent.
There were certified and patented, on
| account of railroad and wagon grants
lduring the year, Sc, 555,645 acres of land,
and at the close of the year 90 600 900
acres were embraced in the lists of Sc
| lections made by railroad and wagon
| road companies and awaited settle
ment. The selections of swamp lands
and that taken as indemnity therefor
since the passage of the act providing
| for the same in iS49, amount to nearly
OF quite S0,500;000 acres, of which 5S,
1 000,0 900 have been patented to states.
| About 13S,000 acres were patented dur
| ing the last year. Nearly $4,000 acres
of school and educational grants were
approved during the year. and at its
close 125, 036, 361 acres remained unad
| justed.
1t appears that the appropriation for
| the current year on account of special
service for the protection of the public
| lands and the timber thereon is much
less than those for previous years and
| inadequate for an efficient performance
of the work larger sum of money
than has been appropriated during a
number of years past on this account
has been returned to the government
as a result of the numbers of those
employed in the particular service
/ rr-i11 r1fNf he.
crippled by insufficient appropriation.
1 fully indorse the recommendations Of
the secretary that adequate protection
be provided for our forest reserves and
/ that a comprehensive forestery system
be inaugurated. Such keepers and
superintendent as are necessary to
protect the forests already reserved
should be provided. 1 am of the opin-
ion that there should be an abandon
ment of the policy sanctioned by pres
ent laws under which the government
for very small consideration is rapid
| ly losing title to immense tracts of
land covered with timber which should
be properly reserved as permanent
sources of timber supply. The sug-
gestion that a change be made in the
manner of securing surveys Of the
public lands is especially worthy of
consideration. am satisfied that
these surveys should be made by a
corps of competent surveyors under
| the immediate control and direction of
the commissioner of the general land
office.
Condition of the Indians.
! An exceedingly important recon-
mendation of the secretary relates to
the manner in which contests and lit
Iigated cases growing out of efforts to
obtain government lands are deter
mined The entire testimony upon
which these controversies depend in
all their stages is taken before the To-
cal registrars and receivers, and yet
these officers have no power to sub
poena witnesses or 10 enforce their at
tendance to testify. These cases, num-
| bering three or four thousand annual
ly, are sent by the local officers to the
commissioner of the general land office
for his action. The exigencies of mis-
other duties obIige him to set upon
the decisions of the registrars and re-
ceivers without an opportunity of
thorough personal examination. Near
! fy two Thousand of these cases are ap-
pealed annually from the commission
er to the secretary of the interior.
Burdened with other important admin
istrdtive duties, his determination of
these appeals must be almost perfume
of others, though this determination
of the secretary operates as final adj
| judication upon rights of very great
| Importance. | concur in the opinion
that the commissioner of the general
| land office should be relieved from the
duty of deciding Irrigated land cases.
that a non-partisan court should be
| n on
that the decisions of this court should
| be final, at least so far as the deciS-
| ions of the department are now final.
| The proposed court might be given au-
! thority to certify questions of law, in
matters of special importance, to the
Supreme Court of the United States
| or the court of appeals for the District
of Columbia for decision. The creation
of such a tribunal would expedite the
/ disposal of cases and insure decisions
of a more satisfactory character. The
registrars and receivers who originally
hear and decide these disputes should
be invested with authority to compel
to attend and testify before them.
| Contested Land Cases.
Though the condition of the Indians
shows steady and a healthy progress.
their situation is not satisfactory at all
points. Some of those to whom allot-
/
found to be unable or disinclined to
follow. agricultural pursuits, or TO 9th
wise bene6cially manage their land.
This is especially true of the Chey-
ennes and Arapahoes, who, as it ap-
pears by the report of their agent,
have in many instances never been To-
Gated upon their allotments, and in
some cases do not even know where
their allotments are. Their condition
has deteriorated. They are not self
supporting, and they live in camps
and spend their time in idleness. I
have always believed that allotments
of reservation lands TO Indians in sew
crafty should be made separately. or
at least slowly and with the utmost
caution. In these days when white
agriculturalists and stock raisers OF
experience and intelligence find their
lot hard one, we ought not to expect
Indians, unless far advanced in civili-
cation and habits of industry,
to support themselves on the small
tracts of land usually allotted to
them. If the self-supporting scheme
pauperism of the allottees which
results is worse than their origi-
nal condition of regulated Deepen
dence. 1t is evident the legal conse-
quences of ill-advised allotment are
intensified in cases where the false
step cannot be retracted on account of
the purchases by the government OF
reservation lands remaining after al
lotments are made and the disposition
of such remaining lands to settlers OF
by purchase from the government. am
convinced that the proper solution OF
the Indian problem and the success OF
every step taken in that direction de-
pend to a very large extent upon the
intelligence and honesty of reservation
agents and the interest they have in
their work. An agent fitted for his
place can do much toward preparing
the Indians under his charge for citi-
zenship and allotment of their lands.
and his advice as to any matter con-
corning their welfare will not mislead.
An unfit agent will make no effort to