The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1895-11-08
EXIT BENJAMIN AND RALsroN.

Secretary Hoke Smith has dismissed
the protest of Edward H. Benjamin
When negotiations were pending for the
appointment of private commission
one to be selected on behalf Of the rail
roads and one on behalf Of the miners
the Mineral Lands Committee of the
State Miners Association had the bad
taste to appoint one Edward II. Benja
min to masquerade in the character Of
an impartial judge on an impartial COM
mission.
Mr.. Benjamin was a protestant be-
fore the Land Department alleging the
mineral character Of some hundreds Of
thousands of acres, of which he had
made no personal examination what
ever; and the character of the protest
which he had filed may be inferred
from the criticism of the Secretary Of
the Interior. Secretary Smith says:
1t is perfectly apparent that said protest
furnished this department with no
additional information other than that
possessed before the advertisement of
the lists, and the argument IN sup
port OF same on appeal is devoted more
10 question OF proprIety and the authority
OF the department in the adoption and pro-
mulSatIon OF the rules established by the cir
cular OF July 8, 1884, for the purpose OF sepa-
rating the mineral from the non-Inineral
lands, within the limits of railroad grants,
than to the merits Of the protest.
So this man Benjamin, instead of
furnishing the Land Department with
information as to the mineral char
acter of lands which he alleged under
oath to be mineral took the liberty of
discussing with the Secretary of the
Interior the propriety Of acting in the
matter at all. He also took the further
liberty of questioning the authority of
the department in adopting and pro
mitigating the rules established by the
circular of July 9, 1894.
Mr.. Benjamin thus undertook to in
struct the Secretary of the Interior
upon the question of his authority to
act in certain matters and he did this
under the guise of protesting as to the
mineral character of certain lands.
The State Miners Association were
placed in a very peculiar attitude be-
fore the Government at Washington by
these protests. On their behalf a man
appears who tells the Secretary of the
Interior that some hundreds Of thou
sands of acres of land are mineral in
their character. He furnishes no evil
dence of the mineral character Of these
lands; he gives the department mo ad-
ditional information" according to the
words Of the Secretary, but contents
himself with discussing with the Sec
rotary questions relating to the manner
in which the business Of his Office should
be conducted. He is very wise as to
the propriety of issuing a certain cir
cular, and he is very prolific as to the
expediency of granting patents for
lands granted in aid of the construction
OF railroads; but he does not support the
allegation, made under oath, that the
lands are mineral, with evidence which
would support the sincerity of that
oath.
From the very first. the State Miners
Association was petitioning the Gov
eminent of the United States to take
from the Treasury of the Nation large
sums of money for the purpose of
building restraining dams. that the
private business of hydraulic mining
might be proceeded with. They ask
for an appropriation on behalf of an
enterprise which is in no respect a pub
lie use. They begin by instructing the
Secretary of the Interior as to how to
conduct the business Of his Office, make
allegations concerning the mineral
character Of lands, and furnish no evil
dence in support of the allegation. The
State Miners Association evidently
acted wisely in dismissing the whole
outfit, and RELOCATING the trouble max
ers to a well earned obscurity in the
pursuit of a private vocation.