The record-union., 1896-03-14
EITHER WILLFUL OR IGNORANT
MISREPRESENTAT

The dispatches say that letter ad-
dressed to the Committee on Public
Lands of the Senate, signed by Senators
White and Perkins, and concurred in by
Tirey L. Ford, states that in many in
stances the owners of small mines are
not apprised that application for lands
in which their mines are situated is
made, and frequently the Central Pa
cific Railroad Company acquires pat
ents to such mines. Senators White
and Perkins and Tirey L. Ford are
called upon to cite the number of in
stances of this character. They must
exist or these very honorable gentlemen
would not make the statement. They
must know of their existence because
whoever states for a fact that which he
does not know to be fact violates the
law of veracity.
Now, if these gentlemen know, as they
should have known before making the
statement, of instances in which the
Central Pacific Railroad Company has
sought tc acquire title to mining prop
erty, they can, of course, cite them, and
they are called upon to do so. Senators
White and Perkins and TREY L. Ford
will please note this statement There
are things which may be permitted to
gentlemen in position, simply as con-
-cession to their position; but wholesale,
villainous, uncalled-for lying is not one
of them. A United States Senator is
not above being held strictly account
able for his statements Sometimes
they arise out of ignorance, and igno-
rance is sometimes the misfortune of a
United States Senator. Sometimes they
are referable to malignity; but ma
lignity is an offense in the nature of a
punishable by plain, unmistakable
denunciation. Sometimes they are re-
ferable to an inherent mendacity of dis
position which thinks the exalted plane
of United States Senator a safe place
from which to practice this species of
injustice; but again this is a species of
wrong which can find severe punish
ment in complete exposure. A United
States Senator should have a character
for truth equal to the dignity of the
place he occupies. He is not at liberty
to occupy a high station and be a pri-
vate liar after the manner of irresponsi-
BILE mining attorneys. There is a sense
in which we coronate the character of
a man by crowning MIN with high off,
cial station.
Senators White and Perkins are TAX
ing much liberty with the truth when
they state for the truth that which they
ought to know is untrue, and they are
branding themselves with a character
for unveracity by that proceeding. We
repeat our demand for citation of in
stances of patents being issued to the
Central Pacific Railroad Company con-
tanning valuable mining property.
Moreover, there is an inference un-
derlying all this to which we call the
special attention of Senators White and
Perkins. It is that the railroad COM
panies seek to obtain patents to lands
knowing them to contain valuable
mines. There is a further inference
that they thus seek to obtain title to
these mines for the purpose of divest-
Ing their proper owners of title to their
property. This inference in all its bear
ings and ramifications is simply an m
Earnished lie, and the application OF
this denunciation is made specifically
and unequivocally to the Senators from
California who have put themselves in
the position of promulgating this as
sertion. 1t is a simple, unvarnished
Uninventive, this years" lie that the
Central Pacific. or the California and
Oregon, or the Oregon and California
Railroad Company have ever sought tc
acquire title to a piece of mining prop
erty in this State. and Senators White
and Perkins viii not be permitted to
make statements of the character re
ferred to and not be brought face tc
face with a question relating to theil
veracity which gentlemen are bound tC
meet. They are specifically addressed
and unequivocally referred to in thi,
writing.
We are conscious that there will bt
those to say that under the genius o.
our institutions an officer holding higi
and dignified station deserves respectful
consideration at the hands of citizen!
and constituents. There viii be thos,
to say that Senators White and Per
kins should have been admonished. no
directly and openly charged with false