San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-03-28
LAW DOES NOT GO INTO EFFECT
FOR NINETY DAYS AFTER
ADJOURNMENT.
Holders In Arrears Advised to Pay
Up Before Forfeiture Is Taken
Under the New State Law
Passed By The Present
Legislature,
Special Wire to Sunday Light.

Special Wire to Sunday Light.
Austin, Texas, March 27.-The fol-
lowing open letter of Land Commits
sioner Baker given out today is fully
self explanatory reading as follows:
To the public:
This will give you notice that the act
authorizing the forfeiture of school
land sales under acts of 1881 and 1888,
as we'll as all others which may have
to be forfeited from time to time, will
not take effect until ninety days after
the adjournment of the Legislature.
This will give all parties who desire
to put their school land accounts in
good standing ample time to pay up
their interest. | would urgently re-
quest local or county papers to publish
this item, as it Is of great Importance
and public interest, besides patriotic
service to the state. For the next
four months all persons could be fully
advised through this public notice and
large expense saved the state in post
age. Besides it will help many men
to prepare to save their land.
Below | publish the law in full.
Very respectfully,
Andrew J. Baker, Land Commissioner.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the
State of Texas:
Section 1. That if upon the first day
of November of any year, any portion
of the interest due by any person to
the State of Texas for lands hereto
fore sold by the State of Texas,
whether said lands be a part of the
public domain or shall have been here
tOfOre set apart for the public schools,
university, or any of the other various
state institutions, has not been paid,
it shall be the duty of the land COM
missioner to endorse on the obligation
of said lands Lands Forfeited" and
shall cause an entry to that effect to
be made on the account with such pur-
chaser, and thereupon said land shall
thereby be forfeited to the state, with
out the necessity of re-entry or judi
cial ascertainment and shall revert
to the particular fund to which it orig
inally belonged, and be resold under
the provisions of the existing law, or
Of any future law; provided, the pur-
chaser of said land shall have the
right at any time within six months
after such endorsement of Glands for
feited" to institute a suit in the Dis
trict court of Travis county, Texas,
against the commissioner of the gener-
al land Office for the purpose Of con-
testing such forfeiture and setting
aside the same upon the ground that
the facts did not exist authorizing
such forfeiture; but II no such suit has
been instituted as above provided,
such forfeitures of the commissioner
of the general land office shall then
become final and conclusive; provided,
that if any purchaser shall die or shall
have died, his heirs or legal repre-
sentatives shall have one year in
which to make payment after the first
day Of November next after such
death. This act is cumulative and is
not intended to deny the state the
right to institute any legal proceed
ings that may be deemed necessary
to secure the purchase money or pos
session of the land so sold. And this
act is intended to be applicable to all
purchases heretofore made under any
or all of the various acts of the Legis-
lature under which land may have
been sold by the state.
Section 2. The fact that the authori-
ty of the land commissioner to make
forfeitures of land without judicial as
certainment has been questioned,an
the fact that there are now more than
ten thousand purchases which can be
forfeited under the law for non-pay-
ment of interest due thereon, and the
further fact that, it is almost .impossi-
BILE and certainly ,impracticable' to in
stitute so many different suits against
so many different purchasers, creates
an imperative public necessity requir-
ing the Suspension of the constitution
al rule providing that bills be read on
three several days, and the same is