The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-10-22

of the districts through which the road
runs, chiefly in the Marshall district.
To all OF these applications for home
stead grants the trustee of the Has
tings q Dakota grant, Russell Sage.
has made objection, and usually the
objection in legal form has been pre-
sented by Lyndon A. Smith, the Re-
publican candidate for lieutenant gov
ernor, who, if elected this fall, would
be in position to appoint a commit
tee on public lands for the senate
which will report favorably on a bill
to repeal the forfeiture act of 1895.
There are two ways in which the
trustee of the grant has been able to,
tentatively at least, give the intending
settler the worst Of 1t. BY intimida-
ton, the Sage people have usually been
able to induce the settler to sign a
lease for nominal figure, 81 a year,
which lease would then be submitted
to the land office as evidence that the
| applicant for the land had conceded
the title Of the railroad company. Then
the company would file relinquishment
| OF this land and ask to be permitted
to select indemnity lands elsewhere.
DEEDS ARE NOT MADE.
Under the act the custom was for
the railroad land trustees of the land
grant to file with the auditor a list of
lands selected within the indemnity
limits. The auditor would certify these
lands to the governor, who, under the
law, would then deed them to the trus-
tee of the grant.
None Of these deeds have been made,
however, since the winter Of 1894-95
when the legislation was passed which
the trustee of the grant is anxious to
have repealed. There were then pend
ing, or have since been filed, what are
known as lists 10 and II, which are
| awaiting certification by the state au-
ditor to the governor for deed They
have not been certified, however, in
view Of the forfeiture act, which the
state insists is valid, in spite Of the
adverse ruling Of the commissioner of
the general land office.
Since the passage of that forfeiture
act settlers have gone on the lands
claimed by, but not legally decided to,
the railroad company's trustee and
their applications for homestead rights
have in every case been contested by
the railroad company, which, if it could
not secure the lease, would sometimes
sell its claim to the "squatter," as Mr..
Lyndon A. Smith and others are pleas
ed to refer to these settlers, for sum
sufficient as would be professed, to pay
the expenses 1t had been to. Frequent
ly the settler has submitted to this
rather than indulge in expensive liti-
cation and risk losing his farm and i'm
Drovements.
If the Legislature Of 1899 repeals tho
1895 law, the lists will then be certified,
and Russell Sage, trustee, will get the
title to these vast properties, worth
several million dollars, in one Of the
richest farming regions in the state,
these lands being for the most part
located in Renville, Chippewa, Swift
and Big Stone counties, in the valley
Of the Minnesota river.
This Is not a partisan question. In
deed, If Lyndon A. Smith, or his friends
try to railroad the repeal bill through
the legislature at the coming session,
they are liable to find themselves in
a merry war, which viii involve a num-
Der Of conflicting interests.
Senator Knute Nelson has stuck his
AActAAA 1ICO b44C Se1SSJ dIIQ
enough, 1t Is not on the same side with
the friends Of Lyndon A. Smith, Mr..
Eustis' personal preference for the lieu
tenant governorship.
NELSON AND SMITH.
Senator Nelson is not a candidate for
reelection this winter. But his term
expires ultimately, and when the legis-
lature Of 1901 convenes, the Alexandra
man will NO doubt come before the
members for their votes again. The
senator knows, too, how easy it night
be to slip through the legislature a
| bill ito repeal chapter - Of the laws
OF - without the general public catch
ms on for some tine. But he fears that
| the revulsion Of feeling, which would
follow the exposure, which could not be
STAYED off two years, might be disas-
trous to his personal ambitions, and he
would much prefer not to see this bill
repealed probably. Anyway, he wrote
to the Pioneer Press about the land
grant and the Pioneer Press, in one
corner of a page, published his letter
as follows:
IMPORTANT DECISION.
Alexandria, Mimi, Oct 1S-To the Editor:
l beg leave to inclOse you CODY of recent
decision-and a very important one-of the
commissioner of the general land office rela-
tive to the Hastings & Dakota land grant
The company and it's benefciarias have been
in the habit for years of selling to settlers
occupying lands within the limit of the grant
relinQushments for as much as they could
get; that is, they would go to a settler and
tell him that they would relinqui3h the claim
Of the company to the land for SO much. If
they got their price they would file a reljn-
quishment acordir gy. ThSn they would go
| before the land department and seek to ob-
tain indemnity lands in place of the land SC
liermann's letter, l raised the point last
winter that in these cases, where the COM
| pany got pay for the land relinquished. they
were not entitled to ind amnity selections.
That that would be an enlargement of the
grant. From the letter you will see that the
commissioner has sustained the point which
| is a very important to many settlers
along the Hastings & Dakota railway grant.
| 1 would suggest that you publish the letter
| in full and also make a brief editorial 1t
| will interest a great many people along lines
| of that road. Yours truly,
-Knute Nelson.
| The decision is follows:
Department of the Interior, General Land
| Office. Washington, D. c., Oct. II, 1S9S.-Hon.
| Knute Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.-Sir: An
examination of the testimony taken at a
| hearing had in the case of the application oil
| Hemming ]. Storms for reinstatement of his
| homestead entry No. 12267 for east half of