Williams news., 1903-08-08
LAND FRAUDS TO BE STOPPED
Government Will Probably Take Action
 at Next Session of Congress.


 next session. Of course, congress cannot deal with the frauds direct, that being left for the land com mission and the courts, but it can remove all possibility of fraud by changing the laws to fit the condi- tions.
 Arizona is about the only west ern state or territory that is not more or less involved in these crooked transactions, says the Phoe- nix Gazette, and the commissioner of public lands has taken the first step to prevent the land syndicates and others from beginning their schemes in this section. Accord ing to information from Washing ton, 36O,OOO acres have been with drawn from entry, and most of the land is either timber or mineral bearing, and it is in this field that the frauds have been most conspic- uous It is said that within a few months dozens of prominent poli- ticians, some of them senators and men occupying high government positions, have been caught in questionable deals. Indictments are stated to have been secured by the department of justice, and it is an- nounced that millions of acres and probably more than $5O,OOO,OOO are involved.
 As result of the proof obtained of fraudulent transfers of govern ment timber, mineral and coal lands in California, Oregon, Wash ington, Colorado, New Mexico, Louisiana, Idaho, Kansas, Minre- sota and other states, where large tracts of public lands have been disposed of during the last fiscal year, special report will be made by the officials of the department of the interior to have the timber and mining law repealed, owing to the incentive to fraud under its pro- visions.
 Under the timber and mineral land act of 1878 valuable lands bearing fine timber and minerals were sold for $2.5O an acre and each applicant is permitted to buy 16O acres, with the right to sell. Owing to the rapid rise of land values in the west and the develop ment of timber and mineral lands, the values of these government lands have increased greatly, so that speculators and firms who have violated the laws by coloniz- ing lands and substituting "straw applicants" have made profits of from $2O to $2OO an acre.
 According to the last report of the secretary of the interior the un- appropriated and unreserved lands of the public domain amount to S93, ,955,476 acres, reserved lands 151, ,161,63S acr6s, and appropriated lands 764,422,726 acres, including Alaskan lands, but excluding the public lands of insular possessions.
 An effort was made at the last session of congress to repeal the timber and mineral act, but it failed owing to the opposition of coteries of members on both sides of congress, who ostensibly based their opposition on the ground that it would deprive the government of valuable sources of revenue with which to promote irrigation, as the proceeds from public land sales are devoted to that purpose.
 The desert land act, the timber and mineral land act are so con- structed that fraud is almost in- vited. In fact, man who was not oversensitive and had the oppor- tunity to make the deals, would not consider that the government or anyone else had been defrauded. There is only one way to prevent these things, and that is the repeal of all the public land acts and the creating of new laws which will shut out every possibility of fraud