The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-27
SENSATIONS EXPECTED
Numerous Allegations o1
 Fraud Filed.
Necessary Exposure by the Whole sale of Persons in High Places May Prevent the Facts from
 Coming to Light.

Is at least one cabinet onlcer who can see far enough beyond his nose not to blow away as mere hot air cnarges oA serious business rehecting upon the recti- tude of his department.
 Secretary Hitchcock is constantly re- ceiving evidence of gross abuses ot the various land laws by which individuals are getting control of vast tracts or the public domain that were set aside Tor set clement for deserving bread-winners He has also proof of collusion between of- ficials of the land office and outsiders, the result of which has been to give the favorites advance information regarding the proposed policy and action Of the de- partment, greatly to the profit and ad- vantage of the favored few.
 Numerous charges of fraud have been : filed with the Secretary, alleging violation of the laws on the part of persons in the service as we'll as by those not employed ] by the government The names of repre- sentatives and Senators are involved in the scandals. As has been generally known for some weeks these charges are nov being inves- I tigated at the instance of the secretary , by agents specially appointed by MT. I Hitchcock. Evidences of fraud were so many and so extensive that he could not trust the investigation to regular agents ] of the government.
 Sensational developments are expected when the cases are in such shape that the department can act definitely and intel lfgentIy, but just now 1t is difficult to get < detailed information, which is quite probable owing to the magnitude and multiplicity of the irregularities. # It is known that he department expects to produce exceedingly damaging evidence against one Senator and former Of- fcial of the department who left 1t under @ cloud.
 The best informed say that the real facts will never get to light because of the wholesale exposures of persons in high places that would necessarily follow. 1t is alleged that certain of the investtga- 4ions have already been s4otshed berauso of the embarrassing revelations that wouid be inevitable.
 These frauds. according to all indica- tions, ramify throughout nearly all of the big Western States, and are said to in- volve many of the controlling politicians there.
 It is positively stated that a certain agent of another department had worked up two cases of unmstakable land fraud which have been dropped for the sole reason that they would besmirch a politi- cal leader. The statement is made by one in a position to know. In such a
 
 Gecretary Hitchcock to go to the bottom of all the allegations of fraud, Is extremely tnteresting, if not convincing.
 The worst of the offenses have been the wholesale robberies that have been per- petrated by few rich individuals and wealthy corporations that have secured possession of millions of acres of valua- ble land that was originally intended for settlement by homesteaders. Reckless Juggling with the laws to favor railways and corporations at enormous loss to the Government and to the exclusion of in- tending homemakers have fiagrantly char acterized these transactions. Precedents and interpretations of the statutes have almost invariably been made regardless of the interests of the Government and for the promotion of lawless schemes of Individual aEgrandizement
 ColIusion between certain officials in Washington and their outside partners in rascality is bound to be proved if Secre- 9ary Hitchcock is sincere in his repeated declarations that the truth shall be dis closed. It is said that If the Government gan secure evidence of the giving of bribes fin order to secure inside and advance in- formation there will be criminal prosecu- x tions, but otherwise the thing will peter out in a few dismissals. with a show of reorganization of the General Land Office with a revision of the land laws
 It is seriously discussed whether Con- gress will not see that 1t is advisable to repeal the desert land act, the commu- tation of the privileges of the homestead act and the timber and stone act. If they are permitted to remain in force for an- other decade it Is predicted that the Gov ernment will not have a single acre of land fit for settlement at the end of that period.
 Another statute that has been shame fully abused at the expense of the Gov ernment is the swamp land act. Some of the biggest claims for swamp land come from regions that are agriculturally among the richest and most productive in the country The typical rascal operating in this sphere of mischief has an acre of ground with a puddle of water in the middle of it and puts in a claim for swamp land.
 The rate at which the public land is going into the hands of the robbers may be realized from the statement that in six years ending June 30, 1903, S6.O0o, 900 of heres of the public domain was disposed of and nearly one-half of this vast body was taken during the last two years Corporations own almost all of it. having obtained it through dummy claimants who have turned their respective shares over to bigger land grabbers as soon as the land office issued the patents
 The valuable forests of the West have been taken up the same way. It is esti- mated that since the enactment of the timber and stone act the Government has boo 900. making a clear loss of something
 like $135,0O0oO. R. H. Watkins.
 ShiD C1osalv Watched