Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1904-12-02
Hitchcock Called Down.

written letter to Secretary of the In
terror Hitchcock, part Of which fol-
lows:
l write to say that / hold that you
have violated all rules of practice,
equity and law, applicable in such cases,
IN your department decision of January
20, 1904, in that matter of the quasi
contest No. 2023. ex parte State Of Ore
gon, which said decision was adverse to
the State of Oregon, and was promul-
gated by letter N, of February II, 1904.
First-You injected new rules and
regulations to govern former adjudica-
tions. Under date of March 6, 1903,
you issued new rule of practice and
made the rule apply to adjudications
made in December, 1900, and even 60
ing so far as to set aside a decision of
the Commissioner of the General Land
| Office, made in 1897. contrary to the
| provisions of sections 453 and 2273,
which provides the duties of the Com
missioner of General Land Office, and
makes his decisions onsall matters per.
tanning to his department final, unless
appealed from to the Secretary of the
Interior within given time.
In the rejection of these clear lists,
made of indemnity selections, based
upon mineral base, formerly adjudged
mineral by the Commissioner of the
General Land Office seven years after
said approval, and that without appeal
or complaint, constitutes a departure
totally at variance with all principles
of law and equity.
Secondly your SAID decision of
January 26, 1904, you assumed prerog-
atives extra judicial and not permitted
by law, in that you based your findings
on what the State of Oregon may have
done in the matter of selling some of
the tracts of land adjudged to be min
eral, in said ex parte quasi contest No.
2025. While the case under considera-
tions is termed quasi contest, yet it is
in reality a simple Identification of a
specific grant, the discharge of which
is an administrative junction under an
act OF Congress. The law is specific
and mandatory, the only question to be
passed upon is, "Are the lands min
eral!" If so they are exempted from
the grant.
The original title is in the Govern.
ment, and by acts OF Congress provi-
sions are made, by grants and other
wise, for the disposal of the primary
use of the lands, and there is no pro-
vision of law which makes it the duty
OF the administrative department to
inquire into what the state, or any citi-
zen, has done Or may do relative
thereto, before ascertaining the right OF
the state under the grant, hence any
appropriation, sale or attempted trans
fer, except as provided by act of Con-
gress, is null and void to excepted
tracts, deeds from the state and certiti-
Gates from the Secretary of the Inter
ior are void, and patents from the De.
partment are vodable.
And yet in view of all these facts of
precedent, law and equity, you have il.
legally, illogically and presumptively
ignored ALL and as court of last re.
sort, arbitrarily committed great in.
justice to the state OF Oregon, and ben.
Gifted no one. You have treated the
: state OF Oregon as an interloper and
) CRATER, ignoring the accepted purpose
OF the General Government, from pa.
, triotic motives to deal generously with
the states in matters educational
, You have acted upon the assumption
that the State of Oregon is not compe.
tent to deal honestly with it's own
grantees. You have dsregarded prece
dent, law and equity, and robbed the
common school fund OF the State of
Oregon beyond repair of over $12O, 900,
and that without any corresponding
benefits to the Government, not even
the saving of one acre of land or one
dollar III money. An irreparable
injury
1t would be inconsistent for me at
this stage to beg pardon for speaking
thus plainly, but there comes a point
In the tide of human events when it
would be cowardly derelect to duty to
permit a wrong to go unchallenged.
l have not written this with any
!, thought that the case will be reopened
no, not at all. You constitute the
court of last resort; there can be no
appeal. The election is over, and my
desire as Republican to see Theodore
Roosevelt elected has been gratified.