The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1905-09-07
Stealing the Public Lands
The Great Extent of the Thefts and the Men Involved
ByW R. fromB Transcript May 70 1905

Z
every schoolboy above the kindergar ,
ten grade knows somethi ny about
them. Only by the variest hocns-
pocus can 1t be urged that Mr.. Rich
ards has come to the present day de-
void OF knowledge OF what has been
going on since the planting OF wire
fences on the plains.
The Department OF Justice Is no
more In ignorance than the Interior
Department. The district attorneys
for the several states are fine,
clear witted body OF men. 1t Is their
business to know things concerning
public affairs In their districts, and
the, do know. Why the inactivity
of the department? Here aud there |
may be found one CT these response |
Bile ministers directly interested In
the grating. John II. Hall OF ore-
gon Is conspicuous example. But
for the most part the apparent list
| lessness does not rest with the attor-
neys.
1t Is Congress more than any other
branch of the government which is
chargeable with full and guilty
knowledge cf this stnpeduous crime.
Not only do the thieves themselves
and their chosen representatives, sit
in the seats of the mighty In both
Senate and House, watching lest
something untoward befall, but time
and again Congress has taken this
huge graft openly into account, max
Ing it an element In committee room
, and lobby j0ckeying, IL isn't
pretty spectacle TO see young and
powerful state like Oregon discredit'
ed before the nation by having a sem
ator and all its representatives under
indictment as thieves and conspira-
tors against the general governments
, The names OF the Kinkaid Act and
{ the Rosebud Bill are stlli fresh In
the memory of news readers. Both
OF these bills we're made into laws by
!. virtue Of Congressional deals. The
4 Rosebud Bill opened a new field foi
e the activity OF the thieves; the Kin
i kaid Act enabled them to operate
n more expeditiously and with less OF
= wearisome and expensive detail In al
4 old field Congress knew what u
n was doing when IL passed those meas
C ures
e Yet with all this knowledge on thu
). part OF responsible officials, covering
n a period OF years, not one man OF tn
II ringsters has been convicted ant
n punished for his villiany. Now an
n then a notorious Official delinquen
r. has been quietly dropped from
Office when his retention thrcatene,
Ie to become embarrassing; nov and
,e again somebody has been perfuucto
Ne rily indicted, as a sop for public out
l. cry. But conviction and punish
1t ment? No.
II In no other single place OF tn
e. public land service OF the Unite
]; States Is the degradation Of the La
+. TO criminal ends more clearly show
I'd than In the administration OF th
I'd homestead act. Vast as have bee
i'd the stealings under the timber lant
of the mineral land and the desert Ian
n acts, they become trivial, almost IL
he consequent, when compared wit
is the pilferings under the homestea
OF law.
ed An act OF national Legislation
q designed to conserve the public d
or main and TO secure It's ultimate di
he tribution amongst actual settler
e. for purposes OF bome.making. h
IT, been deliberately and systematical
as prostituted to make cloak I
zee theft: the officers OF the law Ina
en- been corrupted to act In collusI'
al. with the thieves outright al
es diretly, or else what is hardly tett
ply 10 principle and equal in eife"t) by J
at direction through the silence whi
1t can be interpreted only as consent.
hn First and last, since the year is
Ter when the systematic development
ty. the big ranch" began, a ms
or handful Of plotters, working unt
he cover OF the national hotneste
ing law. have segregated public lands
,it- an area greater than that OF a
bit country In Europe tn
YER France, larger than Austria. Huga
his more than twice as large az all
MT, Great Britain.
bat And let 1t be kept in mind
his this is in one sense the whole s
OF the whole matter-that this III
are graft has been made possible
nor has prospered only through the c
rds niyance OF land ONCE agents and I
Is !oyes / shall call attention TO u
In feature OF the matter again
ity. again, insisting upon IT, Here Is
,oy- blackest spot, and the one that u
ley- needs whitening.
tile | am not guessing, theoriAinI
1 of employing the empty phrase oil u
ried sensationalism. For many years
for organized gang OF thieves has pra
.ves- cally dictated the appointment
isre- those department ofiiciais Who
mix intended TO he used. TO put 1t II
ting Iy. nine out OF ten appointees
~ the land service i'm The last