Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1905-01-18

NV eHNNAhNolAy ARHhAAo NhN CANAh VI thV
Board to furnish basis for lieu land
applicants, it was evidently within the
purview Of the law and the reasonable
requirements of his office that he
should answer such questions as might
be put to him concerning matters and
things of record in his office by per-
sons wishing to purchase land of the
State. Letters from would-be purchas-
ers, asking about basis and lieu lands,
swamp lands, agricultural college and
university lands are coming continual
ly to the State Land Office, and the
present clerk, General Odell, considers
it to be within the reasonable require
ments af his official duties to answer
all such questions promptly, and as far
as he is enabled by the means in his
possession. There is but one alternat-
i've he must either do so or the State
will go out of the land business.
And, further, it is not his duty now,
any more than it was the duty of his
predecessors, ever since the Office of
clerk was organized in 1878; and there
are no legal fees for the performance
of his duties other than the official sal
ary of $500 year. He cannot charge
for information concerning State land
matters or for letters pertaining to
them. 1t is almost needless to assert
the self-evident proposition that he
cannot abnegate any of his duties in
favor of an outsider and thereby get
rid of them for any purpose, and es-
pecially to charge persons doing bus
mess with the office illegal fees, or to
speculate in State lands. All such
things go without saying, and yet there
is sufficient evidence to establish a
moral conviction, all over the State,
that the Clerks of the State Board
have been doing just those forbidden
things from 1887 to 1895. 1t is fact
that during the last mentioned period,
purchasers of lieu uand paid more than
the legal rate, $1.25 per acre. In some
instances as high as 81 per acre was
paid more than the legal rate, $l.25
per acre. In some instances as high
as $4 per acre was paid; $l.25 went to
the State and the remainder to those
in the deal. At the present time the
Clerk in the State land Office can des
ignate from the Cascade Reserve, basis
for quarter section of lieu land, in
one or two minutes, and does so with
out any expense to the applicant. Dur
ing the time before spoken of, the ap'
plicant was compelled to pay from
$3.50 upwards for the very arduous
service of designating a like basis from
one of the Indian reserves. 1t will be
recollected that the necessary records
for obtaining such a fact were kept
at the expense of the State; at least
there is a yearly amount of $4,000 to
so keep them, and they should show at
a glance what basis has been used and
what is vacant. The maps of the sew
eral Indian reservations show what
basis is available for lieu land selec
tiOns therein.
Immediately after the passage of
the act of 1887, the Umatilla Indian
reservation was open for the selection
of basis, and sixteen thousand nine
hundred and eighty and three hun
dredths acres were used in that. In
the year 1888 the klamath reservation
was ready, and the operators got six
ty-three thousand and eleven and nine
ty-four hundredths acres there. In
1889 the Grande ROnde reservation af-
forded them six thousand and four
teen hundredths acres more. Then, in
1891, the Warm Springs reservation
yielded thirty-six thousand six hundred
and forty-three and sixty-six hun
dredths acres, making in the aggregate
the snug sum of one hundred and thir-
ty-three thousand FIVE hundred and
sixty-four and ninety-one hundredths
acres of basis, for which lieu land pur'
chasers were muleted in the probable
sum of $250,000 for services, which un'
der the present management of State
lands would not have cost them a cent.
There were other sources of basis than
those already referred to; one of them
being deficits in fractional school sec
tions amounting since 1887 to over ten
thousand acres, as shown by the clear
lists from the general land office. A
mere inspection of the government
map would not show these deficits,
and therefore some painstaking calcu-
lations were required to ascertain the
amount before using il in lieu of land
selections. The State being an inter
ested party, the calculation Of these
deficits was really part of the duty of
the Clerk of the State Land Office,