The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1905-04-27
LAND FRAUDS.
When Will They be Stopped? An Incl
dent of the Oregon Land Frauds.

CCHl VI tnC OlCSou Aoho l houaS'
WASHINGTON, D. &C., April II, 1905.
The biggest of the land frauds, involv-
ing the highest public officials III some
of the western states and untold acre
ages of land, would form after all but a
passing nine days wonder with the
busy populace were it not for the fact
that their ramiticatioDs are so extern
Sive that as fast as one set Of men Is III
dicted the investigations of the gov
eminent bring forth another brood of
frauds.
The government land frauds of the
west is a question, however, OF far
deeper significance than the mere mat
ter of the illegal requirements during
She past few years of some public lands
or timber by private individuals, cor
porations or government officials. The
question is, will the present prosecu-
lions affect the system. Not one lota.
The cases being pushed are those in
which the government sleuths think
there is possibility of obtaining con-
yiction. The great mass and majority
of equally great frauds will never be
heard from outside of their immediate
localities. The reason for this is that
such frauds have been legal-frauds
committed entirely within the law.
But how can land fraud be legal?
inf, of Coo
granted some three million acres of
land to certain Syndicates. The grant
became a law. Subsequently it was
discovered that all the members of the
legislature who voted for the grant
We're members of the various syndi-
Gates which secured the land; but the
title nevertheless was declared good.
This was legaliZed fraud. So in the
west. The timber and stone law, the
desert land Law and the communication
clause of the homestead law, are in
themselves and the regulations under
which they are administered, fraud laws,
and while their letter may be observed
their spirit can be violated and the men
who received government patents I'M
der them, in the great majority OF
cases, have no right in equity to the
land. 1t is question whether, taken as
stone entries are actual bona fide claims
in which the entryman carries out his
part of the contract in strict compli-
ance with the spirit of the timber and
stone act, The desert land act and the
communication clause are not so unlver-
sally fraudulent in their operation, but
the vast preponderance Of claims under
them are to more or less extent frauds
and do not III any full sense comply
with the spirit of these laws which re-
ouires settlement and homemaking.
So that even should the government
be able to make ont its cases, and
fine and imprison every man indicted
for land frauds, the great bulk of fraud
ulent land dealings would continue ex-
actly the same. The activities of the
department will simply make land and
timber men careful to eyade the laws
and not criminaIly violate them. The
laws themselves must be revised if hon
esty is to be expected in land matters.
The present activities of the Interior
Department in cleaning out the Ore
gon land frauds recalls an incident
which occurred some twenty years
ago when Mayor Henry of Oakland,
California, was indicted into office,
There had been much rottenness
in the municipal administration. and
spasm Of disgust sweeping over
the town Henry was elected on a
ticket pledged to reform. The memory
of the mayor-eleot on questions of my
thology and early history was a bit
rusty and Bryant's stately tread in
Thanatopsis-'Ios myself in the con
tjnuOuS woods where rolls the Oregon
and hear no sound save his own dash
lngs evidently became confused in his
mind with one of the great labors of
Hercules, for in his inaugural address,
after roasting the outgoing admins
tration to turn, he promises a new
order of things and told the boys, that
he proposed in word, to clean out the
Oregon Stables.
GUY ELLIOTT MITCHELL.