Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-06

The Investigations have developed three
different lines along which the government
will proceed against the railroads. Inc
most important of these will be for the land
frauds, but prosecutions for violations OF
the rate law and for combinations in re-
straint of trade will be pushed vigorously.
1t is charged that the coal famine now ex-
listing in Utah and other far western states
is traceable directly to the policy pursued
by the railroads to keep Independent opera
tors out of the field.
The Government Coal Lands.
There is no doubt that special report to
President Roosevelt from the interstate
commerce commission influenced the Presi-
dent to order temporary withdrawal Of
coal lands from public entry, and subse-
quently to recommend in his message to
Congress that the government should here
after retain all of it's coal land. 1t is the
opinion of the commission that there are
still from fifty to sixty million acres of
tenth of this land contains bituminous coal
of fine quality. 1t is proposed that these
lands be leased by the government and
| worked on royalty basis.
Feeling Between Departments.
BY extending the scope of it's investigation
to an inquiry concerning the means by
which the railroad acquired certain of it's
coal lands, the interstate commerce commits
sion has aroused bitter feeling in the De-
partment of the Interior. which for some
time has been conducting an inquiry of it's
own along similar lines, but secretly and
with every precaution to keep the results Of
its proceedings from reaching the public.
While the commission has not been turned
from its purpose by the attitude of the In
terror Department the public, by a recent
ruling. has been denied access to the great
mass of early testimony taken at widely
separated places and never published. Part
of this withheld testimony contains grave
revelations.
BY what is known as the Tillman-G Gillespie
resolution, the interstate commerce commits
sion was authorized to investigate the rela-
ton of railroads with the business of trans
portation. mining and handling COAL When
the inquiry began to touch upon the meth
DDS by which the Union Pacific acquired it's
of the company on the ground that testi-
mony it desired to produce had been
previously thrashed out by the land de-
partment, which decided against the land
claimants in favor of the railroad company,
and that the matter should not again be en-
tered into.
Discrimination in Oil Rates.
This objection was repeated in an effort
IN
ton in oil rates at Evanston, Wyo., counsel
for the railroad company insisting that
this line. of inquiry should be barred be-
cause claimants to oil land at Evanston, In
contests with the company, had been re-
fused title by decision of the Secretary of
the Interior, who held that no oil existed
there in paying quantities These protests
were overruled by the commission, and in
the latter case witnesses testified that they
had oil wells at Evanston which produced
abundant quantities of the most valuable
oil found in the United States, oil of the
same quality as that produced at Baku,
Russia, and not known to exist anywhere
in the world except there and Evanston.
They declared that freight rates were SO
high as to make it impossible for them to
ship even this oil proftably. and that the
company refused to make any rates on re-
fined oil.
Never on the Land.
But the most sensational testimony pro-
scented related to the coal-land frauds. 1t
was shown that employees of the Union
Pacific company had hired large numbers
of men in Denver to sign declaratory
statements which were filed thousands
of acres in Sweetwater county in Wyoming,
each man also signing at the same time a
REIMBURSEMENT of claim in blank.
These men, according to their own state
ments on the stand. had never been on the
land, they were never sworn the law
quires, although the oaths, duly attested,
appear Of record, and many were not aware
of the nature of the papers they signed.
They were paid 50 or 81 each for their part
in this transaction. These declaratory
statements were filed at the land Office in
Wyoming and their effect was to keep other
claimants off the land until prospectors for
the railroad company should be able to
make thorough examination and determine
which pieces were valuable for coal and
consequently worth taking up.
Testimony was given to show that the
quarter sections found to contain coal were
later entered by other employees of the road,
who paid the government prices, $40 an
acre, with money furnished by the Union
Pacific upon the understanding that they
were to transfer the land to an agent Of
the company, a proceeding which is con-
trary to law. In nearly every case the
dummy purchaser received $500 to give the
transaction the appearance of a bona-fide
sale.
A Judge Interested.
One of the men who made cash entry
upon a quarter section upon which a decla-
ration and REIMBURSEMENT signed in
Denver had previously been filed was
Cyrus Beard, now one Of the justices of
the supreme court of Wyoming, then a
local attorney for the railroad company
On the witness stand before the COM
mission Judge Beard declared that he did
not know what he had done was ille-
gal. He had never been on the land and
was therefore unable. when he made the
entry, to testify to the land office that
the property contained coal. AS this tes-
timony is required by law, 1t was furnished
by D. o. Clark, vice president and general
manager of the Union Pacific Coal Com
pany, and also superintendent of service of
the Union Pacific Railroad Company, who
acted as his agent in that behalf.
Judge Beard borrowed the money, about