Albuquerque evening citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1905-1907, 1906-05-16


regulations as may be hereafter pre-
scribed by the legislative assembly of
said territory" provided that mot
more than one quarter section of land
(160 acres) shall be sold to any one
person, corporation or association of
persons" A minimum price of $1.25
per acre was included in the bill.
The interior department of the fed
eral government enacted certain rules
and regulations to govern in the Sc
lection of the lands. Among these, ap-
proved by G. N. Bliss, secretary of the
interior, was that when the leasing of
such remaining lands (other than
those mentioned in the act, which
must be submitted to the secretary of
have been made provided for by the
legislative assembly of the territory
must be submittd to the secretary of
the interior for his approval"
Acting under this authority of the
act of congress and the Interpretation
| placed upon it by the secretary of the
! interior, c. n. Bliss, the legislature OF
| New Mexico, enacted in March, 1901,
that the governor, the attorney gener-
al and the commissioner of public
lands shall constitute a board of pub
! lie lands, the last named being new
creation. In the same act the price
of leased lands was fixed, as was the
price of timber land, $500, the price
of grazing land, $500, and the price
of dry land, $1.25. The same act
authorized the sale of lands for cash
or for credit, provided one-half of
price were paid down and no deed
should be given till the entire price
should be paid in full.
This action of the legislature was
not objected to by congress. Under II
many leases were made and large
sums were received by the land COM
mission and appropriated to the sew
eral institutions of the territory fol
the benefit of which the grant had
been made. Also, much of the timber
lands in the grant were disposed of al
$500 per acre, according to the law
not less than half cash being paid
and no deeds passing until the whole
amount was paid in.
Under this law, the Pennsylvania
, Development company, as did many
other companies, purchased timber
lands from parties who had entered
them in tracts of 100 acres to eacl
entry-man. Not one purchase wa
made of more than 100 acres from an!
i one man, for not more than 100 acre
, were sold to any one individual.
Recently Secretary Hitchcock ha
concluded that the leasing of lands b,
, the territorial land board was not con
p templated in the act of congress, ant
has rescinded all the leases made
thus making the territory liable 70
large sums of money which the LAM
board had received and appropriate,
to the various territorial institutions
, He is also claiming that the purchas
, of lands from parties who purchase
them of the board, is illegal, coming
under the head that mot more thai
one quarter section of land shall b.
sold to any one person, corporation o
, association of persons" 1t Is some
. thing new that one who buys any
thing, whatever it may be, cannot sci
, again, and there is no doubt that tn
secretary's new Interpretation Of Law
: will be taken into the courts, sine
: every acre of the timber lands give
. the territory, thus far sold--and thous
ands of acres have been thus sold
in the same condition as the land
purchased from the original buyers b,
: the Pennsylvania Development com
, pany.
The facts in the case of this com
pany may thus be stated: The Devel
opment company purchased their tim
Der lands in the regular manner, III
y der the rules and regulations unde
. which the territory has sold all It
timber lands. The secretary of the in
terror holds that the New Mexico leg
fe1a ial
: exceeded their authority in leasin
lands, giving grazing permits, ant
selling timber lands. These lands be
long TO territorial institutions, and tn
: conflict is between the territory an
the department of the interior A
: far as individual purchasers are con
q cerned, there is no irregularity of an
, kind whatever.
|, The fact is that if the secretar
. shall be successful in establishing hi
cont tention, he will place New MeXic
in a bad box indeed; since the ter
-, ritory will be required 10 refund larg
4 amounts received and disbursed fror
lease and sale of the lands in question
;. Further more, the public institution
a for many years to come will be Grip
>, pied, in as much as no stOckman wi
lease and fence GAO acres, and no on
= wishing TO engage in the lumber bust
y ness will put up a mill on 100 acres
y Evidently the trouble with Secretar
: Hitchcock and the department of IN
. interior is that they are measurin
J, matters in New Mexico by condition
- in the Ohio and Mississippi valleyi
: they are trying to apply the laws con
r cerniug homesteading to the purchas
\ of lands given to New Mexico and I
!, which congress did not make the hOm
| stead laws applY