The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-08-02
Admits False Affidavits.

Again whenever application was made
for the purchase of land from the state
and it was found that the land applied
for was within six miles of any known
mineral land the board advertised the
fact for sixty days in the newspaper pub
lished nearest the tract involved. Inc
advertising bills frequently amounted to
$500 and $500 per month Doubtless false
affidavits were made to the state land
board 1t would have been passing strange
had that not been done in view of the
fact that they have been made In every
land office in the United States ever since
there was a land office. Indeed someone
has described a land office as being "a
place where men went when they wanted
to swear to a lie. But it is manifeStly
impossible for either a register of the
United States land office or a secretary of
a state land board to look deeply into "a
mans heart and tell when he is swearing
to a lie
Blames Land Office.
I'm this connection I am firmly of the
opinion that the responsibility for the
fraudulent selection of mineral lands by
anyone, rests with the general land Of
flee of the United States alone. That Of
flee has absolute control of the original
surveys upon which the mineral or nom
mineral character of all surveyed land is
clearly indicated. 1t passes finally upon
all applications from whatever source
they cOme-state of personal. If an APP
plcatiOn for the purchase of any kind
of land is unduly hurried through, the
hurrying is done there and nowhere else,
There is no other place on earth where
it can be hurried. The state board of land
commissioners is also absolutely power
less when il comes to a question of giving
precedence to one applicant over an
other.
Appraisal of School Lands.
There seems to be a vast amount of
ignorance extant concerning the apprais-
al of school lands The law makes sec
tons 2 Is. 81 and SO in each township
school lands, and requires that they shall
be appraised and offered for sale at pub
lie auction. The law also requires that
a commissioner shall be on the ground
when this land is appraised, but gives
the board the right TO appoint two ap-
praisers in each county to assist him.
This was done in every case. and so ii
will be seen that the appraisement which
finally went up to the board far appro-
val was really the work of representa-
tive men from the various counties.
adverse comment has been made on
the fact that a very small number or
tracts of school land have been appraised
as low as cents per acre. There is,
however. nothing surprising IN that when
you consider how much land there is In
Utah that is not worth nearly that much
per township. | know former land COM
missioner who, with the advice of his To-
cal appraiser. put a value of cents an
acre on a quarter section OF school land
The entire quarter section was not, and
is not. worth cents 10 anybody on earth
and its purchase at that price would be
prima facie evidence of sanity on the
part of the purchaser; it would be a
shame to take the money.
Refusal Would Cause Suit.
Another criticism which on its face
appears to have some standing In court,
but which upon even casual examination,
is found to be unjust, is the one relating
to the selection of land along water
courses by means Of which the purchaser
was enabled to control the water supply
of a large area. This has always been
done and is being done in every state hav-
ing land to sell. If the board had re-
fused TO select such land the intending
purchaser could have gone into court
and have forced the board to make the
selection The refusal of the board to
make such selection would have plunged
the state into, Unreasonable lawsuits, all
of which il would have lost. But, after
all the state was the beneficiary OF the
condition to which reference is here made,
for il enabled the board to secure better
prices fcr the land so sold than would
have been possible otherwise.
The old land board of whose methods
I have been speaking, was composed or
gentlemen who, having received their APP
Dointments and filed their bonds, entered
upon the discharge of their duties, drew
their inconseQuentiai salaries and rem
dered faithful service to the state. They
were not clairvoyants, nor biologists nor
could they locate hidden water with a
peach tree switch; but they brought to
the discharge of their duties such abil
ity as they had They are justly proud Of
the record they made, their consciences
are clear. and they live in no dread of
l. IL