Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1907-05-31

men and newspapers, and
eading Republicans and decent patri-
are. The tenor Of the letter is so
direct so incisive, that no other
le President says:
violation of law the particular grant
referred to being, as the Secretary of
the Interior officially stated, in all es-
sential respects the same as the grant
you consummated.
Grossly Violated the Law.
You state that this document was
never officially called to your atten-
ton, but it appears that you certainly
had knowledge of it when you acted;
and it further appears that the COM
missioner of public lands, in view of
the report, expressed his unwilling
ness to deliver the deeds to the repre-
sentative of the Pennsylvania Devel-
opment Company. Mr. Hopewell. 1t
was his business and not yours. and
you could only act in his absence; ;
though of course you could have re-
moved him, if you had been willing to
remove him, for refusing to take the
improper and fraudulent action which
in his absence you took on his behalf.
You, however, obtained an opinion
from the Attorney General (the same
gentleman whom the newspapers re-
port as now organizing meetings to
ask for your retention in oftice). which
opinion Mr.. Cooley rightly stigmatizes
as IAN absurdity,' for as Mr. Cooley
says, 1t is only explicable on the
ground. either that the attorney gen.
eral thought that there was no abso-
lutte evidence of a violation of the law
"a conclusion which it was inconceiv-
able he could have reached or chat
you could have reached), or else that
as there were difficulties attendant
upon the enforcement of the law you
should go out of your way to violate
it. You took advantage Of the absence
Of the commissioner of public lands
on official business to go yourself with
the attorney general, Mr.. Reid, to his
office and yourself complete the trans.
action.
Usurped Duties Of Land Commissioner
1T was there suggested to you by
a clerk OF the land Office tina. the mat
ter should be delayed until the COM
missioner could be communicated
with, as if you wired him it would be
impossible to get him back in Santa
Fe inside of two days. You refused
to permit this delay; although here
was absolutely no reason whatever
for such refusal on your part. You
directed the clerk to compute the
amount due as payment of the prin-
cipal and interes., and then asked
him to deliver the deeds, to which he
replied that he had no power to do so
and that the seal mad not been affixed
to twenty-three of them. You then
directed him to bring all the papers
to your office, together with the seal
OF the board of public lands, and in
the presence of the clerk and Of Mr..
Hopewell, he beneficiary of your
grossly improper conduct, you affixed
the seals to the twentythree deeds,
handing them to Mr. Hopewell, asked
if he considered that delivery.
Hopewell replied that he did, and han
ded them back to you with The re-
quest that they be recorded on the
deed records of the commissioner of
public lands. You handed them to
the clerk with instructions to have
them recorded and these instructions
were carried out. The deeds were
returned to you and you handed
them to the attorney of the Pennsyl-
vania Development Company. You
accepted from Mr.. Hopewell his per-
sonal check for 11,113.74, which you
subsequently, deposited in the office
of the commissioner Of public lands.
The department of justice reports
that:
Action Illegal and improper.
:" 1t seems entirely clear that Gov
ernor Hagerman's action was both il.
legal and improper =
1.-THE action of congress of June 2l,
1898. and section /, chapter "A, laws
Of New Mexico, 1899, supra, clearly
made the contract illegal a. the time
Governor Hagerman alleges it was
entered into. The delivery Of the
deeds could not have been enforced
by the grantees, or by the Pennsyl.
vania Development Company, which
was not a party to the contract. the
governor had every reason to believe
owing to the correspondence with the
secretary Of the interior, that the
transaction was very doubtful le-
gality, in spite Of the opinion of the