The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1907-02-06
CARTER SCORES HITCHCOCK,
Montana Senator Condemns Action
of Secretary Of Interior.

WAsHINGTON, Jan. 3O.-Severe
criticism of Secretary Hitchcock was
made in the senate today by Senator
Carter of Montana. The criticism
was based on the order of the secre-
tary OF last December, which prohibits
the issuance OF a patent to land under
any of the land laws until an exami.
nation on the ground by a special
agent. Senator Carter some time ago
presented a resolution which denies
the right of any executive officer to
prevent the granting of a patent when
the law under which it is claimed has
been carrisd out.
Mr.. Carter began by asserting that
the order referred to expressed the
final estimate of the secretary as to
the truth and veracity, the honor and
integrity and the good faith of all
settlers on the public domain in the
United States.
ut likewise arraigns," he added,
''all other persons seeking title to
public land under existing laws.
"The order is without precedent in
the history of the government. 1t is
without parallel in the history Of any
government q W as applied to prov.
inces, classes or individuals suspected
of reasonable designs.
SIT is the elimination of a policy
u~nwarranted in fact and founded on a
baseless suspicion. The public records
demonstrate that the order is not only
needless, but harsh, cruel and op.
pressive.
"For the last six years sensational
reports of evil doings in the public
lands states have been emanating from
the interior department from day to
day, SO sweeping in their scope as to
create the impression in other sections
that the entire western population is
and has been engaged in a veritable
saturnalia of criminal conspiracy,
fraud and perjury over the whole
broad surface of the public domain.
Since 1901 insidious interviews and
boisterous proclamations have passed
from the interior department to the
public press, rejecting on all those
seeking title to public lands.
"The words 'grafters,' land
grabbers,' 'conspirators,' Hooters Of
the public domain and like terms
have become a part of the vernacular
of the secretary's office in referring to
public land %entrymen of all kinds.
The routine work of the land service
has been pillaged in quest of items
for publication, rejecting on individ-
uals and communities.
ION the assumption that our settlers
are land thieves in the main the most
odious, oppressive and exasperating
ire atment has been melted out to them
in numerous cases for the first five or
six years. Residents no longer enjoy
the presumption of innocence, but
rather face the presumption of guilt.
"They were charged with conspiracy
to despoil their own states, to limit
their own future possibilities by op.
pressing themselves and with cheat
ing their government in the interest of
grasping spectators. No exceptions
are made by the order of December IS.
Notwithstanding the expenditure
OF an excessive amount of money by
the secretary, the truth remains to be
told that the percentage of fraudulent
public land entries for the last eight
years disclosed by investigation bears
about the same annual proportion to
the whole number of entries as oh.
tanned during each of the preceding
forty years. 1t remains to be shown
by the records that the secretary has
been less efficient during his term in
challenging erroneous, improper or
fraudulent land entries than were his
four immediate predecessors. Even
the abuses under the so.called timber
and stone law, which the secretary
might have stopped any day, are
shown by the records to have been
shamefully exaggerated.
II realize that even the president of
the United States has been deceived
and alarmed by the secretary's oft.re-
peated and un~contradicted reports.
The president has not been able to go
through the records and into the de-
tails of the interior department and
its operations. Burdened with more
work than any one of his predecessors
have undertaken, the president must
accept the statements of his subordi.
mates as true. He cannot check and
counter.check them all. He has relied
on the reports OF the secretary of the
interior, as have the people generally
outside of the states to which his &C.
u sations apply. The president and
all others misled by the crusade of
misrepresentation are clearly free
from responsibility, except to hear