The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-01-31


consummated under the administration of
the present secretary was not given pub
lefty. Few have stopped to consider the
slender basis OF the charges made indis-
criminately against fifteen millions of
people inha biting fourteen states and three
Notwithstanding the expenditure Of an
excessive amount Of money by the sec
retary. the truth remains to be told. that
tho 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 obtained during each of
the preceding forty years II remains
TO be shown by records that the secro
tary has been less efficient during his
term i'm challenging erroneous inproDe1
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 bv the rec
ords to have been shamefully exagger-
ated.
President Deceived.
II realize that even the president Of
the United States has been deceived and
alarmed by the Secretarys oft-repeated
and uncontradicted reports. The president
has not been able TO go through the
records and into the details of the in
terror department and it's operations Bur
dended with more work than any one Of
bis predecessors have undertaken. the
president must accept the statements of
his subordinates as true. He cannot check
and counter-check them all. He has re-
lied on the reports Of the secretary of
the interior, as have the people general
} ly outside the states to which his ac-
cusations apply. The president and all
| Others. misled by the crusade OF misrep-
resentatiOn, are clearly free from respon-
sibility, except to hear the truth as told
by the government records, and then do
justice to an outraged people.
I'm the name of justice, in behalf of
more than 100000 entrymen on the pub
| lie domain. In the name of the families
/ dependent on them, and of their discred-
| tied neighbOrs. who may be witnesses IN
| their behalf aggregating substantially q
| 100000 people accused and injured. l ask
for a hearing from the senate, from the
president and the country, on the cold
and silent facts as disclosed by the gov
/ eminent records
Mr. Carter described in detail the work
! ings OF the homestead and other land
| laws and gave court decisions I'm har-
mony with the contention of his resolu-
| ton He defended the character for va
rracity and other honorable q9aines oil
| the settlers on the public lands.
Honor Not Confined to Cabinets.
Honor" he exclaimed. rs not con-
! fined to cabinets, nor do special agents
at Washington monopolize that senti-
! ment"
Measuring my words with care, I say
that the order of the honorable secre-
tarv of Dec. rs last is both unjust and
| oppressive. and that the records Of the
interior department do not furnish justt-
fication for the order; but on the contrary
these records demonstrate that the order
is not only unjustified, but clearly ndefin-
able as TO homestead settlers.
! Mr.. Carter presented an analysis of the
| records Of entries and patents issued I'M
der the various land laws, which he sum-
med UP by saying;
ut will appear from a critical analysis
| Of the figures and facts that not 10 eX-
coed y Of ! per cent of TIE final home
| stead entries. less than ] per cent of the
final desert entries, less than u of l per
cent of the final timber and stone entries.
and less than 1 per cent of the final
coal entries are found TO be fraudulent,
and the percentage of mineral entries
tainted with fraud is small indeed. Taking
the whole aggregate of percentage to-
gether and figuring out from these per
centages the average, we Will find that
less than one final entry Of public land
out of every hundred has been found in
all the years 20 esubiect to cancella-
ton on account Of fraud. default or de
linquency OF any kind. AS 10 the home
substantially in every 900 final entrymen.
Welcomed by Canada.
suspected at every turn in the road
and exasperating requirements of the in
terror department, it is not surprising
that two honest homeseelSers left the
| United Staets to locate in Canada during
the year 1906 TO one that filed a home
stead entry on the public domain of the
United States. While we are Dinching.
lS1ISnpcf1uE ana naraSS1nH our homestead
settlers. the Canadian government, APP
preciating this class of people, as they
were appreciated in this country in the
days gone by extends a cordial welcome
| to American homeseekers entering the
| Dominion The Canadian law requires
| only three years residence on a home
the order OF the secretary viii add from
one TO ten years more to the time limit
fixed by our statute.
Law Violated by Secretary.
LAS to all final entrymen of public land,
the secretary OF the interior violates the
law by refusing TO execute it. He has
violated the law BY adding TO il conditions
on ry,Sls extending time limits. there
by essentially changing its letter and in
tent He has violated the spirit of the
law by prescribing odious methods of pro
cedure neither contemplated nor sanction
ed by law. His order would humiliate,
and If possible degrade very large and
respectable body and subjecting them TO
a system Of espionage TO emphasize the
official discredit. And all this, be it
known. is to be done without charge.
pending save the general Indictment
framed on the groundless suspicious OF
the secretary.
Small Percentage of Fraud.
ITO the band of pharisees who base
their claims to personal honesty ana pub
lie attention on the merclless slanderins
of their neighbors, it is useless TO submit
/ any question in the expectation of obtain
ing fair and impartial treatment. He
= who would establish his own reputation
= for virtue by pointing to the alleged lack
of that quality in others. ere long, be-
comes the victim Of confirmed habit of
: Discrimination. Such individual will
meet law and facts with opprobriOus cpl
5 thets while attempting to smother the
logic Of figures beneath an avalanche OF
innuendo and falsehood From that class
of persons the good people settling the
west need expect neither justice. com
fort nor support. bat only additional in
suit and injury"