Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-24
LOS
UNCLE SAM, WAKE UPi

the partisans on each side Of the
issue has cooled somewhat, saner Views
on some Of the vital points brought out
In that case will be expressed, pro and
con. So intense was popular interest In
the personal aspect of the action
against Senator Borah that altogether
too little attention was paid at the
time in what he had to say regarding
the manner in which the stone and
timber law has been administered in
the past
"The stone and timber law is piece
of infamy as administered by the gov
ernment." declared Senator Borah in en-
interview Immediately following his
acquittal for completely in timber
frauds in Idaho. ''The government
makes man swear that he does not
take land for settlement. and the de-
partment OF the interior construes that
to mean that he must not take 1t with
a view of selling It. There is not man
in the department of the interior, and
presumably In the department OF JUS
tice. but knows full well that ninety
nine out of every hundred men and
women take up these claims with no
other view except to sell them as soon
as title is obtained. Notwithstanding
this knowledge the government con-
tinues to issue final receipts and thus
connivo at the doing of that which 1t
afterward seeks to visit upon some one
fraud, The government ought to es-
tablish a rule which at least would not
ambush men into doing wrong. Un-
doubtedly there are some instances OF
actual wrongdoing, and those guilty
should be punished, but there are hum
dreds of instances where the people
would not think Of taking the land ex-
cept as they believe in accordance with
the law, which, however, is often con-
strued by the government to be not In
accordance with the law, although final
receipt has been issued with the full
knowledge Of how the land was taken.
1 do not justify any man In doing
wrong, but say this deliberately, that
the government has blundered shame
fully in the administration of the stone
and timber law
That the federal government through
the officials to whom has been intrusted
the sacred duty of seeing that this law
is rigidly enforced. has virtually laid
an ambush for citizens who, in good
faith, aim to secure title to public
lands, is too notorious to admit OF
doubt For many years the bureau
officials have been criminally negligent
in winking at the wholesale plundering
Of the public domain.
The lax administration of the laws Is
alone primarily responsible for the dis
appearance of millions of acres OF ex-
tremely valuable timber lands in sew
eral states and territories. Men and
women who have applied for these
lands in good faith have had 1t pointed
out to them that, after perfection OF
title, the plots secured were theirs to
dispose of as they pleased. That the
government, after permitting pur-
chaser to obtain land upon this under
standing, should deliberately set about
| to invoke against him the very law
under which he had been Informed he
had perfect right to the land-a right
equal to that which would have been
conferred upon him IL he had purchased
It from an individual instead of from
paternal government-is inconsistent,
to use the mildest term. Further than
this the land office at Washington and
the local land offices in the various
states and territories should be placed
beyond the reach of corrupt and cor
rupting politicians. And the land law
and the stone and timber law need to
be overhauled and amended so that
hereafter the corrupt practices which
have become so notorious will be rem
dered less easy.
If the government allows land graft
ers to write its laws it should not bear
down with a heavy hand upon the In
-nocent victims of cunning wholesale
grafters. 81
California, with it's wealth of forest
land, much Of which is already under
going magic-lilze manipulation at the
hands of the land-grabbing craft, is as
intensely interested in this question as
any other state in the Union. VIII con-
gress wait until the devastating floods
of winter and spring sweep away the
last vestige Of what is left after the land
sharks have completed their ravages
before 1t awakens to the fact that one
of it's grandest natural resources ere
long may become a matter Of history
only?