Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1907-03-12

3
America and the light that it
has shed incidentally upon GER
tain dark places. It Is com
paratively easy to steal a redhot stove
Though some ingenuity on the part of
the thief is required, the stove can be
carried away and concealed. But it
would seem physically impossible to
steal an acre of land or a thousand
acres or q hundred thousand acres
Yet this feat has been accomplished
hundreds Of times in the United States
without being discovered by the own
ers Of the land until many years have
elapsed. In some cases the theft is
yet to be discovered. The land has
been stolen not from private individ-
uals, but from you and me and all Of
us-from the American republic. 1t is
our land, which we hold with view to
its being settled by those of us who
need the land and who are permitted
under our laws to buy it at certain
figure and use it to the best advantage.
It is crime to steal stove or pig
or a pocketbook. 1t Is a far greater
crime to steal quarter section Of
land, for In SO doing the thief steals
away the possible home of poor man
and his family. Such a thief is one Of
the meanest criminals in the category.
In the western part Of the United
States, In about a dozen states alto
gether, hundreds OF thousands OF acres
OF homestead, timber, coal and desert
lands have been stolen during the past
thirty years, sometimes by individuals,
sometimes by organized gangs of land
pirates called business firms. OF
course no individual or firm operating
alone can steal land Accomplices are
necessary, and these accOmplices must
be officials of the United States or Of
the particular state in which the theft
is to be committed. They may be
agents of the general land office or
they may be merely notaries public, ell
Their state or national.
HeWed to the Line.
About six years ago an elderly Off
cial at Washington made the discovery
that these miserable pirates were loot
Ing the government-and that means
the people, you and me and the rest
Of vast tracts of land. The official was
Ethan Allen Hitchcock, secretary OF
the interior. Mr. Hitchcock has served
a little more than eight years In that
cabinet position. He is quiet, digni-
fed old gentleman, now in his seventy
second year. He has not been a fussy
official He has not made a loud noise
from the housetops, proclaiming him
self political Messiah, preaching Re-
form with big r. Politicians do that,
with a view to the presidency some
times. This old gentleman has just
gone ahead and done his days work
according to his oath of office.
The country at large has not heard
SO very much about Ethan Allen Hitch
cock. A dozen cabinet officers have
served during his eight years and made
vastly wider and louder regulations.
Nevertheless this quiet old gentleman
is perhaps the only cabinet officer of
the past two presidential terms to
whom the grateful people Of the future
will erect statues.
Secretary Hitchcock goes down to
history as the Nemesis Of the land
thief. He got after the land looter
early In his administration and Is still
after him. Young Mr. Garfield, who
succeeds this septuagenarian in Office,
is expected to carry out to finish the
work begun by Mr.. Hitchcock-the
prosecution and conviction and pun
ishment of the stealers of public lands
and the restoration of such stolen
lands to the people.
Mr.. Hitchcock's last annual report
TO the president shows that through
the efforts OF the interior department
400 persons have been indicted In con-