New-York tribune., 1908-03-11
LAND FRAUDS BLOCKED.
BIG SCHEME UNEARTHED.
Taft's Delay Saues Taluable Coz
ernment Property in Capital.
TFroua The Tribune Bureau.I

Washington March 1o.-SenatoT Carter, Of
Montana disclosed In the Senate to-day trans
action which may a scandal Of large
proportions. and revealed the fact that only the
reluctance of the Secretary of War to obey an
extraordinary law passed one year ago has
saved to the government land in the national
capital worth hundreds of thousands Of dollars
The beneficiary of series of irregular trans
actions and peculiar legislative enaetments Is
one Sidney Beber formerly fire marshal. and
now engaged in efforts to capture for Speaker
Cannon the two delegates which the district will
send to the Republican National Convention
When asked If ne cared to state his side of the
story this evening, Mr.. Bieher said:
II had rather not discuss the matter am
altogether too busy with national politics to
give the affair any attention.
I'm the Judgment of the committee Congress
is bound by imperative duty to exercise its fun
power prevent the consumrnat1on OF the
fraudulent scheme underlying the subtle land
grabbing operation very clearly disclosed by the
successive acts herein cited read Mr.. Carter
from the committee report, and instantly ne
commanded the attention of the Senate
The report shows that by series OF tax sales
and blind amendments to legislative measures.
Mr. Bieber has acquired quasi title 10 valuable
public lands some of them believed to encroach
on the old Congressional cemetery. the govern
ment asylum for the insane, the navy yard. etc,
and had the Secretary of War acted IN accord
ance with the last enactment of this character.
Beber would be in possession of undis-
puted title to extremely valuable property which.
in equity, belongs TO the government The final
enactment approved on March ?. 1907, or
in the closing hours of last session.
Bieber paid for clear title to piece OF land
$1,000. but the report says that in this instance
what was manifcstly a fraudulent transaction
whereby person without title or claim of right
decided the land to one Mary E Sweetser. who
in due course caused the same to be listed for
taxation. Thereafter the property was held sub
ject to nominal assessment, and repeatedly sold
for taxes until ultimately all the alleged out
standing tax titles acquired by Sidney
Bieber. and that enterprising gentleman there
after set about to remove the cloud from his
title existing because of the paramount title cf
the United States
The report shows further that in 1906 Mr..
Beber acquired another tract of land. but did
not deem it necessary to have fictitious title
to proceed upon"
Congress then gave the Secretary of War
thority to fix the price this land which in
September 1906 he did fix at s., ,903. a price
which the committee regards as in no way
as doubtful if this tract can be recovered. Fur
ther investigation Will be made. however. in
effort to do
The final effort to convey title to Beber the
committee declares TO have been especially OBJ
noxious, Bieber's name having failed 10 appear
in the section affecting this end TIE commit
says of this section:
by this extraordinary section the Secretary
Of War is directed to convey to Mr. Sidney Bic
scrbed in the section, all the interests of the
United States in squares lying south of the
squares to which Mr.. Bieber had acquired title
in pursuance to the preceding enactments. Such
conveyance would substantially deprive the
United States and the city Of Washington of
all the water from the Anacostia River south
OF the north line of the Congressional ceme-
terry, etc"
An effort is made in the report to show that
its enactment. it being further shown that at
large sums for the improvement of this water
front.
Senate Narter declared that by similar iegis-
lation it would be possible for individual.
without the slightest equity. to acquire title to
the very ground on which the Capitol stands
Mr.. Carter, at the time that he made his
report and speech introduced a bill repeating
the law of last year which would have COM
pleted Beber's title to the last tract of land
had not the Secretary of War grown suspicious
and held up the transaction