East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1908-04-06

Buckley In the Portland Sunday Ore
gonlan, who reviews In a graphic
manner Mr.. Geer's record in relation
to the school and state lands of Ore
gon.
1t is well known that during tht
Geer administration as governor the
state and school lands of Oregon suf-
fered terribly from spectators, land
sharks and timber corporations, and
what the school children OF the state
lost then In actual land values can
never be replaced or, recovered.
Mr.. Buckley who is familiar with
conditions OF that administration,
writes as follows to the Sunday Ore
gonlan:
Portland, Ore. April 4.-(To the
Editor.)-T. T. Geer is now seeking
the nomination to congress. There is
no good reason why he should be
sent there. There are good reasons
why he should not be permitted to
represent this state-a state that Sc
lected his as its governor. and while
such, permitted a land-king to graft
II of Its public lands TO finish. He
has made the claim that he sold the
lands according to law. Here is what
the law says THE governor may ap-
point agents and lands selected
shall not be sold for less than $3.50
per May Sell any OF lands TO
highest bidder" He appointed agents
They did not select lands for the state
as should have been done. but Sc
lected or applied to United States
Land office for the base holder, for
him alone; state had sold his interest
when base was sold; in fact, he did
not comply with the law to sell to the
highest bidder or select the same for
the state.
assert that the land board should
not have sold base, should not have
allowed others to hunt base. but
should have had officers to examine
the boards. books, and for all base
found. select lands for the state. then
sell to highest bidder. II sold at all.
Parties who looked up base had TO
go to the books OF the State Land
office for their information. Why
could not the land agent do so? os-
wald West did II. A ruling of the
board is law; II was so decided by
Judge Boise and l know OF no deci-
sion TO the contrary.
During Mr.. Geer's term OF office,
the land board sold $4,000 acres of
base. On page 4 of Odell's pamph-
let, he says as follows: "And there
has ham M TINA u.ithf,, ~. Loot eo,,.
years when the state land agent could
have made selections OF $4,000 or
100000 acres OF good timber land
upon any base he had or they could
have had" This was during Mr.
Geer's term OF office. for the pamph-
let was published after the lnvestiga-
tion by the Legislature. They were
not confined to Oregon, Oregon Cas-
cade reserve lieu. was In fact scrip,
and locatable in either state. Hyde
and Benson located about 10000
acres Of oregon school land base In
the state Of Washington and 576U
acres in township IL n. w 1t is
now worth $3.50 per acre. Another
lot was located in township n. 8
W. on Kalama river; 10000 acres
was located in townships N. E,
n. f., ~ 6 T.. and n. f. /
Lewis river district, and large
amount OF II was located on unsur-
veyed land. I
| do not assert that this was To-
Gated during Geer's term Of office
hut 1t shows what could have been
done, and also will show that lieu
sold by the board for $3.50 per acre
accomplished the same purpose that
Northern Pacific scrip did. But the
Northern Pacific Railroad company
was locating this scrip in Oregon
10000 acres in the oregon City and ,
Roseburg Land offices. The South
ern Pacific scrip was selling for $3.50
and users of II located lands in the
same townships that state lieu was
located In, and sold by the state for
$3.50. and sold by Odell and others
for $3.50. Here is a difference Of 81 |
for the lieu land base hunters. What
nice fund that would make to look
up base with.
And still Mr. Geer claims to have
done his duty.
on the east side of the Willamette /
valley in Oregon City land district,
the Northern Pacific Railroad compa-
ny located over 10000 acres, to say
nothing about that part in Roseburg
land district all in sight from the
dome of the capitol at Salem. l could
give a detailed list of amounts in the
different townships. l was sent for
as a witness in the investigation of
the Geers. | was askedIf could To-
cate 100000 acres In lieu. l said
Eyes" Inside Of 10 months there
was located in eastern oregon, chief
ly, over 10000 acres OF scrip.
One party located over 10000 acres
OF Arizona scrip. Bear in mind that
this scrip was worth $3.50 and better
June s, 1900; there were $3.50 acres
in townships S. w. filed upon by
the n. p. r. Co. Next day, June Z,
there was filed in townships 20 and
21 south, range IL east. ,6517 acres,
with klamath Indian Reserve base.
Some time later wroter Governor
Geer and criticised him for this filing
and also about the way the land board
accepted filings. He informed me
that | had made mistake in the
townships and that all that had been
sold outside of school sections was 40
acres. He asserted that he had look
ed It up. / wrote the register of the
land office at The Dalles, and the
latter informed me that 6517' acres
had been filed in those townships.
This will, show that Mr. Geer does
q lot of queer work, for the records
viii not help him out. Had Mr.. Geer
dnnn hla dlltv To the nennle of Ore.