Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1909-03-17
Big Bend Country Of Arizona
Striking Example Of What
Irrigation viii Do in the
Southwest,

i'm the process of acquiring 100 acres
is convicted in haste and sent to "a
penltentiary to repent at leisure.
Mr.. Williams has aired his views
apropos of the announcement from
the interior department that he
Union Pacific has decided back to the
! government about 5000 acres of very
valuahlo coal lands in Wyoming,
which. it is said. IL originally secured
by hiring dummy cntrNmen. Inc
company not only returned the lands.
but paid for all the coal II had taken
from them
.Thcrc was the fullest confession of
guilt" said Mr. Williams. Every
body knows the lands were stolen IN
this way 1t is the common process
of getting government lands, to pay
somebody to enter them, buy at tho
| government price and then, on get
ting n patent. to turn them over To
you.
when the government started its
actions to dispossess the company Of
the lands. the statute of limitation
had not Yet run against the original
| fraudulent transactions. The persons
guilty were still liable to criminal
prosecution. There was a panic In
the Union Pacific camp The olii-
cials sent an cmissarv To the govern
ment and proposed TO return the lands
4 w uncut It SUIT li0Nll'R - W
that no criminal procrss be started
Ii was so agreed But in order that
the railroad people should take no
chance. they didn't Immediately deed
over the lands. Instead. "A stipulation
was entered into, about a year ago,
tina at the end of this year-that is,
Immediately after the statute Of limi-
tation should have become q bar 20
urosecution-the lands should be re-
turned. That agreement amounted 10
q pledge not to prosecute, and left
the lands in the hands of the fraudu-
lent holders. pending the expiration
of the statutory period. as a guar
antec of the governments good fatth.
aOf course. if the land had been
decided back, and a penalty paid, be-
fore the expiration of the statutory
period it would havc been a contes-
sion of guilt. and prosecution would
have been certain 10 result in conNic-
ton. So they Mere given "a years
gracc-and tided over the dangerous
timcl
That arrangement. as Is well
known. was made by the department
of Justice. and Attorney General Bon
apartc was responsible for it, said
Mr.. Williams. the very time OF
this agreement was made the govern
mcnt. under that very same law--scc-
ton 54i0. revised santutes-pas press
ing great numbers of cases against
persons an over the west.
at has now scores of persons lock-
ed up for violations of that section,
and more cases in the courts await
ing trial Those persons have not
carricd on any such wholesale ana
magnificent operations in land-stcal-
Ing as those of the Union Pacific.
I'm this Union Pacific case the
conspirators actually got the lands.
-.- 80 f14Al4 AHlH
them. took millions of dollars worth
Of coal from them. Yet they are
not prosecuted
ION the other hand, people who
have never secured a patent but who
are accused OF seeking to obtain land
hy the exact process employed hy the
I Union Pacific. are serving IN the pcnl-
tontiary. Is there a difference he
tween the application of section 5l40
to the rich railroad man and the Door
rancllcr2 That's all ] wan 20 know
Poisoned wheat is to be used 10
kin prairie dogs-the stockman's
worst encmy-that now infost Arizona
and New McNico. and have become a
menace to the forest ranges there
The department of agriculture VIII
render what aid it can in the mat
tor.
ON ranch lands prairie dogs have
proved destructive To "a variety OF
crops. including wheat grain. pota-
toes, ana sugar boots, while on graz
ling lands thoy destroy go much grass
that the grazing capacity of the land
IS reduced so to 80 per cent. The
forest service is employing every eff
fort TO prevent range deterioration
Last spring q successful campaign
was wagcd against the prairie doc.
and this year 1t viii De waged on a
larger scale. The poison Is prepared
by coating tho Wheat with a prcpa-
ration Of %strychnine. cyanide OF potas-
stun. anisc ON. and molasscs.
THE possibilities at irrigation have
no better tXcmpliUrutiun than I'm the
big Bend country of Arizona" re-
marked John y Payton. a stockman
of Denver. who is in the city on bust
ness.
twenty-five Years ago ! crossed
the Big Bend country on horseback.
: then tho onlv means of transportation
pcross the strip The Big Bend IS
ltht territory living within the semi
circle. or bow. formed bN the Culnm-
hia river. and embraces o vast area
on the occasion of my first trip 10
appeared 10 mao almost Impossible
that anything ever could De- made to
grow in that soil 10 was "a vast desert
/ stretch. with no vegetation except
a~agrhrnSh cattle could NOT grazo on
10 ana the only animals that could
exc out an existence "rr" sheep,
which can live almost anywhere
"A few summers q ] made an
other trim across the Big Send. and
marveled at tho change Railroads
long since had invaded the country.
and the r1adbeds were thanked by
great fields of waving grain wheat
iulfalfa. corn. everything grown ln the
agricultural region 81 the west tnriNrs
there uow-and ~ has nI n"'n
brought about hy irrigation
John + Garner has been appoint
ad postmaster at kirk. Quny county.
New Mexico. 20 succeed sam Hen
bricks. resigned rclolom SiTneros has
also been named for the office as
Ouesta. Taos county ~ the Mace ~
III J.. Archulrfa resigned
Haynes is tho name 80 n now post
: office Ia Yayapai county. Arizona.