Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-02-02
MARSHALL RELIEF BILL.

Congressman Tom Marshall, in
speaking of the legislation which is in
tended to relieve those enrymen who
have 6let homesreads on lands which
were afterwards classified by the gov
eminent as containing coal, said:
"There seems to be great confusion
and misunderstanding surrounding this
whole question. When large tracts in
North Dakota were set aside by the
geological survey as being possibly with
in the coal belt, the commissioner of
the general land office stopped the is
suance of all final receipts and patents
until each claim could be examined by
a coal land inspector: I urged upon
the department the great Importance of
having an adequate number of coal land
inspectors assigned to North Dakoa in
order that the lands might be examined
without delay and the proofs put
through. The department acceded to
the request and force was put in the
field and the examinations were brought
practically down to date before the cold
weather. The coal land inspectors re-
ported mo coar' in a very large per-
centage of cases and these entries will
go to patent in the regular way and are
IN no way effected by the proposed leg
ls1ation, but in many cases the inspec-
tors reported the land as "of coal char
acter" 1t is we'll known that under
the law homestead entries are intended
to be confined to lands which are chief
y valuable for agriculture and the en-
ayman makes what is known as a
mineral" affidavit when fling
This, then, is the condition: The
coal land Inspector having reported GER
tain homesteads as coal in character, 2"
the department holds the entries for
cancellation. The entryman is entitled
to a hearing where he can bring in evil
dence to prove that there is no coal of
commercial value underlying his claim,
IN which case he will get full patent,
but in the event. al the hearing, his
land was found to be Of coal character.
his entry would certainly be cancelled.
And these, and only these, are the
eases that l am concerned about and
the only cases that will be affected, in
any degree, by the proposed new lesis-
ation. -~'
The original bill that l introduced
was crude in form and intended, as was
announced at the time, only to open up
the subject before the committee and it
has, It no time, been my idea to either
take away or abridge any of the rights
4 homesteader now has, and the only
measure that has been called up or con-
sidered by the committee is the Mendell
hill, which, in a general way, embodies
their views. Under this proposed leg
IN cases where lands had been
declared as of coal character, the en-
fryman would have precisely the same
right he has now to hearing in order
to determine if the coal, if any, is of
commercial value or not If, at the
hearing, decision is rendered in favor
of the entryman, he would be granted a
full patent exactly the same as under
the present law, but in cases where the
land was held to be of coal character he
eouM, if desired, secure patent to the
surface which would carry with it the
preference right to buy the coal, the
right to mine it for domestic purposes
and the right to collect damages caused
by prospecting or mining coal on his
lind, etc. etc. Some ppeople who felt
certain there was no coal on their land
might prefer to take patent to the sur-
face rather than go to the expense and
trouble Of a hearing, but they. would
Be, in no wise, compelled to do so.
In fact, they would be in the same posi-
ton as they were before the passage
Of the legislation, except that they
would BE given additional privileges and
protection whereby, in no event, could
khey lose their homestead entirely, but
rould retain title to the surface.
ST have always believed that the gov
erHment land should have been classi-
led before instead Of after entry and
say enphatically that the government
s Ehoily to blame for permitting, and
sven encouraging, filings on lands that
untain GOA, and having permitted
luch filings, il IS working untold dam