Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1909-07-09
HEAD OFFICIAL
TO VISIT BEACH
Commissioner Fred bennett, Head
Of General Land Office at
Washington, will Invest
igate Conditions
THANKS TO SENATOR MccuMBER

THANKS TO SENATOR McCUM Der
Protests from homesteaders in
North Dakota. and especially the
Golden Valley, against the methods
followed by special agents of the
land Office, are to be the subject
of personal investigation by
Commissioner Fred bennett of the
General Land Office, who will leave
Washington shortly and spend
some time in the land districts in
this part of the state. This move
has been brought about by Senator
McCumber who has been working
so faithfully for the homesteaders
in this coal land proposition.
Hundreds Of protests have been
sent in by North Dakota home-
steaders, that after they have offer
ed final proof on their lands, the
proof are held up for long period
on the unsupported objection of
the land Office agents. w. D.
Wade is chief inspector in North
Dakota. The settlers claim that
their cases should be disposed of
when they offer final proof of COM
pliance with the law. On the con-
trary, they say that they are forced
to wait until the inspectors make
a re-examination of the facts which
sometimes causes delay of a year
or so.
Commissioner bennett was un-
derstood to have issued orders some
time ago, as a result Of McCum-
ber's efforts, to Cheif Inspector
Wade of Fargo to clean up the
matter as soon as possible, but the
situation did not improve where
upon Senator McCumber again
took the matter up with Com
missioner bennett who has now
agreed to make a through and per-
sonal inquiry into the situation.
The following extracts from a
recent letter, written by Mr.. Wa
ters of Beach to Senator McC Cumber,
at Washington, gives some idea
of the situation which the head
official Of the Land Office at Wash
ington will personally investigate:
''Your favor of the 10th came
duly to hand and wish to thank
you most heartily for your efforts
in my behalf and in the behalf of
the settlers interested in this pro-
test matter.
''There is just one thing more
l wish to call your attention to
and that is, that every settler who
makes proof is notified that there
is a protest against the validity of
his proof.
MIR. bennett claims that in a
number Of cases the protests are
filed by the neighbors.
CHOW as a matter of fact all Of
these protests are being filed by
Mr.. Wade of Fargo, Chief Of the
18th Field Devision, of course
cannot prove this but l think Mr..
bennett is being deceived in this
matter; it cannot be possible that
each neighbor is filing a protest
against himself.
"The statement of Mr.. Wade in
view of these conditions are not
only childish but are to ludricous
for consideration by reasonable
men.
"With due respect to Mr.. Den
nett l am still Of the opinion that
with the pressure of business he
is not being properly Informed
even by his own subo, dinates of
the actual conditions existing.
with the corpse of inspectors
now in the field, why the necessity
for delay, caused by the trans
mission of local reports to the
Chief Of the Field Devision; thence
to Washington; Washington back
to the local land office and ulti.
matly to the settler, provided it
ever reaches him. Why not let
the inspector turn in his reports