The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-03-28
THE LAND CONFLICTS.

The confusion in our land cunteu-
tions, and the contradiction Of the law
by those who have it's administration,
! have muddlcd the whole land situation
| in the United States Under the law
Icitizcns of the United States are al lib
crty to take up coal lands, but vast coal
areas that were likely to be filed upon
have been withdrawn from the market,
and any one who undertakes TO make
coal entries is thwarted by the c1ccu,
tive officials, or if he succeeds in max
ing his filings he is prosecuted as "A
| criminal, although be may have done
nothing beyond what he was clearly en-
titled to do under the law In the Pin
chot administrations. these large with
drawas shutting off entry were made
by executive order, without any basis
of law. They were clear usurpa tions,
and unlawful Yet no one could af.
ford to fight them, on account of the
antagonisms that would be aroused and
the solid front that the national author
tiles would present against him. This
unlawful phase of the former land con-
servation policies, falsely so called, has
been changed since, in the passage by
Congress of an enactment authorizing
the President to make such Withdrawals
The coal entr.' indictments reported
in the early portion of the present
month for alleged unlawful filings in
Alaska supplement the indictments
found last November, where Henry
:" it,. Charles A. Mckenzie, and
others. were indicted on the charge Of
cons spIring to defraud the government
Of upwards of 10000 acres of coal
land, valued at $200,O00,000, in the
hsyak district of Alaska. The indict-
mcnt found on March 5th in Detroit
against w, w. McAlpinc, McCurdy G.
Lebeau, and others, carries the charge
Of conspiracy to dcfraud tho govern
n,nt of $4,000 acres of coal land in
Alaska, valued at $50 100000, That at
Chicago on March 9th, charged con-
spiracy on the part of A. c. Frost,
George NJ. Seward. aud others, to de
fraud the government Of 10000 acres in
the Mutanuska district of Alaska, val
ued at $l0,000,000. We have here in
these thrc procedures the allegations
of conspiracy to dcfraud the govern
ment out of nearly $4,000 acres of coal
lands in Alaska, valued at $4,000, 900.
OF course these valuations arc fictitious,
and the frauds, if proved, will apply to
the acreage and not TO the valuations.
order of Secretary Ballinger. who has
been so much maligncd and unjustiy at
tackled,
Announcement is made that the new
Secretary of the Interior. Mr.. Walter
l.. Fisher, has drawn up plan for leas-
ing the Alaska coal lands, which will
a.ve the government a fair revenue
from them and will, at the same time,
attract capita. for investment in open
ing the mines. The plan has not been
made public in detail, but it is said from
Washington TO be satisfactory TO At
torney~ General Wickcrsham, and there.
fore to be unobiectionable in the law.
1t is probable that this plan is, in fact,
a product of the Ballinger regime, for
it is hardly possible that Mr.. Fisher
would have been able, so soon as this,
IL think over The situation and draw
up Il comprehensive plan to govern the
Alaskan situation. Wherever it comes
from, however. a plan Of this kind,
which will afford opportunity to de-
yclop the coal measures of Alaska, and
allow of the use of American coal in
the manufactures and the operation of
commerce on and along our West coast,
will be very welcome; for it is an abb
surdity that we should have to 60 to
foreign countries, as British Columbia
and Australia, to get coal for our own
use. when we have it within easy reach
of good ports in Alaska, and where we
could mine il for ourselves and get all
the benefit and the profit. If Mr.. Fish
or does actually propose a scheme of
this kind that will be found feasible
in practical working, he will have done
very high service to his country