The Washington times., 1911-03-03

W llNlCll al "'Fh dop b't " "i'N''~A1 NND'''
tie House until the day before adjourn
meEt-when 1t cannot possibly be con-
sidered except by legislative miracle
! the report of the house Insular Affai! 8
| Committee on the Philippine land inves-
! tigation was filed today by Chairman
! Olmsted.
| Every act of the officials Of the Pbihr-
pine government in selling and leasing
! pubic and private lands is approved by
the majority of the committee.
A minority rcport, signed by Repre-
| sentatives Hubbard of Iowa, Madison of
| Kansas, and Davis of Minnesota, insur-
| gents, accompanies the majority report,
and a minority report by all the Demo-
cratic members of the committee will be
| filed today or tomorrow.
The majority report is signed by Chair
man Olmsted, and Representatives.
| Crumpacker, Hamilton, Fuller, Graham,
| Parsons, Mckinley. and Douglas, Re
! publicans, and Fornesr, Democrat. II Is
! cOnctrred in by Representative Rucker'
| Democrat.
! The Democrats who will sign the DEM
locratic minority report are Representa-
tives Jones, Page, Garrett, Denver and
| Helm Their report will be similar to
the report of the Republican minority,
which conCurs with the majority report
1
holds that the act of Congress OF 1872
undoubtedly intended public lands to be
sold only to Filipinus.
| The Republican minority also crtti-
| CiSeS severely the policy Of the COM
rissioners in taking advantage of the
| Interpretation OF the Flaw as TO fTtar
lands to sell and lease large tracts to
aliens.
Charges of the Minority.
The minority charges that if the Su-
gar trust is not interested in the sugar
land transactions, its "next-door neigh
Dor" is. The report declares officials of
the American Sugar Refining Company
were interested in the purchase of friar
lands.
Had these reports been made in time
| to be considered at this session they
would unquestionably have been tie
! ba sis for spirited contest. The inSur-
| gents and Democrats, aided by Repre-
sentative Cooper of Wisconsin, former
| chairman of the Insular Affairs Com
mittec. would have opposed the adop-
| ton of the majority report vigorously.
1t is altogether probable that the ne'y
! House will take up the Philippine lard
question, and that the issues now In
dispute will he thoroughly threshed
| out
Representative Jones Of Virginia, the
ranking Democrat on the Insular A.
| fairs Committee, was n member OF that
| body, when the organic act was passCd
| In 1902, and he will probably be chair
man in the new Congress. 1t is under
stood he contemplates re-openinG the
! Philippine land question.
Status of Friar Lands.
! The majority of the committee. in
| its report, declares emphatically that
! friar lands are not public lands and
! that. consequently. the limitations as
to the sale of public lands do not apply
to TFem.
The section of the report treating
this subject says in part:
The committee finds that the law
| touching public lands has not been
| violated ir single instance. The
principal question is whether the 40
acres limitation. with no right to sell
| or mortgage for five years, which
| clearly applies to public lands, ap-
plies also to friar lands. There have
! been S.393 sales of friar lands, of
| which 81 involved amounts in eN-
cess Of 30 acres each.
| "Seventy-"ight of the purchasers were
| Filipinos and four were Americans.
Approve Worcester's Act.
The action of Dean c. Worcester. sec
retary of interior for the islands, in
| leasing public lands to his nephew IS
| approved by the majority, which makes
! this declaration concerning the transac-
| ton:
! The committee does not think that an
applicant can be deprived of his right
under the statute by reason of being the
son of a brother of the secretary of
the interior The secretary called the
| attention of the governor general to
| the fact The application for the lease
| was extensively advertised and hnally
| granted. The secretary of the interior
| had no interest therein whatever.
I'VE do not think that Dean c. Wor-
| ester, secretary of the interior, did
| anything but his plain duty in the mat
| ter of this lease, and adverse criticism
| Is wholly uncalled for and unworthy.
| One of the criticisms of the Philippine
! Commission was its lease of 1900 acres
of friar lands to Frank w. Carpenter,
| executive secretary for the commission.
| OF this transaction the majority makes
| the following comment: q
| Frank w. Carpenter Is not member
of the Philippine Commission, but holds
| a position in the government known ad
/ executive secretary He has nothing TO
do with the leasing or selling of lands.
He was granted a lease for 1900 acres
pSrts that they believe the agreement
was entered into with the best of mo-
| tives bv all concerned, and that its oper-
! alton has been beneficial to the govern
ment and to the people.
Commission Is Endorsed.
Inferentially, the majority of the COM
mittee indorse the Philippine Commits
sion's Interpretation OF the organic act
of 1902 in regard to the sale of land to
! citizens" Counsel for the Anti-Im-
perialist League held before the COM
mittee that the intent of Congress re-
garding who are Citizens of the
islands had been violated. The act of
| 1902 restricted the sale of public agri-
! cultural lands to citizens and then
defined citizens as natives. The Philip
pine Commission held that citizens
/ means citizens of any country, and
| therefore sold public lands TO others
] than Filipinos.
| Violation of the citizens section nj
| the statue has been charged in connec-
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