The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1911-03-03
COMMITTEE ON
|NSULAa AFFAIRS
4
Reports Result y Investigation
Of Philippine hiiar Lands
Transaction.
NO CAUSE FOR COMPLAINT
The Committee Says the Adminislra-
lion Of Lands in Philippine Is
lands Has Been Fanlyand
g Honestly Conducted. Z,
Associated Press Special,

Washington, March 3.-The ad-
ministration of lands In the Philip
pine Islands has been fgHrly and hon
sstlv conducted, and charges and in
situations to the contrary. directed
against officers either of the Philip
pine government or of the govern
ment OF the United States, are un-
warranted and unjust.
This is the conclusion of the ma
jority of the house committee on in |
'sular affairs, in its report of an ex- |
haustive investigation of those mat i
tiers, made public today by the chair |
man of the committees Representa- |
tive Oimstead of PENNSYLVANIA The |
report expressly eXonerates w. Cam |
eron Forbes, governor general;
Charles H Sleeper, director of
lands. Frank W. Carpenter, execu-
tive secretary and Dean c. worces-
I ter, secretary. or the interior Of the
l Philippine government, OF HnY sfsn-
tpraprieties In the mama xesnent TX tine
4 Philippine lands, and describes Then,
as ! able, earnest. patriotic men
iffonestly performing their dates un
der more or less trying circumstan
ces .
The report reviews at length the
| alleged violations OF laws gnvernin &
the sales OF land and the issuance or
leases. and lays It's principal stress
upon the intricate legal problem In,
voived in the question OF the status
of the so-called ''friar lands, which
a nv q biJIny1ipa
government from the religious or
ders, with funds raised by bond is
sue Radical differences of opinion |
have existed as to whether these |
friar lands were governed in the |
matter of sales and leases by the re- |
strictions clearly imposed by the |
organic law of the islands upon |
transactions concerning the public |
or crown lands purchased by the |
United States government from the |
government of Spain
Representative Martin. of Colora |
do, precipitated the investigation |
now reported upon by various char |
ges made on the floor Of the house in
the latter part of the session of
1909-l0, in which he alleged i'm
proper sales and leases of the friar
especially to persons who, he
charged desired the land for the ben
eft of the so-called sugar crust. And
so. while the report undertakes to
refute number of charges connect
ed with the sale and lease of lands
in the islands. it is devoted largely
to discussion of a transaction by
which one f. L. Poole bought $4,000 |
of the 100000 acres of the friar
lands
Representative Martin contended
that under the organic law" OF
1902, which gave a civil government
to the Philippine Islands. and which
definitely limited the amount of
'eTtblic" lind thai might be sold to
individuals and to corporations.
Poole cOuld lawfully obtain only 10
acres as an individual and only $500
acres as representative OF a corpor-
alton. With this contention the ma
joritv of the committee explicitly
dsagrees; it concludes that the
"friar" lands We're not subject as a
matter of law and ought not to be
su bject as a matter of practical eN-
pediency to the restrictions upon
public" lands. In support OF this
position as to the legal status of the
friar lands, the report cites opIaions
of George r. Harvey, soliclto' gem
eral, approved by Ignaeio Fi,lamor,
attorney general Louis. c knight.
attorney for the bureau OF public
lands, of the Islands, and OF Attor-
ney General Wickersham aud i'm
cludes also a controverting opinlonl
by Mooffieid storey of Poston The
ONT shere madei is that tn Philip
Pine officials in their course were
abundaptly sustained, aud we're
bound 10 be guided by the opinions
cf the Jaw officers of their scTc'n-.
menta The transaction Of Poole 10
| whl"h the larger part OF the discus
sior (. addressed, was the purrE ise
OF t. +San Jose estate.