The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-07-28

tive order of Oct. 2S. 1910, that it has
been demonstrated by the foregoing
that no public interest has suffered
from Its issue. that great good may
come from it and that no dishonest or
improper motive is needed to explain
1t. | might, therefore. stop here; but.
rather, for the purpose of the moral
to be drawn from them than to vim
dicate the order, | propose to consider
the attacks upon the order that hys
terra or rancor has prompted
Order Was Made Public.
The charge has been made that this
was a secret order and that though it
was made in October, 1910, no one
knew it until April. 1911. This is ut
terly unfounded. The statement Of
Mr.. Vernon, the correspondent of the
Post-Intelligencer of Seattle, news
paper of wide circulation among peo-
! pie most interested in Alaska, shows
that ten days before the order was
made news of the details of Ryan's
! application and the probability of Its
! being granted was given wide public
, ity. II further appears from the rec
ords of the interior department that
the evening the order was signed. Oct
%, 1910, full notice of the issue of
| the order and its details was furnish
, ed by the department to all CORE
! spondents in the form of a news bull
/ letin. Finally the agent of the Asso-
ciated Press certifies that at 7:23 p. M,
Oct. %, 1910. there was sent out by
! that association to all it's newspaper
clients telegram taken from a type
! written statement issued by the in
I terror department as follows:
Washington, Oct 28.-Approximately l2-
| 800 acres of land in the Chugach National
| forest, Alaska have been restored by the
| president for disposition under appropri-
ate land laws, according to information
made public today by the interior depart
ment. These lands are situated on the
coast line Of Controller bay, In southern
Alaska, near the Cunningham claims, and
have been found upon examination to be
of little value for forestry purposes.
1t would be difficult to prepare an
advertisement more informing to the
public or more likely to attract the at
tention of all likely to desire acquisi-
ton of land on Controller bay. On the
Goth the chief forester sent telegram
making a similar announcement to his
district forester at Portland, Ore.
The order has been attacked on the
ground that 1t did not contain a pro-
vision delaying its taking effect for
thirty days after it's publication, as
orders restoring land to settlement by
homesteaders frequently do. An ex-
animation of the record furnishes an
explanation of this feature Of the or
der as made. When in October the
two departments had agreed, with my
acquiescence, that the order should be
an elimination Of only 800 acres an
order describing the 800 acres, direct
ing its restoration to settlement and
containing the usual provision post
poning it's taking effect thirty days
was prepared in the forestry bureau
and forwarded to the interior depart
ment. There it was deemed wiser to
spread on the face Of the order a Spe-
cific declaration that it was made to
afford terminals for the Controller
Railway and Navigation company, and
as no one else was expected to inter-
vene and take up any part of the elm
mated tract the restoration was made
immediate.
Approved by Secretary
The form thus amended was submit
ted to the secretary of agriculture. who
expressed his preference for the i'm
mediate restoration order through his
solicitors memorandum on the face
of the order, as follows:
Mr.. Clements. Assistant Attorney In the
Interior Department-We think this o. K.
The secretary says 1t is the direct way
| and appeals to him.
GEORGE P. M'CABE.
The idea of the secretary doubtless
was that the short form of order was
preferable because on its face it was
directly indicative of the purpose to
secure an opportunity to the railway
company by proper entry to settle on
the land eliminated, and as no one else
was expected to intervene no postpone
ment was needed Accordingly when
the case came for decision in the cabi-
net the order was without any post
ponement clause. This was the form
sent me for my signature by the acting
secretary of the interior department
When l directed the striking out of
the reference to the railway company
and the enlargement of the area from
800 acres to 12,S00 acres the form of
the order in its provision for imme-
diate restoration was not changed. /
have no doubt that this was the rea-
son why the order issued took the form
it did. Had the postponement clause
been suggested l would doubtlessly
have directed it to be embodied In the
order. But the event has proven that
it was really not important in this
case, for in now nearly nine months
only the Controller Railway Naviga-
ton company has made any scrip en-
tries on the eliminated tract and this
although 1000 acres and three miles
of water front still remain open to en-
1y and there are several different rail-
way companies in addition to the Con-
troller Railway and Navigation com.