The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1911-07-27

dent Taft. who concluded that it would
| be better to throw open 1o,SW acres u I
| land rather than grant Ryan a single tract
of 800 acres which might operate as n
! mon opolistc grant. A. To his decision
President Taft says:
| lprcrcrred much larger elimination Of a
| tract facing the entire channel and with srf-
fccnt room for a terminal railway town
| I was willing to do this because | found
| the restrictions of the law sufficient "a
| prevent the possibility of any monopoly
| of either the upland or the harbor or chan
mel by the controller Railway and Nari.
CATION Company or any other persons oi
! company.
| | wish to be as specific as possible upon
| this point and To say that alone am re-
| sponsihle for the enlargement Of the pro
| posed elimination from -" acres 20 i:so
acres. and that | proposed the change and
| stated the reasons therefor and while both
Secretaries cordially concurred IN II the
| suggestion was mine.
| If a railraod was TO he constructed IRON
| Controller Ray to the Berng coal field II
was perfectly evident that there must h'
| a terminal town on the shore of Controller
| Bay and | was therefore glad and anxious
| To throw il open to entry and settlement a-
| one important step in encouraging railroad
| enterprise was certain that Congress had
I nfONlIcu III ttt SIHIN'tS UUt'lluS NV 'il'i ,
and settlement of land in \laska !im,a
tions which would prevent the possibility
of the exclusive appropriation of the harboi
and channel of Controller BAY or lis shores
or upland to any one railroad.
| The President then continues to prove
| this contention He shows tha. under
the law every person il prevented from
| locating more than 100 acres of land IN
one body, which requires separation
between any two entries by the same
| person of tract of forty acres This
would prevent any one person acquiring
an entire tract like - 500 acres. A fur
ther limitation by law prevents any per-
| son obtaining title To more than half a
mile of frontage and requires that he
tween that claim and the next claim taken
up frontage of q quarter OF a mile must
| be reserved for the public and retained
I bv the Government so thai in the seven
miles of frontage of Controller Ray a,
! least two and three-qiarter miles of II
would have to be ret tanned by the Govern
r.ent for the Use Of the public.
| The third reason why a monopoly was
not possible is that from the shore land
or extent of the Controller Bay Company =
claim or any other person = claim on Con
;roller Bay to the channel is distance Of
about three o. four miles. and over this
land viaduct or trestle would hav" 70
ne constructed to reach the channel
| This Nr' lana - pWNsu Nv rIf I mica
States. and the acquisition OF shore line
land gives no right or title to these ia.s
4, They must remain in tho control of the
| Go, ernment and treS'leS built upon them
| would he subject to governmental con
troll This point has been settled 10y a
! supreme Court decision.
! There i. . special provision of law for
! railways in Alaska giving companies tho
right to maintain piers and wharves for
connection with wa.er transportation.
/ subject To the supervision of the Secre-
t?~v or the Treasury This IL not right
I incident to the ownership Of shore line
land. hut only To the location Of a right
of wy for = railway and secures To the
railway only such viaducts to the Channe
o. the Secretary of the Treasury may
deem necessary.
Also IN this same act there is a provision
hy which the Secretary Of the Interior
NAV uermi the extension of piers and the
ICon-truCtiou Of wharVes from the eight,
rod shore line frontage reserved to the
public 10 the naVigabla channel TO bs
kept open for public use for reasonable
tolls TO ic fixed by the Secretary Thus
leven if the Controller RAILWAY and Navi
cation Company had secured all of the
land. which it could not do under the law
IN could have no control whatever over th'
ia. land living between the shore line anc
the channel over which it must build il,
treSt'c.
This message was sent to the Senate
alont with almost cartful of documents
Maps. &c. relating to the Controller Ra,
aTair The lies Of four executive depart
men,s were carefully combed for ever,
letter. document, order or other papel
which in any way had any bearing upol
this question President Taft has taker
weeks 10 complete his response to ths
senate resolution. but as now completed
and summarized in his message il con
Trims the last possible word 10y the Ad
ministration upon the subject.