Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-14

fore him i'm Colorado and returned TO
Michigan as student in the law school
Of the state university at Ann Arbor.
From there he was graduated, full
nedged lawyer. just nine years ago. I'm
mediately on receiving his diploma he
went TO New Mexico. but in the spring
of the following year gaunt men tofling
out of the bitter desert of southern Me-
vada brought tales of fabulous mineral
wealth just uncovered there. Mr.. Tall
man joined in the first rush. He is a
pioneer of rhyolite that suddenly sprung
into being l25 miles from a railroad.
waxed fat and great and now has re-
peated the history of SO many mining
camps and sunk into decay.
Through all its brief but turbulent mis-
tory Mr.. Tallman was a leading figure.
He prospected and he mined, but chiefly
he practiced law and operated in mining.
When the slump came, part of his legal
work was to wind up the affairs of two
banks. Then, about a year ago. he re-
moved to Tonopah. from the mines Of
which town come in year more silver
than from any other camp on earth.
1t was inevitable that he should get into
politics. Ancestry and training called him
to 1t. In 1908 he went to the state senate,
where. for four years. he was chairman OF
the judiciary committee. He was the
leader of the progressive democratic fac
ton there. He rewrote the primary law
and secured its enactment.
He is the author OF the initiative and
the recall amendments to the state con
stitution, subsequently adopted by the
people. IT is largely due to his leadership
that the Nevada statute books now con-
tain practically all the progressive legis-
lation that is in force in other progressive
states.
He was chairman of the democratic
state central committee in 1910 and In
1912 he ran for Congress, but was defeat
ed by o6 votes.
In the opening sentence of this article
he was spoken of as a gray man. He is
gray, not with the grayness OF the city
Office man. but with that healthier gray OF
the man whose skin has been baked by
the desert sun. whose hair has been whit
ened by intense living close to the heart
of nature and battling with her in her
stubborn moods In his large. clear eyes
sparkles and snaps the energy of man
accustomed to lead. TO do things
Now he Is doing things in his job as
Uncle Sans real estate agent.
The great criticism which has come
from the west for these many years past
Is Indt the SeHtIdI oultt HdS q HlOst
exasperating habit OF procrastination in
dealing with its business. The public
land states thinl that the land office
moves with undue elaboration Commits
sioner Tallman knows of this complaint
What he is trying To do. as he expressed
il to visitor the other day, is to elimi-
nate the everlasting delays in the con-
duct of the governments land business;
To put the Office in a condition of up-to-
date efficiency. so that IL there be delays
in completing the title of an honest home
steader. those delays can be chargeable
only to the homesteader himself.
This does not mean. as those who are
familiar with the work Commissioner
Tallman is doing know. that the bars are
TO be thrown down and a loose method in
troduced that will invite fraud but IL
does mean that the honest and good faith
claimant shall not be harassed and de-
layed in securing title to the land which
he is seeking 10 reclaim from the wilder
ness and which the laws declare he shall
have on his compliance with certain con-
ditions.
No marked or revolutionary changes
have been made in the organization OF
the office. for Commissioner Tallman
holds that the organization he found in
stalled is good. but he is trying to speed
up that organization. His declared in
tention is to give the honest claimant TO
public lands under the law a chance to
make good and to prevent the dishonest
claimant acquiring lands to which he is
not entitled.
These ideas are also those Of rs chief,