Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1917-04-18
ATTORNEY GENERAL
ON LAND FRAUD SUITS
Advises That Land Board Can
and Should Prosecute
Certain Suits

In an opinion rendered this morning
by Attorney General Brown relative to
the authority of the state land board
to prosecute the land fraud suits
against the Pacific Live Stock com
pany, which is accused of securing
10000 acres of land in Harvey county
by use of dummies, he holds that the
| state land board has right to prose
cute the cases, and recommends that
| the board call a meeting of the state
emergency board to appropriate money
with which to continue the prosecution.
| This opinion was given on request of
! Governor Withycombe, who wished to
know what authority the land board
had in the matter. The governor was
of the opinion that as the state land
board was the constituted authority
for administration of the state lands
and legally responsible for the conduct
of suits concerning them, that it was
the duty of the board to continue to
prosecute to finish. The land board
held that as the suits were brought un-
der the direction of a former governor
without the approval of the land board
it was not in its duty to continue the
prosecutions.
/ During the session of the 1917 legis-
lature bill appropriating $4,000 for
the prosecution was introduced by
Representative Crandall but it was not
passed This left the state without
funds to fight the case.
| Coxdopnor hn ols ,on,,nn4
ed the attorney general to outline the
best course for the state through the
land board, to pursue. In response the
! Attorney General states as follows.
General Browns Opinion.
"The suit was started on the theory
that the Pacific Live Stock company
or its predecessors in inte-st, had ac-
quired the land described in the COM
| plant, by procuring various persons to
make application to the state land
board to purchase certain lands, with
che understanding that the applicant
would, after making the application
convey the land, or his interest therein
to the Pacific Live Stock company
or its predecessors in interest. In
/! other words, the theory of the case was
that the various applicants were mere
dummies who had no interest in the
land and were procured to make false
affidavit for the purpose of permitting
others to obtain that which the law
did not permit.
fBy dummies I mean real persons
and not the use of forged applications
] and assignments, as sometimes under
stood"
The lands are divided into three
groups: School lands, school indemnity
lands, and swamp lands. The attor
ney general outlines the case in these
three divisions. He then takes up tbs
work done by the office and states, that
during the past two years it has spent
most Of its time in the trial Of the
Hyde Benson cases. Evidence has alsC
been gathered in the present case. The
Hyde Benson cases included 146 appli
cations to purchase and the Pacific
Live Stock company ia.
Complaint Defective.
Concerning the status Of the suit ht
says it is now at issue in the pleadingF
but that the state is in no position al
the present time to proceed with tht
trial because the complaint is, as tC
considerable of the lands, based on tht
theory that dummies" were used
whereas the facts show that the names