Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 April 1889 — PUBLIC LANDS. [ARTICLE]

PUBLIC LANDS.

A Decision of V ast Importance by Commissioner Stockslager The National Domain, a newspaper published in Washington, D. (J., and devoted, as its name indieates, to public Imd matters, in its issue of April 1, makes the following editorial comment upon an important decision of Land Commissioner Stackslager:g \v e publish in full in this number th a decision o the commissioner in the case of the Tumacacori private land claim in which, for the first time in the history of the land department, the question of private land claim reservations in Ne*. Mexico and Arizona, their legality and limitations are considered. It appears that great quantities of land have been, for many years, withheld from entry and settlement by the mere clerical ..et of marking the words “reserved” on the tract books without authority of law. The bases for the said marking ar« the plats of socal ed “preliminary surveys.”—• These are surveys of claimed exterior boundaries procured by grant claimants after the surveyor general’s examination and report, as shown in the case mentioned, have b«en smuggled into the printed reports as a part of the original examination. They are known to be grossly excessive in quantity and as held by Commission ?r McFarland “are unauthentic for any purpose.” Yet all the assumed private land claim reservations in the territories mentioned rest upon these fraudulent surveys. Commissioner Stockslager in his decision rejects and sets asicL the preliminary surveys in the Tumacacori case and by this act and by the principles of law laid down has opene . a way for the redemption from iLegal reservations of sevmal millions of acres of public land in the garde i districts of Arizona and NewMexiso.

It is amazing that a practice so unfounded in law and reason, so unjust to settlers, so ruinous to the interests of the government and so absurd as a matter of executive administration as that of holding in assumed reservation great bodies of pubbc land for the benefit of exaggerated and often mythical claims,' should so long have prevailed in the practice of the general land office. It can be accounted for only from the fact that heretofore but one side was presented to or heard by the department. Private claimants have been represented by abundant counsel. The government has had no represeutation, and settlers residing upon the claimed lands have not known the necessity for a representation of their interests. Grant claimants have, therefore, had their own way in impressing their wishes upon the department and in molding official action to suit their own aims. The time his now come when those who want to preserve lands from private and claims speculation and for those who are seeking public lands for settlem nt to rouse themselves and join[hands in the issue which Commissioner Stockslager’s decision has opened for their benefit. The Hon. George* W. Julain the able and efficient surveyorgenerul of New Mexico, referring to the foregoing decision of Commissioner Stacks! ager, is reported as saying:

Mr. btockslager has almost immortalized himself. It will go down in history as one of the great movements in favor of the just rights of the government and the people by the Cleveland administration,- and one, too, which the present republican administration cannot afford to gainsay. If carried out to its legitimate conclusions, it will restore more than threo million acres of land, now illegally held by grant claimants, to the pnblic domain for the ben-

fit of actual settlers. It is the most important step taken under the Cleveland administration. It was the great opportunity that opened up before Mr. Stockslager, and he seized it.with a bold hand, and fortified his position by unanswerable arguments. His other work, compared with this, was mere routine work, faithfully and honestly performed, which reflected credit upon him as an efficient officer, but this latter act, restoring to the people these millions ot acres of land, places him above all his predecessors in its farreaching effects for public good.