The Great Land Grab: How Speculators Stole Washington's Public Lands

A recent ruling at the Secretary of the Interior's office has upset former decisions of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, appearing very late Secretary, in regard to the manner in which soldier's mutual homestead entries may be made.

It is known that for nearly two years the practice has permitted of allowing these entries to be made for the parties located to make them, through the intervention of attorneys. The applicant lawfully made the required affidavits before the clerk of the court in the county where they resided and at the same time executed a power of attorney authorizing the sale and conveyance of the land after entry.

Large quantities of the most valuable land on the Pacific coast have been entered in this manner by speculators and boasters, and now the Surveyor directs that in all cases if the affidavit of the applicant 'shall not be taken before the register or receiver of the land office in which the entry is made, or the entry was not made by the applicant in proper person,' the papers must be returned to the local land office in order that the proper application and affidavit may be supplied.

Assuming of these claimants reside in Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas, it is not probable that any of them will appear at the land units in California and Washington to comply with the terms prescribed by the department. Being a matter of special interest to those who have dealt in these claims, thousands of them having been sold with a guarantee of their genuineness and of the validity of the title to the land sought to be entered by them, and there being no appeal from the decision of the Secretary, the intervention of the courts will likely be sought in order to test the legality of the ruling.

It is hard that innocent purchasers of these claims should suffer by being misled through the former rulings of the department, but if their purchases are usually protected by a guarantee from responsible parties, the losses will fall mainly upon speculators, and as the interests of the country would be promoted by holding out all possible inducements for immigration from the Eastern States, the last ruling will be generally regarded with favor and in harmony with fixed policy of the Government in dealing with the public lands.