The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 26, 1901, Page 3

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, DECISION IN OIL LAND CONTROVERSY GREAT VICTORY FOR THE MINING MEN Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock, in Deciding Against| Clarke, Holds That Qil Lands Are Subject to Location Under Mining Laws of United States| 2 : “ — | "and Acquisition 2. | the | h WASHINGTON, April oil land cases from ver oil district, whi two day ock. Under in the earth are subject to r the mining been between ert a right o eserve der the act of Con- This act provides ns made L n its place public land ges conse- ettlement and de- econd, to en- ire exclusive r ands withi to more effectively against injury by mber . W fon of lands d regions. forest lieu land se- i the Kern Oil imant in one case | Eagle Oil Company in the - Clarke made a lieu sember 8, 1899, basing the <linquishment of lands claimed to have objained of California. ted the same » upon the re- Rights of the Claimants. etary decision holds that to the lands first re- s rights, if any, dependent upon the With the first selection proof to the effect that the selected were unoccupled, non- 2d_otherwise subject to settle- No proof shewing non-occupancy he non-mineral character of the land filed with the sccond selection. the other case u forest aes The Se e w cond selection Clarke was made by Clarke December 14, was accompanied by proof thal P 1d selected was then non-mineral accompanied by | r case. The oil comp filed =2 protest agains seléctions, alleging that at the land was occupi able for its depos 1. The Commissioner of the 4 Office a few months since lections and protests and jon and character of , and in the course of his that in determining the cter of the land discoveries of oil G t to the date of selections | dered. ed to the Secretary of the | e and it is upon these | ions are now rendered. | guments recently made and 1n | h have been recentl d it v claimants in each pments upon the | have now heen car- | extent which has developed tion that the lands are of I deposits and that < are in actual poss extracting large milar cases are ral Land Office, and consent among the various two cases decided to-day t cases. In the decision it | "Points of the Decision. where & person mi act of June 4, to a patent to selected lan d interest therein and is to be the equitable owner thereof. the right to patent under the most purposes, equiva- seued and when in’ fact is- 5t dates back to the time when t became fixed and takes effect questions respecting class and PEKING, April 35.—The expedition from | Paotingfu has been entirely called off and | the French troops have been ordered to | return to their original station. ‘The only | casualties suffered the entire expedi- | were two German soldiers killed. With the exception of the formal order- | ing off of the Chinese troops the onlyl comment made by the court is a briet ce in the Officiai Gazette to the effect | that had strong enough manifestations | been made through the plenipotentiaries | the troope would have been ordered to | withdraw before. This, if considered a censure, would be manifestly unjust, be- cause Li Hung Chaug and Prince Ching ¥ been urging the withdrawal for a month. However, the notice is so brief t neither plenipotentiary regards it as flection upon his actions, thinking the court means that the powers did make strong enough representations. ter of fact if any reflection upon otentiari were intended Li ng and Prince Ching would be d before the forelgners and could be considered representatives. ans killed in connection with tion were members of a_scout- who went far beyond the border. —e———— - FOUL PLAY MAY HAVE CAUSED SMITH’S DEATH LLONDON, April Jack Roberts, who t sinst Billy Smith in the fight ational Sporting Club Mon- G in Smith’s death, and anager of the club, together | timekeeper and four sec- raigned in the Bow-street ay on the charge of man- | magistrate remanded the r own recognizances in | her of Billy Smith, said | ve of the Associated | Sporting Club is deter- | mined, s to secure an autopsy, for we are sure that apoplexy was not the cause of death. It is certain that my brother was given something to drink at the end of the seventh round, and after | that he was utterly useless. He had the | fight won when he began to stagger about | the ring and fell unconsclous. He never | It is a difficult matter to | body has been interested | the scandal, but I shall prove in hushing up have my say at the inquest, if it is pos- | sibie.” ] ttention in | | by Seccre- | | ng be had thereon to | ] SECRETARY OF THE INTE- \ RIOR HITCHCOCK, WHO RENDERS OIL DECISION. mined by conditions existing at the time when 1l requirements necessary to obtaining title been complied with the selector, and = in such conditions, s , can affect his righ fon of the act of the nd Department the __Nesqually » Land Department at any ssue of the patent. This e 2d for the purpose of ascertal i declaring whether or not the selecto compliance with all necessary requisites, entitled himself to a patent, and not for : of determining whether or not these officers will consent to the selection, If whether had at the instance of ng against the selections of discloses that th i with all the necessar honestly and correctly e land relinquished and th: character of land selected, and »f the Land Departmeri dis- > to_relinquish or selection, ? nd officers is clear—they must patent the land to the selector and they have 1 to do otherwise. The rights of however, attach and take effect ime when he has done all that upon him to do in the premises not postponed td”the time when that ned and declared by the land and are fa. Not Subject to Selection. The act of 1587 describes land which may be selected under its provisions as ‘‘vacant land open to settlement.” To be vacant land must 0 be open for settlement land not to be known to mineral deposits. Land which another or which is known to contain valuable mineral deposi therefore | not subject to selection under said act. It is the general rule that applicants for public land | must show that the land applied for is of the | character contemplated by the law under which | it is sought. There is no reason why this rule | should not obtain in proceedings under the act | of 1897, and there is nothing in that act itself | rets the applicant thereunder from making | such showing has been said In various | @ecisions of the department this law consti- | tutes a standing offer on the part of the Gov- | ernment for the exchange of lands. In this offer the lands to be exchanged are described. be relin dividual must | be within "afores . and those to be taken by hin v | settiement is incumbent upon one who wishes to take advantage of this standing offer to is to the land he proposes to relinquish, o ‘a5 to that which he proposes to take in exchange. It is his duty to inform himself as to the character and condition of the land he proposes to select and to honestly disclose the facts thus ascertained. only ut In so far as existing conditions appear from | Lana Office Tecords, that is, whether a se- icoted tract is of lands fo Which settlement s have been extended and whether the same is free from record appropriation, claim or reservation, showing by the selector in re- Epect thereto need be made, for the reason that Sfficers of the Government can and must take Rotice of public records. But as to conditions in existence, or the non-existence of which cannot_be determined by anything appearing upon the public records and as to which officers | of the Government must depend entirely upon ocutside e that is, whether a selected tract is othérs and known to be it is manifestly neces- valuable for minerals, cted to know whether the land the act is vacant and not known and in these re- selected unde to be valuable for minerals, | spects subject to selection. | Must Submit Proof With Filing. Such expectation would be impossible of | realization. For instance, the Visalia | Sistrict, in which the lands in controversy are | situated, comprises the greater portion of the | mining ‘counties of California and embraces | an area of over 7,000,000 acres. Of this area lands are to be deter- | over 500,000 acres of unreserved surveyed public it @ CUBANS ViST 1R GALLED IV Expedition to Paotingfu Suffers a Loss of Two Germans. Delegation From Island Is Honored in W ashington. | WASHINGTON, April %.—The Cuban delegation from the convention framing & constitution for the new island repub- once in the early part of the day, when there were expressions of friendship, and again at night, when the members of the delegation were the guests of honor at a state dinner at the White House. The | real business which brought the delega- tion here was not transacted, the Presi- dent in the forenoon interview at the White House saying to the delegates that he would confer with the Secretary of War who would act as his representa- tive in conferences over the Cuban situa- tion. The delegation and -Secretary Root | were closeted for some hours in the after- |noon in a discussion of the relations of the islands to the United States.’ Secrecy was observed as to the conference, the statement being made that after results ere reached some news as to the con- }cn ions might be made public. | Matters of importance were not touched upon in the interview between the Presi- dent and the delegates, the convention be- | ing almost wholly informal. Senor Ca- pote, in his address to the President, spoke of the desire of the Cubans to have the clesest possible relations with the United S He said that the United States soldiers and Cubans had fought | side by side and driven Spain from the |island, and the ties between the two countries were bound in blood. The re- { lationship, therefore, between the coun- tries always should be most amicable, and closer than that which usually exists be- tween nations. He also spoke of the grat- itude which Cuba felt for the United States for the assistance rendered in her liberation. In response the President expressed his pleasure at meeting the delegation and desired through them to extend his kind- est wishes to the people of the island. He said that his interest in Cuba always had been great and he made reference to messages sent to Congress concerning the island. Its welfare always would be the subject of his most earnest consideration. e congratulated the members of the del. egation upon being members of the Cu- ban constitutional convention. He said it was a high honor, and it fell to the lot of but few men to have the opportunity to frame a government for a repubiic. Con- cerning the object of the delegates’ visit | the President said he would confer with the Secretary of War and the Secretary, baving an intimate knowledge of the sits uation, would confer with the delegation. —————— Some people are charitable only when they have a large audience. question falls within | land | THE PRESIDENT lic saw President McKinley twice to-day, | land, scattered throughout the district, were ' undisposed of at the end of the fiscal year during which the selections In question were flled. " In these respects the Visalla district | does not greatly differ from many other land districts wherein selections under the act of 1897 have been, or are likely to be made. Ob- viously, therefore, it could not have been contemplated that the local officers of the various land districts should or could, from personal knowledgeé, determine the physical | conditions pertaining _to the lands selected | under the said act. The argument is intensi- ‘ fied when applied to the Commissioner of the General Land Office and the Secretary of the | Interior. In this case the lands were sur- | veyed in 1854. Whether since that date they | have been continuously or at any time vacant, or occupled, and whether st any time known to be valuable for minerals, and if so, whether stripped of their minerals and worked out, are matters not shown by land office records. Every consideration based upon the wise ad- ministration of this law supports -the wisdom of the regulation requiring the selector to submit proof showing the land selected to be subject to such selection. The form of ap- plication prepared by the Commissioner's of- covered by patent in forest reserve and spe- cifically adopted as form 4-643 in the regulations | of May 9, 139, and Decembe 18, 1899, requires the seiector to' accompany hisapplication, with “‘affidavit showing land selected to be non- mineral in character and unoccupi€d.” It is thus clearly made incumbent upon one seeking to take advantage of the offer made by this lects is of the character contemplated by law. Untll this fact is established his proffer o exchange is not completed. Until then he ha: not made out a case which shows upon the face of the papers that he has so far com- plied with the conditions of the act of 1897 in said act into a contract fully executed upon his part. To lodge in an applicant for ex- | change of lands under this law vested right as against the ownership of a third party, it must be made to appear that the land sought to be acquired by him is of the character con- templated by that law. Proof of Condition Required. The necessity for requiring the selector to make proof of the condition and character of the land at the time of selection is forcibly illustrated in this case. Prior to that time mineral oil had been discovered in the near vi- cinity of this land, and lands in that neigh- borhood were generally prospected and explor- €d in an effort to find mineral ofl therein in paying quantity. To that end wells were be- ing drilled or bored hundreds of feet into the earth at great cost, and in this manner the area or extent of the oil deposit was being ascertained and the mineral character of spe- fic tracts made known. The known character of the land in that vicinity was therefore un- dergoing a change and tracts not known to contain mineral deposits at any given time were liable within thirty days thereafter to become known to be valuable for such depos- its. The right to patent fs not acquired in any case until the proofs are such that a patent could be issued upon them if nothing were shown to the contrary. As long as any- thing remains undone which' it is_essential should be done by the selector in order to en- title him to a patent right thereto, the title | does not vest. That a non-mineral affidavit | should accompany the selection is mot serious- | 1y questioned by the applicant. It is just as | essential that it should be accompanied by a | vacancy or non-occupled afAdavit. contention that the word ‘‘vacant’’ as use in the statute means public lands which are not shown by the records of the local office or General Land Office to be claimed, appropri- ated or ereserved, can not be accepted. .Por- tions of public lands may be occupled, and for that reason be mnot subject to selection, and yet there be mo mention of their occu: pancy in the records of the land department. It frequently occurs that persons desiring to secure title to lands under the homestead law settle upon and ocupy the same for months Appellants” and even vears before placing thelr claims on record. The proof presented by the selector did not show that the land was subject to selection and would not justify the issuance of a patent even If no protests had been filed. Not Properly Lieu Lands. Ordinarily, as between the Government and selector there would seem to be no good ground for refusing to permit him to submit the necessary proof at a time subscquent to the date of the attempted selection, but since this proof is essential to complete selection 80 as to constitute a contract fully executed on the selector's part his rights would have to be determined as of date when the selection is thus completed. No attempt or offer to tion has been made, and it is now asserted by mineral claimants and fully admitted by the | selector that the land in question has been demonstrated to contain valuable deposits of Detroleum. It is thus made evident that these lands are not now subject to selection in lieu of 1ands in the forest reservation and that further delay in the disposition of these selections to afford an opportunity to file an afidavit showing that they are vacant and open to settlement would be of no benefit to the selector. Each decision holds, therefore, that the forest reserve lieu land selector has never perfected his selection and that the lands now being admitted to be of great mineral value he cannot be permitted to perfect selections because to do so would be to permit the | selection of mineral lands. The selections | are accordingly rejected. % CAILLES TAKES CHIEF'S PLACE Brutal Leader Proclaims Himselt Aguinaldo’s Successor. e MANTLA, April 25.—It is reported that the rebel general Cailles ordered eight American soldlers to be shot April 21, the same day on which he condemned to | death Colonel Sanchio, one of his staff officers, and Senor de la Rosa, a weal- | thy native who had refused to contri- bute to the Insurgent fund. Sanchio es- caped. The others were tortured and then butchered. Cailles, who fs now lurking in the mountains of Tayabas province, Luzon, proclaims himself dictator and successor of Aguinaldo, and announces his inten- tion to continue a war of extermination. It is said Calilles was born in Pondi- cherry, India, his father being a French- man and his mother a Hindoo. It is also asserted that he formerly registered as: a French subject in Manila. He is a typi- cal guerrilla leader, cruel, able, reckless and unrelenting. Aguinaldo denou-ces him, disclaiming | responsibility for the previous atrocities of Cailles, and declares that he never | issued orders contrary to the rules of | war. Captain James H. McRae, with Com- panies G and F of the Third Infantry, | recently encountered a force of insur- | gents near Norzagaray, province of Balu- can, killed five of fhem and captured twenty-five rifies. Soon afterward Gen- | eral Morres, with six men, came to Nor- | zagaray and surrendered. ' Later General Morales surrendered. Many more sur- | renders are expected before May 1, when | the limit of the amnesty expires, Commissary Sergeant* John Meston, | charged with complicity in the commis. | sary frauds, wi trial ended April 15, has been sentencWigto dishonorable dis. | charge and to two years' imprisonment. | The sentences of the other sergeants and | clerks similarly implicated will probably be greater. Lieutenant Willlam Patterson of the Coast Artillery, formerly a Philadelphia |lawyer, is to be tried by court-martial for misappropriating the company funds. e Combine of Copper Companies. NEW YORK, April 2.—Kidder, Pea- body & Co. have notified the Boston Ex- change that more than two-thirds of the Boston and Montana Copper stock and the Butte and Boston Copper stock have consented to the consolidation of the two companies with the Amalgamated Copper Company and the brokers have requested that the receipts for the stock turned in (o nt;n be placed on the unlisted depart- ment of the Stock Exchange, \ fice for selections of lands in lieu of tracts | law to establish the fact that the land he se- | as to convert the offer of exchange contained | l l cure the defect and complete gelections in ques- | FRIDAY. APRIL 26, 1901. ADVERTISEMENTS. I (VW NOINR \e/ Spring clothes for little mone Most every man is tired of his winter clothes and wants a riew spring suit of the latest cut. Many men wanting a new suit hesitate because they think they can’t afford it. They are mis- taken. For instance, they can come here and get a good suit for as low as $7.50, and the suit will be all wool, too, and made from late pattern materials; it will fit as it should and wear well. Then we have suits at $10 in cheviots, tweeds and serges, silk sewed and farmer satin lined. Fit anybody from thirty-four to forty-six chest measure. At $15 and $17.50 we are showing a swell line of solid color flannel, ready-to-wear sack suits with a small parallel stripe and the new round-corner cut which are so popular now. The colors are black, blue, gray, brown and olive, with green, red, blue or white stripes. Most all the swell dressers are injulging in these patterns. QOurs are exceptional for the price. - Union-made ~ Every bit of our ready-to-wear clothing is made in our own sanitary workshops by union labor. This insures clean clothes and excellent work- manship, as union labor -always keeps its workmanship up to a high standing. Ours is -the only union-made clothing on this coast. A man should not only wear union- made because of sentiment, but because it is the best. Our sailor sale continues Our sailor sale of last week was so successful that we intend to run it another week to give mothers an opportunity to outfi the boy at this low price. e B The suits are for boys from 3 to 9 years of age and the mate- rials are cheviots in navy b.ue, Venetian blue, brown and red, with embroidered designs on collars and shields; serges in the above colors, with the exception of the brown, with braid trim- mings on collar; cassimeres in neat small checks; the pants are all lined throughout and strongly sewed; price of the suits but - $2.50 Also at the same price 2 line of boys’ two-piece suits in Scotch tweed, heavy-weight mate- rials; good school suits for -boys from 9 to 15 years of age. : Overalls in blue and brown, ages 2 to 17, 25¢ a pair. White lawn blouses, ages 3 to 7, 50¢ each. Linen blouses, ages 3 to 7, 25¢ each. Boys’ straw hats in all colors, 25¢ each. Boys' fedoras in dark and light gray, $1.30 each SNWO00D 5(D et 718 Market Street. Out-of-town orders filled for anything in men’s or boys’ clothes, furnishings or hats. Send in your nam? and address for our new illustrated catalodwe, “Whatto Wear,” which is now beind printed.