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About The Coos Bay times. (Marshfield, Or.) 1906-1957 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 3, 1907)
WwRSRsHNbUJHEGDNJESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1907. RAILROAD LANDS SITUATION Explanation of the $2.50 per Acre Matter now Attract- ng Attention Thru State of Oregon. Tills nrtlclc una published roiiiu weeks ago and tlio Times lias hud so iiiniiy inquiries regarding Jt and culls for evtrn papers thnt It is rc-publlsh. cd for the accoinodntiou of our rend ers. How to force tho Oregon & Call fornla railroad and the Southern Pacific to disgorge their land-grant areas In western Oregon at $2.50 an acre, In accordance with the terms under whlph tho railroad accepted tho landB from the national govern ment, Is a perplexing question, and lawyers have many diverging opin ions as 10 mo solution. Meanwhile seekers of tho land are resorting to tho method nearest within their reach, of seizing the lands and thus forcing the railroad Into the courts to oust them or bringing suit In tho courts themselves to compel the railroad to sell. The lands were granted by tho acts of congress passed In 18GC-70 as a subsidy for aiding construction of lines of railroads from Portland to California and from Portland to Mc.MlnnvIlle, and for guaranteeing construction bonds. Congress gave, Instead of cash bonus a land bonus, which It Intended should bo convert ed into cash, under specified terms. These terms were contained In the following proviso of an act of May 10, 18G7: "Provided further, that the lands granted by the acts afore said shall be sold to actual settlers only, In quantities not greater than one quarter section (1G0 acres) to one purchaser, and for a price not exceeding $2.50 an acre;" and also in section 4 of a congressional act of May 4, 1870, as follows: "And be it further enacted, that the said alternate sections of land granted by this act, excepting only such as are necessary for the company to reserve as depots, stations, side tracks .woodyards standing ground and other needful uses, in operating the road, shall be sold by the com pany only to actual settlers, and at prices not exceeding $2.50 an acre." The railroads accepted these terms, and their acceptance is on record, that the Oregon & California have been filed with the interior de- or wrest tho unsold lands from the grasp of the railroad; or by suit of tho government, under an act of congress ye.' 'o be passed, to restrain the railroads from selling on any other terms than those prescribed by the terms of the original acts and reiterated by the new law. The Oregonlan of recent date Beys In n leading editorial: "The pur pose of congress and of the people pf Oregon, who besought congress iu iiuHs uiu granting acts, has been thwarted many years, by flagrant breach of railroad fnlth. Thn mi of broken pledges and greedy grab of non-resident landlords should end. Oregon aspires to a nobler destiny than striving for the pleasure and profit of those barons. Congress and tho people mapped out a brighter future. Tho blight has lain too long. Repudiating the $2.50 an acre price limit, fixed by congress on sale of lands granted to the Oregon & California Railroad company as bonus for a road from Maryvllle, California to Portland, Oregon, the company claim the right to charge in excess of that figure, whatever they wl3h. The railroad magnates refuse to sell at the $2.50 fixed price, claim fee simple title in the lands to do with as they please, and deny the claim of would-be purchasers that the acts of congress give such persons tho right to acquire any part of the land at any price whatever, unless the possessors are wllllnc to sell. The land now In possession of the Oregon & California Railroad com pany, a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the state of Oregon. Their repudiation of the terms o. the grant has continued many years. Now finally more than 200 hundred resi dents of the Coos Bay region have started suit3 to release the monopoly grip and admit settlers and others desirous of acquiring the land, as the granting acts intended they should, and of developing the coun try. The would-be purchasers are join ing the general movement through out western Oregon for enforcement WANT ADS Kates Cc line first time, 3c lino each succeeding Insertion rii aALih; 2b feet new power fishing boat. Apply Max Timmor-man. WANTED A and neat, atorlum. boy; must be Apply Unlquo polite Pant- WANTED Ton men to clear land on Plat B, by th acre. L. D. Kinney. FOR SALE Portable bake oven and baking utensils. Address "Busi ness" care Tlms, WANTED Girl bookkeeper for gen eral merchandise store. Address box 209, Marshfield, Ore. WANTED An elderly lady to cook for eating club of eight men. Ad dress Box P, North Bend. l- -. . ftcrnersofl uinser to. ' Wholesale liquor dealers Cigara and saloon sup plies. feXfo-iM Wises a Specialty Front St., Marshfield MEATS? Cab Call Service At, Any Hour GOOD HEARSE and VEHICLES. Heisner, Miller & Co. livery, Feed nnd Salo Stablo Third and A Sts. Phone, '1201 WANTED Good farm and dairy nana, wages $40.00 per mo. and beard. E. L. Bessey. Phone 208. WANTED Two hoavy teams to haul piling for Plat B wharf, on con tract or six dollars per day. L. D. Kinney. WANTED Man and wife or widow woman, no objections to child; or good girl for general house work. Apply Mrs. F. Rogers, Coos River. Phone 207. FOR SALE Eight-room house and lot on Mead street, Just north of M. E. church. Price, $1800, cash. J. S. Edmunds, North Bend, or F. L. Sumner, Marshfield, Ore. WANTED Anybody having eood to store call at Taylor's Piano House on Broadway, near C. street. Large warehouse Terms reasonable. just completod Mnrshflcld. MAKSIIFIKM) DETECTIVE AGENCY. W. II. Davis, Manager. :$ Will take up any kind of de tective work entrusted to me by those desiring flrst class work. All correspond ence confidential and prompt ly attended to. My work always satisfactory and terms right. Correspondence so licited. Address all matters to W. II. DAVIS, Marshfield, - - - Oregon. '4J't,t$JlffcJ,4J, $$$ I ' I' ' I I ' I I ' If I ' jar E m BL . - - Have You Tried the Sanitary Meat Market iFORi THEN TRY SOME OF OUR Prime 3-Year-Old Steer Beef Mutton, Veal, Pork and Fresh Sausages L L r In fact any and everything Icept in a first-class, up-to-date SAJTAltY Market Cor. 2d & Front St., Phone 00 partment April 9, 1870, as to the of the original terms of land grants, act or April 10, 18G9, under which Up to thi3 time the possessors of the more than nine-tenths of the granted granted land have managed to ward lands now held by the Oregon & off other attempts to compel them to California and Southern Pacific were i conform to these terms. They have obtained from the government about C, 000, 000 acres. An addition al 500,000 was obtained by the Ore gon Central railroad (West Side), under act of May 4, 1870. Several years later the Oregon Central as signed its rights and claims to the Oregon and California. The lands were received by the two railroads from the national gov ernment, ou condition that they should bo disposed of according to certain specified terms. The rail roads agreed to these terms. The terms virtually put the lands in trust with the railroads as trustees agreed to dispose of them to actual settlers at not more than $2.50 an acre. The national government did not, then, give the railroads fee simple title to the lands, or absolute owner- j been so successful at this that they have grown confident of their ability to repudiate perpetually the original terms of the grants and establish absolute title for themselves. The Coos Bay lands, amounting to a total variously given between 60, 000 and 90,000 acres, were awarded July 25, 1SG9, and the act amende tory thereto. The lands were a sub sidy for construction of a railroad from Marjville, California to Port land, Oregon, In order to open com munication between Portland and San Francisco. The grant consisted of three sec tions of land, or 1,920 acres, for every mile of road, being odd-numbered sections "to the extent of three sections in width on each side of said road." The land was given in lieu of cash WANTED By Mrs. J. A. Goodwill. a few summer boarders; parties wishing a day on South Coos rivor can get dinner. Phono 20x8. Launch Tioga leaves 8:00 a. m. dally. WANTED Man to work by the day manual labor, apply at Going & Harvey Co. ship In them, as the railroad attor- i bonus, and was to be converted into neys now claim. It made the rail-leash, by selling to settlers. The sell roads its agent for disposing of theing price of the granted lands was lands. It could itself have sold the limited by the following proviso In lands and turned the proceeds over 'section 1 of the constitutional act: to the railroads as bonds, but, for j "Provided further, that the grant of obvious reasons allowed the rail roads to take the lands and dispose of them. In trust the government placed the odd-numbered sections twenty miles on each side of the tracts, re taining tho even-numbered sections. The railroad lands were not to be sold for more than $2 50 an acre. And the government declared that the lands retained in the public do main should not be sold less than $2.50 and acre thus making the obvious purpose of keeping up to price of the railroad lands and pro tecting the railroads. The original granting act of July 25, 1SCG under which the Oregon & California ob tained its bonus declared: "And the sections and parts of sections of land which shall remain in the United States, within the limits of the afore said grants, shall not be sold for less than double the minimum price rsi'si nt niiliHn lands when sold." The act of May 4, 1870, under which the Oregon Central (West Side) ob tained its grants, declared that its lands "shall be disposed of only to actual settlers at double the mini mum price for such lands." Tho clear purpose of the acts ot congress was to promote the settle ment of tho country. Congress Want ed to put the lands Into tho hands of the actual settlers. It tried to avoid creating monopoly in the lands. It denied to the railroads the right to dispose ot them tu they chose. It withheld from them the right to collect a price greater than $2.50 an acre thus Imposing on the retained areas the same or similar terms as upon the railroad lands. In fighting the efforts of the would-be settlers to obtain the lands, the Southern Pacific will contend that It holds absolute title, which gave it the right either to sell at -whatever price it wishes or to refuse to eell at all. Railroad attorneys will put up a mass of subterfuge and sophlstrj to defeat the efforts of such persons to obtain lands. The will Insist that an actual settler can be only a per son who resided on the lands at the tlmo that the grant was made, and that such persons have ceased to ex ist since that time. The many applications for rail road land throughout western Ore gon are pursuing a course tnej should have taken years ago. The question will go to the courts for ad judication. It may go there in vari ous ways in suit of the railroad to oust trespassers, In action of would be purchasers to compel the rail roads to sell at $2.50 an acre; in action by the government to compel observance of the terms of the grant lands hereby made, shall be upon the condition that the lands shall be sold to any one person, only In quantities not greater than one quarter section, for a price not ex ceeding $2.50 an acre." Kills Killed In Senate. At the last session of the Oregon legislature bills to confer on any In dividual the right of the state to sue for compliance with the granting acts and to require the circuit court, after due legal process to order con veyance of title to applications for land within ten days, were introduc ed in the senate by Malarkey of Multnomah and in the house by Chase of Coos. The two bills were both slain in the senate by Elijah Smith and allied corporation inter- The Malarkey bill died In the sen ate committee on public lands Sichel Scholfield, Beach and M. A. Miller of Linn. The Chase bill, after nnssincr tho house against but one negative vote, was adversely report ed by the senate committee and In definitely postponed. When congress passed the grant ing act, the country lying between Maryvllle, California and Portland, Oregon, was not settled and contain ed no roads leading either to San Francisco where there was commu nication with the outside world, or to Portland, where there was ocean commerce. A road needed, there fore, through this great Intervening area, In order to open It up for set tlement and to establish communica tion between two important parts of the country. Reason For the Grant. No few settlers could afford to open a road either way, but a large number of them, by contributing a small sum of money each, could raise sufficient funds to do the work. The scheme was devised by having congress withdraw from entry half the lands on each side of the road, designated by odd-numbers.ln a strip three miles wide on each side, this land to be offered for sale In quanti ties of not more than 1G0 acres to one purchaser, and at a price not ex ceeding $2.50 an acre the proceeds to be spent on building the road and thus opening the country. To put this plan Into effect congress passed tho act of 1S69. It will be seen that there was no Intention of allowing all the lands thus set apart to pass into the hands of one person or company. The act set up guards against creation of a land monopoly that has been created. The act of 1869 laid specific Injunc tions on the trustees, which became (Continued on page 4.) FALL AND WINTER HATS Mrs, L. M. Perry will have her fall opening of millinery on Saturday, September 7. All the latest and most up-to-date styles will be found on sale, Prices the very lowest, MRS. L. D. PERRY Sherman Ave, North Bend Steam Dye Works C Street. Lvttfr mlvientB'gAim-nlfri'ljjttn-eil or dyisl. Philip Rwkpr, Propria 01. NEW Just completed in Marshfield for storing your household goods. Best of care guaran teed, for terms call at Taylor's Piano House Broadway For Ranges Building Hardware Window Glass Paints and Oils In fact anything kept in any Hard ware Store, and at prices the lowest, quality considered, see f4 O PIANO STUDIO of LOUIS II. DOZili Will open for the reception of pupils about Sept 8, 1907. Parlor above Taylor's Piano -J- Store. Bank of Oregon Capital Stock fuflr paid op $50,000 Transact a General Banking BuneM North Bend, Oregon Launch Express Will make regular tripi between South Coo river and ManhJlold Leaving the Maie at 7,00 a. in. and Harshfleld at 4:10 p. m. She vlll be open tor charter bet-r 6 a. "a. and 4 p. xa. MASTER vTTATT OOrrLT. PuU tha BELL CORD Wet Your Whistle Then Blow J. R. HERRON, Prop. Front Street, I : MareMbld, Oregon Flanagan & Bennett Bank KARSirnELD, OIUMOK. Uvptval Bubitrtbaa' 9SB.M Capital raid Dp M,CW0 BndlYldcd rroflU JW.eo PeH a riDeml banking itnw ana drawi on tha Baak t California. Ha FtaneHeo Call!., Miet Hatlcaal llaak rarilmd Or., Kint National Bank, Ro&ebtTrg, Or., lUnorex Na tional Bank, .Haw York, X. il. Kotbchlld & Bon, Londao, England. , alio eUahmifeonnearlraU' tha principal dtlea o( Europe. Aoeewan kpt rubjeet to ehk, aaJ depoal lock Vaxea (or rent at 6 ceati a jnontb. or i. a rear. 1 INTERB6T PAID ON TIME DEPOSITS BANK BY MAIL This strong bank with assets of over TWELVE MILLION DOLLJUlSsoUdtt your account. We pay 4$ interest on Savings Accounts. Send for our booklet on Banking by Mall it will interest you and show you how to make more money. CALIFORNIA SAFE DEPOSIT AND TRUST COMPANY California and Montgomery Sts. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA Front St. Marshfield SAVING MONEY is MAKING MONEY BUY YOUR PAINTS and WALLPAPER of the BAYSIDE PAINT CO. . . . AND SAVE MONEY . . . Paints for everything. Goods delivered anywhere on the Bay. for samples and prices Send Bayside Paint Co., North Bend WHOLESALE and RETAIL I Coos Bay 1 I Steam Laundry I I -OF-- I MARSHFIELD and NORTH BEND All work now clone at ths North Bend Plant Edgar Mauzey Agent, Marshfield North Bend Phone 1031 Marshfield Phone 180 TRY CORTHELL'S DELICATESSEN 2nd and C Streets Phope 561 For good things to cut. Speclnl va riety in ICE CREAM, Roiton IJuUcd Means nnd ltrowu Ilrcad, Rolled Ham, Veul Pot Pie. A variety in CnkcH and Pies. WILSON & THOMAS Contractors and Builders Ofiloo fixtures a specialty. Store Fronte, Counters, Shelving. Let us work out your plans. See ub be fore building. Shop opposite Beat's Livery Stable, North Front Street CONTAINS NO HARMFUL DRUGS Cure3 Coughs, Colds, Croup, La Grippe, Asthma, Throat The Genuine is in tho and Lung Troubles. Prevents Pneumonia and Consumption yellow packaob EIS lil 1 m 1 il M jfofrMAj.'t JV-jfa&iiftfcJfniiil . f5 & " . fi'i T-ra rte kMS