Show EN 0 cg an 0 P I 1 t Fe lerall con commission mission to in III vesti gate cases te OPS POWER TO DISMISS OR TO PROSECUTE 1 indictments of a criminal nature I 1 pending in utah atay be wiped from the slate which means ieans much towards ahe further development I 1 of carbon county SALT LAKE CITY july 14 this mo mornings herald says that a federal investigation into the criminal proceedings ce grou growing ing out sif land mat tem that is expected to clear the controversy between the statland state and me federal government concerning the disposition ot public lands will begin this week A co coTi missIon composed of district attorney booth george A hair united spates land agent it st salt lake and a representative of the department of justice probably captain harris who is is in ut lake at ercse present en t will go overall over all pending cases caes growing out of land disputes the indu into the salt lake cases will be a it that will be followed in other parts of the country and will determine what other investigations shall be made by the government the commission will take up all cases ewes now pending and report whether they should be dismissed as of no importance prose prosecute cuto or be sub acted med to further inal investigation ta a course it is expected will serve to clear the dockets of the district attorneys here and elsewhere chere here dmd prosecutions have been started ud nd will go a long way toward ending the dispute between the different ring states and the gov government emment word that the investigation had aen een ordered was received in salt lake saturday from I 1 district attorney booth who will be one of the commission said that he had received no formal instructions from washington to take up the invests investigation 1 gat on but added that he such word would be received at once captain hams ho it is s thought ht will le ie present the tomey general in n the investigation e of the tho is in salt lake conduct ing 1 an investigation of the tice of the clerk of the federal court coarl this 4 U the annual investigation of the office the representative of the aeral 1 land office will be george A hair ian land d agent here or on 0 of f his POI si stants the M in ini esti estimation gation ordered is a di ctet t result of the writ to utah of sel secretary detary 0 the interior interi ir garneld garfield and was fully forecasted in the her ifer a at that time after this visit tal te government determined upon in ar immediate Ini mediate policy which would do d ach ich to relieve the situation al though other states bue had their land jd troubles utah was considered w h best state in which to carry on in investigation whish wh will be uati 23 a 4 cri criterion terian for the other districts to follow the ile coming investigation will it 4 e expected pecked Pec ted result I 1 in an tin amicable of the disputes A die dis has been shown by the gov oi nent us announced in itt the ilerd ad on june to quash the in da Inie tiLa which were voted against 5 tell prominent utah citizens c axing conspiracy in purchasing known coal lands as agi agricultural land the second move will ni ll 11 be to drop the civil suits to secure ahe return of the coal lands and in addition to this all selection of lands b 1 e state where I 1 ft t is proved that it was not known that they were coal lands will be confirmed that this policy is likely of adoption is shown by th fact that the commission will have the power to make mak three ethree recommendations after their investigation ahr firer will bt b to report that tho the case should be dismissed as of no importance second whether it should be pro prosecuted eluted or not and third as to whether investigation vesti vest gation shall be made as to what final disposition shall be made maide of it the federal court in this district row has before it a large number of cases both criminal and ci civil va 1 r row ow iny out of the coal lands dispute the action brought by the government was based upon the assumption that lands bought from the staff were known to be coal hinds lands and be re turied ti tt the government the defame of the state and of the individual int interested crested was that the land was not known to be co coal al land as it shou showed ed no surface indications of it at the time of purchase and that the govern government men should confirm the sale aale the vj viat t of secretary garneld garfield to utah resulted in conferences between it A ballinger Cal linger commissioner of the general land office and prominent utah citizens and it was antio announced later that Garri farrield eld had down an inclination to take the view adap adopted ted by the state in n the matter the position lion of the government which w aill probably be earned out by the cammi sion Slon seem ed d to be that where here the lands landi were ere lough in ill good faith and later pro enned ed to be coal lands that no ac would oud I 1 be taken this policy ill tha commission to carefully investigate each use now before the courts and becom iced that thal all that come under this classification be dismissed although the present commission will interest itself mainly with tho the criminal cases now pending it is thought as an immediate result tho the government land office at 1 washing ton will soon take action con cemin cernin the application of citizens tc te the state land board tor for the purchase of land under selections tiona from the government for the past two years these applications have been held up by the government but it is said tha that the department 0 of f the in interior has indicated that it will take up ap theao these applications at once just when nhen the commission will start its work booth could not say yesterday captain harris has about completed his work in iri the clerks office and it is expected that ho h will confer with booth and hair and be ready to take up the land matter 4 week A week weeks time will be necca sac to go over all cases for this district |