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Show COAL LAND DECISION FAVORS M'CORNICK Franklin K. Lane, secretary of the interior, has rendered a decision in the coal land filing of W. S. McCornick that will reverse numerous other decisions made by general land office officials, necessitate large refunds by the general land office in similar cases and make unnecessary hereafter payment for prices for coal lands higher than those named in the classification under which filings are made. The decision is considered con-sidered one of the most important of recent date regarding mineral lands and came only on appeal from the local land office to the general land office and finally to the secretary of the interior. Mr. McCornick filed in 1911 on 160 acres of coal land in Emery county. Under the classification at the time of the filing the land was valued at $25 per acre. At the time of final proof the lands had been reclassified and the local land office refused to issue patent for the payment of $25 per acre, the new classification calling for between $117 and $135 per acre. In his decision the secretary of the interior held that Mr. McCornick accepted the offer of the United States to sell the land at $25, and that the ; government would be breaking its contract if it refused to sell the land at that price, providing the purchaser complied with the regulations of the department in making his final proof. In the decision the secretary recalled "all previous decisions that are in enflict herewith," making the decision de-cision retroactive and making necessary the refund of large amounts in like purchases, pur-chases, but in which the higher values named in new clasfifications had been paid for patent. At the time of submitting final proof, Mr. McCornick paid $4000, the entire amount of the purchase price stipulated in the original classification. This a-mount a-mount was accepted by the land office officials, and held by them, awaiting the decision of the secretary of the interior, as part payment for the land under the new classification. Salt Lake Tribune. |