Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 4.djvu/203

Rh false, and I shall now briefly review those among them which can pretend to any importance.

On page 244 you say:

Another advantage gained by the railroads had its origin in an opinion given by Attorney-General Black in 1857, when the railroad companies were anxious to obtain certified lists of their lands before they had been earned. Mr. Black held that these lists were simply in the nature of information from the records of the Department, and that he could see no objection to issuing them to any person who desired to make a proper use of them, just as any other information would be furnished from the records; and that they could have no influence on the title to the lands. Under this opinion the Department issued the certified lists as requested; but in May, 1880, the Secretary of the Interior decided that when any of his predecessors have certified lands under railroad grants, their acts are final and conclusive, and binding upon him as their successor. He further held that a complete legal title was conveyed by such certified lists, and that the latter were in all respects equivalent to patents.

This can have but one meaning, and it has been so understood by all the newspapers which have commented upon it—that certified lists of lands, issued without the lands having been earned by the railroad companies, merely in the nature of information, without any intention of conveying title thereby, were decided by me, as Secretary of the Interior, to have conveyed to the railroad companies complete legal title to the lands so listed.

You cannot but know that this is false. The only decision I can find to which your statement can possibly refer is the one in the case of Charles Brown vs. the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, rendered by me May 4, 1880. The merits of the case had already been passed upon by my predecessor, Secretary Zachariah