Joseph Rucker Lamar

“ Emergencies may occur, or conditions may so change as to require that the agent in charge should, in the public interest, withhold the land from sale; and while no such express authority has been granted, there is nothing in the nature of the power exercised which prevents Congress from granting it by implication just as could be done by any other owner of property under similar conditions. The power of the Executive, as agent in charge, to retain that property from sale, need not necessarily be expressed in writing. ”

“ Both officers, lawmakers, and citizens naturally adjust themselves to any long-continued action of the Executive Department, on the presumption that unauthorized acts would not have been allowed to be so often repeated as to crystallize into a regular practice. That presumption is not reasoning in a circle, but the basis of a wise and quieting rule that, in determining the meaning of a statute or the existence of a power, weight shall be given to the usage itself,-even when the validity of the practice is the subject of investigation. ”

“ As the explorations by the original claimants, and the subsequent operation of the well, were both long after the date of the President's proclamation, the government filed, in the district court of the United States for the district of Wyoming, a bill in equity against the Midwest Oil Company and the other appellees, seeking to recover the land and to obtain an accounting for 50,000 barrels of oil alleged to have been illegally extracted. ”

“ All public lands containing petroleum or other mineral oils, and chiefly valuable therefor, have been declared by Congress to be 'free and open to occupation, exploration, and purchase by citizens of the United States . ”

“ For it must be borne in mind that Congress not only has a legislative power over the public domain, but it also exercises the powers of the proprietor therein. Congress 'may deal with such lands precisely as an ordinary individual may deal with farming property. ”

“ Some were made to prevent settlements while the question was being considered as to whether the lands might not be included in a forest reservation to be thereafter established. One in 1889 (referred to also in 28 Land Dec. 358) was made in order to afford the state of Nebraska an opportunity to procure legislative relief, as in the Iowa cases above cited.
This report refers to withdrawals, and not to reservations. It is most important in connection with the present inquiry as to whether Congress knew of the practice to make temporary withdrawals and knowingly assented thereto. ”

“ Thereupon the government took the case to the circuit court of appeals of the eighth circuit, which rendered no decision, but certified certain questions to this court, where an order was subsequently passed, directing the entire record to be sent up for consideration. ”

“ The majority, after a review of the practice of the Department, the acquiescence of Congress in the practice, and the decisions of the courts, reported that the President already had a general power of withdrawal, and recommended the passage of the pending bill, inasmuch as it operated to restrict the greater power already possessed. Sen. ”

“ Gen. 370) that the validity of such orders rested on 'a long-established and long-recognized power in the President to withhold from sale or settlement at discretion, portions of the public domain.' Another reported that 'the power of the President was recognized by Congress, and that such recognition was equivalent to a grant' (17 Ops. Atty. Gen. 163) (1881) . ”