Show ALIENS AND PUBLIC LADS The bill which the Houe committee on public lands has prepared to prevent foreigners from owning real estate in the Territories of the United States Is one of the most important in its relation rela-tion to the general welfare of the Republic Re-public of all the measures which have been proposed during tbe session It declares that no alien nor fdreigncr who has not declared his Intention to become a citizen nor any corporation onetenth of whose capital stock is owned or controlled by aliens shall have tho right to acquire any real estate es-tate in any ol the Territories of the United States The purpose of the bill Is obvious and nobody can say it is not a wise one The theory upon which our land laws are based is that American Ameri-can soil should be owned by American citizens The laws were nude liberal in order that poor people might acquire homes and the means of earning living at a nominal cost the correct idea being I that a man who has a home and stake in the country is a source of wealth and strength to the nation Unfortunately Unfortun-ately the laws have not been administered ad-ministered in the spirit of their enactment enact-ment and quite as much of the public land has cone into the hands of speculators and persons for whom the nations generosity was never intended I as has fallen to bona fide settlers The scramble has been so mad and the something general tbatcomparatively little of the desirable public domain is left and at the rate it is being disposed of the present generation will see all the land that Is worth homesteading owned by private parties then statesmen states-men will have to grasp the problem of how to provide homes for the poor Vast areas are now owned foreigners whose only interest in the country is i their rent rolls or the returns from their cattle ranches The public lands committees bill will put a stop to aliens acquiring title to the soil and the other bills now pending for restoring to the public domain the unearned subsidy i sub-sidy grants should provide land for homes for thousands of poor families The committee accompanies its bill with a long report In which the policy of the government in regard to the disposal dis-posal of the public lands Is fully set forth and the reckless manner h in which the soil has been gotten rid of severely denounced The committee closes Its report with the following summary of the work performed during the present session The committee has devoted its best efforts ind most earnest endeavors to perfect and present to the House for its consideration and action such measures as In its judg meat woutctIeJa1m snob lands as had been improvidently granted to corporations corpor-ations and to which they are not entitled also for the repeal of such laws as rendered possible the improper acquisition of great areas of land from the government andto preserve what It had and should reclaim of the public lands as a reserve toy be drawn upon by the actual settler without cost in homesteads We do this because we believe that not only the fostering d the home sentiment and individual prosperity would result but in addition addi-tion because we believe there is no greater safeguard against publicdis order tumults and riots than a generally distributed ownership of lands and homes |