Show c i I Uncle Sam Ls Larid nd Broker e in n Government I Grant Gnaw I to Be Ben Clicked J 11 I till the Unit U I 1 Mates went ent into SL Sll S I public laii lai l 1 l s this gov CO n nt has haa n ct for fot or sale ute and lid lisp I nearly arly ai y ri 1100 00 acres acre of land lard lardon landon on n 1 i f of Alaska Alaa Ala dl t r public ti il nun re from he the in rI r n boundary of or Ohio to puget tout jui and uni from F PI Irla la to California B Ling mg ng with th the he seacoast t a coast Of unde fine i It the States Stat has ap pro d a I bough MuSh na nd woo HOB OD by treaty treat I this thia i t i territory The I i fc ll ider Ir r sti t and an Texas Texa were ere erello lo llo i t retain jurisdiction u is h tion the OO f ya B t i i him hin their i lea rles i ri I n ru in n i r th H n ac ae acres t s are arenow tow now ride i ile in st t and the ther M i About ter Lr ia I ui till tr to U the t h present time tim been beena a x oU 14 11 ov o K f n away awa v vA Asa A U a i md Ind th government has hall played tn t ii r part With i i IllY y For til last two e us 1111 the amount of land ait aU anted frt m public ownership l has as beet beer i j ted even exceed exceeding exceeding ing the jear Pars of the great rush of t tO iw O kr k 1 r in the k when the agri ul 1 nral 1 migration of or the world was all aU to the 1 States At Atlie Atthe the lie rate o 0 o acres ures each year ear the choicest land laad is being taken from the government under one plea or an another another other otUr and it ts is i not difficult to set Ht a time when rhea the thousands th u D a of eket win 10 be he forced bask back b upon the area now included lac within y private ownership owners tp lp and i the public domain will no longer lodger Io r x c Ct tend t Its ita marvellous welcome of the pa pat past patto t tto to Ute the cabin o Wa builders of the American people The TIle United States acquired the pub public l lie Ito lands lama by br occupation cession celon and purchase M acre were w acquired acq by and Dd about aMet 0 by purchase The acres acre which have been at the disposal dl of the tb government have cost oot directly in ac ae actual toe cash cub about TIle The present vacant lands now JIOW amounting to about acres represent t a net Det actual cost t of about tat Cost of oe tb t the Land Th The government has hu paid about JO td torts seats an a acre for tor all the html It owns the original cost cost coat t of 1 and aDd the cost coet of or km lon The TIle average price received for forbe be he land laad told sold has bee teen been een about 40 cents centa a n acre sore or 01 double what wa was paid for fort forI t I If It the government receives receive rec the ante ame price In the future as it has baa in 0 he be put peat th tIN tile receipt from public land JaM ales alee will Milt 1 the tha account TO so far fM an as the hooks books of the land office are con concerned concerned More Mot than acres have hae been given gien away In the form fonn of bounties and for foi military ry service ce More than OW oot acres have bave already al been donated to the states Nearly Hearty acres haw har passed to Individuals under ander the notorious I one ous swamp law 1 under t which by bT means m mEant an of perjury and ml r vain valuable I able agricultural land has ham been besa stolen I in enormous tracts 1 More Mora than tbt acres aunes have bATe been I given swag awa for tor l par osea some of o this t lend land Baa d its pur purpose purpose pose but t from tra very ery tittle little of or It ft havethe have havethe the schools to If tf wa wu l re received the full ull benefit The states re I this land have haye issued ts scrip sold soM it to lo Individuals individual at low 10 prices and the scrip hat has na been used to locate property to far greater value than is 18 represent represented ed la In I the money received by the college or school ool fund Given to Railroads Millions of acres acree have ve gone cone under the land laws law to wagon roads road in salt matt It claims and aDd under the timber and ft tone one acts all ill of Which bleh give ve the right of location To tto the tile railroads or oP OJ country c has ba donated d during dur during ing the Ute past fifty years more acres of land nearly all aJI of Qt which is of the th character e OC Or the vast amount of money paid by ute the government fide tor f r Its lu great t public estate nearly nl arly half balf or about baa bu been paid to the Indians for tor quit quitclaim claim cia 4 deeds to territory err under rode their control contra Another has hu been paid to J states state and 04 foreign countries for forland forland land 18 n To T survey d Y this land tend and a d pay the expenses e of the land office oMee from the I I b to the tha present pr t day y has coet tM when hen the States State government first lIt went ent into the land business the only oaly idea Nea wie prevailed was to sell the public domain In any quantity to at such price prk any one ne who wile might apply i as could be realized realised This system practically practically I prevailed until 1841 when the I II I preemption law was passed This Thle Is to the first law which recognized t acres of land as being the ideal size I tor for a farm or homestead It was not possible Ible however to obtain enough land under this law 1 w to tt carry earry out the purposes of those desiring to create 1 large holdings so in 1862 congress congre J passed paNed the homestead law but still leaving the preemption la law in effect Homestead Home tead Law Provisions Th The homestead law came ame nearer to representing the ideas of those who be believed belle lle JIe ed that the public land hind should be beYeA given YeA to the people ople It required five years residence re and evidence of good intention In hi the matter of cultivation before the title passed from the gov goy government to the settler The Th land hind schem chem schemers ers however soon became dissatisfied with this and had the law amended so III sot that after fter six lx months residence the settler could obtain title by paying payin HUB LS HUBan Si 6 an acre for the land instead of getting it free tree if It he lived on it for tor five years Ii The Umber timber culture law was passed paned in n 1873 and d this his gave ae the settler the op opportunity o opportunity I of acquiring another 16 by planting a certain number of trees tree I Theoretically the law lath was u correct in to principle 1 but in iq 11 practice the Oae conditions I were wert almost impossible especially on I It the t semiarid plain of the west whet where I Ite few fen te kinds Kindt of timber flourish i Still th tM the land grabbers grab were not sat liat satisfied A big ranch company in Call Cali California fornia tornia found it necessary to secure title to about acres of land which it 1 to use for pasturage so this t company agitated the enactment of d 0 a desert eert law Ian la which enabled it to secure title to the land ostensibly at least by bJ furnishing furbishing that land with an artificial water aCer supply This scheme worked so 50 successfully that the demand for such sucha a desert law became general and in vim congress passed what Is 18 known knows as U the desert land act This law still sUII stands and provides that any man can cant an t up 60 acres of land and secure title tHIe thereto by creating an artificial water supply sufficient for irrigation within three years ears from the date of the original filing Alarm in Congress Congress became alarmed in 1891 at atthe atthe the tM inroads which were being made nude upOn the public domain not by home seekers Heker but by great corporations corporation and ud i land who were Weft constantly adding addingto to their domains by b dishonest use Ulle of the various land privileges privileges privileges leges which were theoretically intend intended ed only OBly to be exercised by of the United States seeking a permanent home for Jar themselves and their families Strenuous Str efforts were made to chef ch r rth these th est wholesale land frauds for under the laws lawt as they then stood a a citizen I could secure 1120 acres of land at comparatively oat com small mall coat cost to himself and ad v without complying with the purpose of or I the whole scheme that of residence and cultivation Agitation over this matter resulted d din I in the repeal of the preemption and gad timber culture laws on March 3 1891 I Under the Homestead Law From the passage pa ap of the homestead law in 10 1862 1812 to the end of the last fiscal cal year in the land office oboe there have been about 1000 homestead filings covering cov covering ering about acres of land Up to the present pre ent time Ime there have been patents Issued covering more that tUt acres Congress H amended the homestead law lawis te tA til the same tame manner a as the timber cul cui culture ture law was amended thus tau allowing the homesteader after he be had bad lived six sixt t on the land to pay 1311 an acre I told aad receive Ive title This ThIa is called cal a com 1 ed eel homestead home wad and is looked upon 1 those most familiar with the work nig of the land laws lawe as a 1 most vicious l feature of ot land legislation It is an Interesting and rather curious tart fact to note Mote that the average number of patents to settlers upon homesteads hOll teada hold bold good through a long lone term terns of years yeara For the la last t twenty years about titles have hae been it is I issued sued Qed each year Our by the government t to homestead settlers Public Land Laud Still Left Ift There are now left in the hands lands of I Itile tile the government nearly acres acre I Il Of land laDd This can be roughly divided into l h to acres of grazing land 1 acres of forest 0 acres aTS I of wood land other than forest I II I GO acres of desert sad and acres I which can be irrigated and thus made I productive t I 1 very secretary of the Interior In for years has ail urged ur d the repeal of ot aB aU land laws except the one by which a man matt can secure title to 0 land tand by live years residence upon the same Secretary Teller said ald in 1873 Not an acre should ho uld be sold gold for cash ca t or scrip The schemes s proposed by which the public domain d is I to t be ceded to the va various varIo rious rIo states s t are pre simply the plan of the Jaa gra to secure what Is left of I the tb public domain by one grand grI coup of piecemeal as all is now done i The lie purpose Urpo e and intention of the goy gov government i from its foundation has been I to retain control of its own estate re regardless re regardless of state lines lies The supreme reme court coast recognizing this this purpose hat has held beki that Do no state formed out of the territory of the United d States has a aright aright right to the public lands within its lim Um limita limits ita its ar can exercise any power whatsoever whatsoever whatsoever ever over them than Tying to Stop Legislation Fortunately Fort congress within the last I few years yn has adopted this view with considerable emphasis and the energies I of those e who desire to secure the tile public land for tor purposes es other than home homemaking I waking making ng have been transferred to the effort eft rt to prevent such sueh legislation as would check then their operations and to se secure secure cure eure new legislation such as the pro proposed ro rop posed p ed long time lease whereby their position as enemies of the and settler would be made stronger The land still sun remaining the property of the United State Sta lies Ilea almost entirely I immediately east t of the Rocky moun mountains mountains mountains and aDd m In the UH arid and region There Their The t I still BUll some ue government m nt land in the tru southern stat states but hut this bI is swampy or of such character as to make it value valueless valueless II less even en to secure title upon the tb easy terms terme ered rite The land which is III e and which is III available for settlement without Irrigation Irrigation Irrigation tion is IB that high up in the val valleys valleys I leys which start along the foothills of the mountains where the Ute snow lies I deep in the winter and aM more rain ram falls in the summer shimmer than upon the plains be below i low While Mt f fe apparently ap leJ 7 tide T nt public pubU domain is open to the settler there are very few acres acre no DO matter how fertile I or how bow well watered upon which he i can cah go 10 at the present day and remain aln I in undisturbed pos on These va vacant vacant I cant lands have haft t l en parceled out 1 among those thOM already on VA the tile ground and andare andare I are used as ranges ranee ra for fop stock originating I a at t the home ranches Vast areas of this government land are art therefore I practically ra t appropriated ed so eo much muc h so to tt the homesteader who stakes his all aU I upon lna himself within its boundaries The range raae interests Interest however are still tm all powerful in Washington on Several senators and representatives es from states where the range i t rests still dominate are prominent in the be councils of ot the Republican party part and aDd by their very prominence pro Dee as wen well as numbers numb rt are able to prevent any radical legisla legislation le legislation tion snob BUell ae to Is te recommended by the In Interior InterIor tenor department d t gad and JId even tWe by the pres pree president ident of the United States State Sef Ih X Senator Teller Tener was once secretary of the interior This was years yea ago 0 and aad he M them t a It one of or his hie annual reports porta re pure gave Te utterance to a truth which w is III today t as It ItI I was u then It wa a 5 to the tile effect t that it is Ie a common comme 1 to suppose that I the who wM lived ltv the lands land a knew best beat how they should be handled from fro a legislative point of view The then tIleD secretary went on to explain that Ute the th eastern ea members of t congress had allowed Jr wel the western men mento mento mento to frame the laws we for the disposal of the public land and in hi so 80 doing had bad afforded an opportunity for selfish and venal interests to accomplish pIA their ends At the rate that the public lands Ja ds are now being disposed of there will not be an all available location for tor a 1 homesteader within leas than three years unless ft it might be some nook or cranny between the tile foothills which the adventurous livestock man has overlooked or has b hoped to hold with without without out plastering a government claim up upon upon upon on it This condition was recognized recognised by congress in bt the th national Irrigation bill which was enacted into law two years ago for tor that measure me is practically practically practically cally an amended homestead law and so 80 far as 8 is possible the land to be irrigated lITigated is safeguarded from nom speculative ral raid Canada Cana a Rejects Our Laws t an da only enacted her public land j 4 j laws la Hi within the last four years She he I sent a commission to the United States I to study the operation of our mir 11 low 18 That comm on i r je ted absolutes y I everything thing upon our statute books except ex except x the homestead law and when it itis Itis is recorded record that Americans en entered entered entered the Canadian northwest last lat year j I Ito to settle ettle upon government land it means mea that these persona penone went at I there to live permanently upon 1 i acre aCTe farms farm to which they could i not set get et title tit with le less s than three thre years actual I residence These There public lands belong to the people as a whole They are the sons sona of the people of the east who have bae in inthe inthe inthe the past found round homes upon them Thai That avenue of o escape cape from the crow aed I 1 rone condition i |