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Show PUBLIC LANDS "'QUESTION. One in Which Interests of tho People Have Been Safeguarded Re- ' clamation Extensions, j WHTE have at last rchcheO. a point fffj whore the public wealth of farm y y land which has seemed so Inox-haustiblo Inox-haustiblo is nearly gone, nnH tho problem of utilizing the remainder for tho building of new homes has become of vital, importance. Tho present administration has dealt with thin problem vigorously and effectively. effec-tively. Great areas had been unlawfully fenced In by men of large means, and tbo homo-bullder had been excluded. Many of these unlawful aggressors have been compelled com-pelled to relinquish their booty, and moro than 2.000.000 acres of land havo been ro-atorod ro-atorod to tho public. Extensive frauds In procuring grants of land, not for homesteads home-steads but for speculation, have been Investigated In-vestigated and stopped, nnd tho perpetrators perpe-trators have been indicted nnd are being actively prosecuted. A competent commission com-mission has vpeen constituted, to oxamlne Into, tho defective working of the .lotlqg laws and to suggest practical legislation o prevent further abuse That commission commis-sion has reported, and bills adequate to i accomplish the purpose havo been framed and are before Congress. The further denudation de-nudation of forest areus, producing alternate alter-nate floods and dryness In our river valleys, val-leys, has been checked by tho extension of forest reserves, which have been brought to aggregato more than C3.OW.000 ncres of land. The reclamation by Irrigation Irriga-tion of the vast arid regions forming the chief part of our remaining public domain, has boon provided for by tho national reclamation law of June 17, 1S0I. The execution exe-cution of this law. without taxation and by the application of tho proceeds of public pub-lic land sales alone, through the construction con-struction of storage reservoirs for water, will make many millions of acres of for-tlle for-tlle landH avallnblo for settlement. Ovor $20,000,000 from the.so sources have bcen 'al-readv 'al-readv received to tho credit of tho recla mation fund. Over 33,000.000 acres of public pub-lic lands In foitrteon States and Territories Terri-tories havo been embraced In the ulxty-ccvon ulxty-ccvon projecta which havo been dovlsed nnd aro under examination, and on eight of these tho work of actual construction has begun. |