Show FOILS FOILS- THE LAND THIEVES TilE YES SECRETARY HITCHCOCK'S r. r LZ- LZ PURSUIT OF LANDS LAND S GRABBING THIEVES TH Was Earliest and Strongest Ad of Government Irrigation tion Work of His Department HI Highly hl Successful By Richard H. H Byrd It is rumored that among probate r Cabinet changes Secretary Hitchcock is to shortly retire from the InterIor Department of which he has been th the head hend since the second McKinley l ad ad- ministration It will be recalled that tha more or or less definite statements as t to Mr Ir Hitchcock's retirement and hi his probable successors have ha been of very frequent and regular occurrence buthe but bu the reason reason therefore is probably no not hard lIard to find Mr Ir Hitchcock has made madea a very great Secretary of the Interior He has torn to pieces a vast fabric constructed to st steal al not acres but bu square miles of th the public lands to grab from the gov government great tracts worth millions of dollars The land grabbers have been men In high po po- they have employed perjury bribery and forgery to say nothing o of more forceful crimes to defraud their country Their ring was backed by wealthy and influential men and in in- eluded members of the legislatures United States Commissioners special land agents notaries etc The trail even led to the head of the General Land Office Into the 01 of Representatives and into the United I States Senate The loose land laws ol ot the country made their task possible It if not easy Crime In HI High h Places Secretary Hitchcock shortly after he became a member of ot the Cabinet had his attention called to evident frauds In the acquirement of government land lIe He set to work a qui quiet t gatlon gation It finally culminated In the Indictment men of ot great numbers of or people anu In m me tue recent conviction o or a United States Senator and nd a Member of Congress Perhaps though the thc culmination cut cul Is not yet No Xo man knows where tho te trail troll may lEn lead 1 next or how now much evidence Mr Ir has an ana anaIs anaIs Is lip up S It Is stated to have nave been n n. Rood good de deal v off r ni surprise to the tho wi wiseacres B La u h th Secretary the of-the Interior has macl po good d In Jn his land fraud prosecutions It waS waS' never supposed last winter that the government could ever secure a of any Congressman or Senator In Oregon It was announced that the Secretary had been Illy my advised advised ad- ad and had gotten himself Into adeep adeep a n deep hole the outcome of ot which would be disastrous to himself Tried to Have Him Removed The Secretary rem remarked on several several occasions that the land frauds were astounding In their ma magnitude but that he proposed to stop them He was laughed at but Just the same some of the land grabbers began to get a little nervous and th the newspaper rumors began to the effect that Secretary Secretary Sec See Hitchcock would is probably re sign sign sign-In in the course of twp or or three months after he had f finished with certain certain tam tain Investigations being made at that time But the investigations have never been finished Before Defore one batch of frauds has hns been disposed of another sensation has been sprung In some other state so that there has never ne been a time when a change In Inthe Inthe inthe the Interior Department would not have hate been balled haIled as a victory for theland the theland theland land grabbers The Secretary's Si rugged honesty and able determination to weed out the despoilers and the grafters who are looting the agricultural and timber lands of the tho west haye have called forth many high from thoughtful people who have followed his course No public official has taken more literally to heart the strong expressions against public land grabbing of the President In his annual annual an an- nual message to Congress Believes Irrigation Great Question Closely connected with the tile land question in the west Is the irrigation question and since he be first c came me into office Secretary Hitchcock has been an ardent friend of national irrigation His annual reports even under J I S 'S dent McKInley's administration were as strong recommendations of this poly poll pol- pol l y y its liS s have ever er been written lIe He called attention to the fact that a vast j was vas allowed annually to waste wasteS Itself throughout the West that a wa- wa er supply was uselessly running to the sea a which would Irrigate 70 iO million acres of the most fertile desert land In Inthe inthe the world and he called culled attention to the fact that an irrigated west was capable of supporting the entire present present pres pres- ent eat population of the United States It was not not- In keeping with the spirit of the times that this great opportunity opportunity opportunity for home building should be bo neglected ne new ne- ne by the nation Then when Colonel Roosevelt became became became be be- came President the irrigation bill was passed and the administration of the la law w was entrusted to the Interior De De- Mr Ir Hitchcock was read ready The Geological Survey Surrey a bureau of hIs bis had been making ex ex- surveys and in reality getting ready for such a law so that work was immediately commenced and instead instead in stead of eight or ten years of I II h I h. h G s S' S 1 5 l l i t RON HON ETHAN ALLEN HITCHCOCK S Secretary of ot tho the Interior 5 tion and and surveys such as has bas been the history In Inthe the great Irrigation works o ot of every very every r oth-r country there are to day lu tn coin no o ot 1 construction n n. dozen huge projects project I and last h. h M hI ne- ne ut t Of Of Import on t I Z 1 I Secretary Hitchcock's ll c vigorous o work 5 in itt saving the public domain for home bome r seekers and in bringing Into cal pi cal operation a poIl policy y for tor the tIle absolute creation out of ot a desert nothing nothing- of ot thousands and eventually millions of ot r prosperous American homes Jomes Is Js In f reality the tho greatest work of ot the generation gener gener- I The actual benefit of ot this great internal development and improvement f fot ot of f the th-e nations nation's property far tar surpasses f the ie work of ot any other department of ot ofle the le government S C Tile The following oun fol is the fire last portion report 01 the tIle Presidents President's nt's Public Lands Commission two Iwo whose c Hitchcock f whose J members are fJ employed roads land under Secretary S. accord J with willi their chiefs c S' S Grazin Grazing Lands The great bulk of the vacant public publio lands ands throughout the West are unsuitable J for cultivation under the present known conditions of agriculture and so located r. r that lat they can not be reclaimed by tion They are and probably always must be be e of chief value for tor grazing There are are It is estimated more than acres of f public grazing land an area approximately approximately equal to one-fifth one the extent of the United States proper The exact limits can an not be set for with seasonal changes large arge areas of land which afford good grazIng razing one year are almost desert In an- an other her There are also vast tracts of wooded wood wood- ed d or timbered land In which grazing has much Importance and until a further classIfication of ot the public lands Is made madet It t will be impossible to Rive with exact- exact I ness ess the total acreage The extent is so vast ast and the commercial Interests Involved involved In- In so great as to demand in the highest highest high high- est st degree the wise and conservative hanIng handling han han- dung Ing- Ing of these vast resources 5 It Is a matter of ot the first Importance to know enow whether these grazing lands are beIng beng be be- Ing ng used in the best way possible for the continued development of the country or whether nether r rw they h are fied being abused Ys under e a system w which Is detrimental e to s such de de- de m t and d by which the o only present tt e value alue of t the l land Is being rapidly dc- dc royed At present the vacant public lands are theoretically open commons free tree to all citizens but as a mater of ot fact tact a large proportion have been parceled out by more morer or r less definite compacts or agreements among mong the various Interests These tacit agreements are continually being violated The he and cattlemen are In frequent fre- fre quent collision because of Incursions upon each o others other's r domain Land which for II years ears s has been e regarded as e exclusively IV S fi large cattle attle arge e bands range aa of oT may sheep he be infringed forced by uJ upon drought O gm by to o migrate Violence and homicide fre fre- follow l after e which n new adjustments adjust adjust- deai ai lt dJ sn meats ments are made made de and r matters s quiet e down downor for tor or a time There are localities where the ie people a are utilizing t to their own satisfaction satis- satis tro ea faction action the e open range and their demand d dIs Is to be let alone so that they may parcel out ut among themselves the use of the lands ands but an agreement made to-day to may maye be e broken to-morrow to by changing condl- condl ons of shifting interests S The general lack of ot control In the use of public grazing lands has resulted naturally naturally natu- natu rally ally and inevitably in overgrazing and the he ruin of millions of acres of otherwise valuable grazing territory Lands useful for tor or grazing are arc losing their only capacity for or productiveness as of course they ey S g it sf f must when no legal i c control t 1 Is exercised ls It Is not yet too late to restore the value of f many of the open ranges Lands apparently ap- ap r denuded n do of vegetation frion have r im proved roved In condition and productiveness upon upon pon coming under any system of ot control which affords a means of preventing over stocking and d of applying Intelligent el t mat man J 1 f Ing gement to the e land On some large tracts t utterly tt the IY Vi valuable extirpated forage and i It plants lf Is have r 4 been even to reseed them On other tracts acts It will be possible by careful management man man- I for the remaining native plants to o recover their vigor and to distribute seeds eds which will eventually restore much t ot of the former herbage Prompt and effective effect effect- I Ive ve action must be taken however If It the value alue of ot very much of the remaining pub pub- lie c domain is not to be totally lost The conclusions o g rs To as Sw to grazing f reached r b by y your u commission were e cased based S. S First r Upon P the results of l long tr tance ance with It grazing problems in Ia the public land nd States on the part of each member member ot of your commission s Second Upon the results of car careful ful ex- ex r 1 SS t L 5 C i. i f A 3 |