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Show PUBLIC DOMAIN OF THE UNITED STATES By ROBERT N. STANFIELD Eleven states of the great west, extending' from the Continental Divide Di-vide to the Pacific ocean, contain 184,749,145 acres of the public domain do-main and 130,991,501 acres of forest reserve. These figures do not include in-clude reservations for Indians, park3 or minerals. The balance of the public domain, 1,184,127 acres, and of forest reserve, 5,661,304 acres, lies in all othe rstates. ' It will immediately be seen, without with-out argument, that the development of these eleven Great western states is intimately bound up with the government's policy respecting the sale, settlement, cultivation and use of the public domain and forest reserves. re-serves. The policy of the Government should be predicted on 'the broadest possible lines consistent with proper conservation of forests and other large natural resources, in which the people of all the states feel a coordinate co-ordinate interest. How intimately these vast bodies j :' undeveloped lands relate to the j - esent and future welfare of these "cistern states will be shown by re- W'.w: the percentage of areas lo-e::ied lo-e::ied in each state. Nevada, wkh a total land area of 70,2S5.4:0 acies, has 57,667,158 acres in public domain and( forest reserve. Tins means that Nevada. is left with about 15 percent of its area with which to carry on! It can never become be-come a state of the first class under this handicap. If all its area were under development, it would rapidly lecome populous and prosperous. Utah has 62 percent of its area similarly reserved; Idaho, 54 percent; I Wyoming and Oregon, 45 percent j ereh: New Mexico, 38 percent; Cali-j Cali-j foriiia, 37 percent; Arizona, 35 per-j per-j cent; Colorado, 33 percent; Washing-J Washing-J ton, 26 percent, and Montana, 25 per-j per-j cent. The progress that has been made in all these states argues for j increased development. I The total government holdings m these eleven states exclusive of In-; In-; dians, parks and minerals is ' 315,-! 315,-! 7 10,646 acres, or an aggregate ter- ritory about twice the size of Texas. I Texas has a present population approaching ap-proaching 5,000,000 and is developing : by leaps and bounds. It never deed-, deed-, ed any of its lands to the government ! and therefore has full control of all i its areas. It is fair to presume that at least : 8,000,000 new people could have j homes and prosperity on the govern-j govern-j ment holdings in the eleven western states, under intelligent methods of development. This would represent in the aggregate a new commonwealth common-wealth as great as Pennsylvania. The value of such potential citizenship and development can scarcely be es- timated. - The total value of Pennsylvania's-agricultural Pennsylvania's-agricultural crops in 1923 was S25S,-099,000; S25S,-099,000; of its manufactured products $7,315, 702,867; of its mineral products including coal and oil, $600,000,000. Acre for acre, the undeveoped areas of the great West equa land in many instances exceed the productiveness produc-tiveness or Pennsylvania. This ap- of the heaviest taxpayers to the government. : -The unoccupied areas of the great west contribute no taxes of any sort; the government, being an absentee landlord, is not a taxpayer either to itself or to the states. These states, by this handicap, are dispossessed dispos-sessed of the tax receipts whicn might legitimately by theirs, if their vacant lands were settled and in production, and the government is , plies to potential wealth both above. ! and beneath the surface. : i The state of Pennsylvania is one i i likewise mulct of taxes. This aspect i of the qV'fstion interests the entire ; country. |