Show FOILS THE LAND THIET THIEVES VIES SECRETARY 0 HITCH COCAs it KE v entress EN PURSUIT OF LAW THIEVES was earliest and strongest advocate of government irrigation ariga alon ion work of ills ilia Dep department artmen t fehly successful successful by Il richard lebard il danl it la Is rumored that among probable cabinet changes secretary hitchcock Is to shortly retire from tho the interior department of which ho he has boon been uio head bead since tho the second mckenley nicy administration it will bo be recalled that moro more or less definite statements as to mr lr retirement and his bis probable successors havo have bee been a of very frequent and regular occurrence but tile tho reason therefore la Is probably not hard bard to flud find sir mr hitchcock has made avery a very great secretary of tho the interior lie ho has torn to pieces a vast fabric C constructed to steal not acres but square miles ot of tho the public lands to grab from the government great tracts worth milli millions ons of dollars tho the ian land 1 I grabbers have been men in high positions sit ions they havo have employed perjury bribery aal to say nothing of moro more foree forceful ful erlines crimes to defraud their country their ring was backed by wealthy and influential men and included members of tho the legislatures united states commissioners special land agents notaries not aries etc tho the trail even led to tho the hl bead ad of tile general land 0 office ace into the national 1 house of Represent ved and into tho the united states senate semite tho the loose land laws of the country made their task possible it ilot casa casy bame crime in dillap places secretary shortly after lie became a member of cabinet had bad his att attention enlon called toi lent frauds la in the acquirement d 01 land lie ile set to work woric it iet investigation it finally calmi culminated n abed in the indictment of great numbers of people I 1 and u in tho the i becent conviction of n united states senator and a member of congress perhaps though tile the culmination mi nation la Is not yet no juan man knows known the trail may lead next or how bow much evidence mr hitchcock nitch cock babana has ana la Is iv working up ull h itis stated been bean abood deal ot of a surprise to the wiseacres wise acres at washington and in fact act throughout the country to see tho the wily in which tho the secretary of the interior has made imado good in big land fraud prosecutions it 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 bad been illy advised and had gotten himself into a deep hole the outcome of which would be disastrous to himself tried to have flave him removed the secretary remA remarked on several occasions that the land frauds wern were astounding in their magnitude hut but that he be proposed to stop them he was laughed ut at but just tile the sallie some of the land grabbers began to get a little nervous lind and the newspaper rumors began begaii to the effect that secretary hitchcock would probably re sigala la the course of two or three months after he had bad with certain investigations being wade made at that time but the investigations have never been finished before one batch of frauds las hag been disposed oft of another sensation has been sprung in ILI some other state so that there h has as never been a time whon a change in the interior department would not have hate been lial balled led as a victory for the land jana gra grabbers libers the rugged honesty and determination to weed out tho the despoilers and tho the gr drafters grafters gratt cra who are arc looting the agricultural find and timber lands of tho the west have called I 1 forth forch ninny many high hilgh from thoughtful people who have followed hla 1113 course no public official has taken more literally to heart tile the strong expressions against public land grabbing of the president la in his annual message to congress believes irrigation great du fuestion estion closely connected with the land question in the west la Is tile tho irrigation question and since ho be first came into office secretary hitchcock nitch cock has been an ardent friend of national irrigation UW hla annual re reports porta even under biml dent McKin mckinless leys administration were as strong recommendations of this polley policy as havo have ever been written lie ile called attention to tho the tact fact that a vast fortune was allowed annually to waste itself throughout tho the west that a water supply was uselessly running to the sea eoa which would irrigate 70 million acres of tho the most fertile desert land in tho the world and ho he called attention to tho the fact that an irrigated west was wag cap capable tible of supporting tho the entire present population of tile tho united states it was not in keeping with the spirit of tho times that this great opportunity for homo home building should bo be neglected by tho the nation then when colonel roosevelt became president the irrigation bill was passed and tho the administration of tho the law was waa entrusted to tho the interior department part ment mr hitchcock was ready tile tho geological survey a bureau of ills depart ement had been making ex surveys and in reality getting ready for such a law so that work was waa immediately commenced and in stead of eight or ten years of q W 01 V 7 36 at A ETHAN ALLEN secretary ot of the interior alon and and surveys such finch as aghas has been the history in tho tha great irrigation works of every other country thard aro arl today to day th in courso of 0 construction a dozen bug projects find and last june just three years yeara after alia law was passed tho juat yr lct y wad wal completed sy C of vast import to notion nation secretary Hitch cocks vigorous work in saving tho the public domain for home seekers and in bringing into cal operation a policy for tile absolute creation out of a desert nothing of thousands and eventually millions of prosperous american homes Is la in reality tho greatest work of the generation the actual benefit of ahls great internal development and improvement of tho the nations property far surpasses the work of any other department of the government afu MA following is fj the last druon fieri ion odthe of ike report of ithe the f residents art are under secretary Z thiis chiedi ch ieli grazing lands the great bulk of 0 tho the vacant public publia lands throughout the west aro are unsuitable for cultivation under tho the present known conditions of agriculture and so located that the they can not be reclaimed by irrigation M they are and probably always roust must be of chief ahle eaf value for glazing bazing there are it la is estimated more than t an acres of public grazing land an area approximately equal to one the extent of tho the united states proper tho the exact limits can not be ba set bet for with seasonal changes large areas of land which afford good grazing ono one year are almost desert la in another there are also vast tracts of wooded or timbered land in chich grazing has much importance and until I 1 a further classification ot of t tha a public lands Is made it will be impossible to give with exactness tho the total acreage tho iho extent Is so 80 vast and tho the commercial interests involved n so eo great as to demand in the highest degree the wise and conservative handling of these vast resources it Is a matter of the first importance to know whether these grazing lands are being used in the best way possible for the tha continued development of the country or whether they ore are being abused under a system chic which is 13 detrimental to such auch development and LY by which the only present value or of the tha laud land la is being rapidly destroyed st at present the vacant public lands are theoretically open commons free to all citizens but as a mater of fact a large proportion havo have been parceled out by more or less definite compacts or agreements among the various interests these tacit agreements ments are continually being violated agreements agee T ahe e s sheep men and cattlemen are in frequent quen t collision because of incursions upon each others domain land which for years has been regarded retarded as exclusively cattle range may bo 0 infringed upon by large bands of a sheep heep forced by drought to migrate na lo 10 1 enco and homicide h 0 ml c ide frequently follow after which ne new adjustments addest M e ants are made and matters quiet down own fo for r a time there are aie localities where the people are ara utilizing to their awn n satisfaction the open range and their Is to bo be let alone so that they may parcel out among themselves the use of the lands but an agreement made today to day may be broken tomorrow to morrow by changing conditions of shifting interests the general lack a k of control in the use ot of public P u alic grazing lands has resulted naturally a I 1 IV and inevitably in overgrazing and the ruin of millions of acres of otherwise valuable able grazing territory lands useful t tr r grazing brazing are losing their only capacity for productiveness as of 0 course they must when no legal control 6 3 exercised it Is not yet ct too late to restore the value of many of the open r briges ages lands ap patently parent ly denuded of vegetation have improved in condition and productiveness upon coming under an system of control which affords a means or of preventing over stocking and of applying intelligent management tto to the land on some large tracts tho thet valuable forage plants have been utterly extirpated and it Is Ini even to reseed them on other tracts it 11 will be possible by careful management a for the remaining native plants to recover their vigor and to distribute fl seeds which will eventually restore eiyo ot the th e former herbage prompt ana aad giget ive I 1 ve action a must be taken however it the tha value va lue of very much of the remaining pul pub it lie c domain li is not to be totally lost the conclusions an aa to grazing reached by your commission were dosed based first upon the results ot of long tanco tanca with framing problems in tue t e public land states elates on the part fart of each member or of your commission upon the result of careful ful ex t x ami laminations nations made tor for the commission ot of the grazing a systems is of the state slate ot of texas lexas the state of 0 esterr the union ana northern North pacific railroads and 0 of the indian in the case of permits to stockmen stoc kmen for tile the use ot of indian lands suit able for or grazing and of the grazing con throughout the west A map has been prepared showing allowing the general loci loca I 1 ion and area ot of the summer winter and vear 1 ear long lone ranges and the sections which tire are largely dependent upon a temporary water supply for their in brazing and those where there has been extensive development by wells and wind mills c believe that this map will bo be found exceedingly exceeding ir valuable and interesting in the cons de ration of nil all praying grazing problems and it Is therefore there toro submitted in the e appendix third upon the results of 0 ft a meeting called to confer with the commission J by y the national live stock association in it denver early in august 1901 which was attended by the secretary of agriculture end and by representative stockmen stoc kmen ti from all the grazing brazing lani states and territories the I 1 ho opinion of the like stockmen stoc kmen present wait almost unanimous in favor of some action on tho the part p irl ot of the government velch would give bit e the range user some right of control by which the range ian can be kept from destruction by overcrowding anil and the controversies over range rights can le be elaml the only question being ui as to the most satisfactory method by which auch right may be obtained I 1 fourth upon 1400 answerl received to a circular clr tular letter addressed dressed rid to stoc stockmen kmen throughout the west these answers show that under tho the present system B stern the assuring value of the has haa lot crl rated orated and the tha carrying capacity of 0 the lands ands has greatly create im that hat the present resent condition con of affairs Is tory ory that the adoption of a new i at stern ern of management would insure a l be atter mal e r anil and more permanent use ol of the grazing lands 1 that a certain improvement in range con side da ot of them under precisely tho ainia Londi tiona wherever tho the laws lawa have been so enforced OB an to give the settler a reasonable chance lie he has haa settled fleU leJ prospered built up tile the country and brought about more complete development and larger vity prosperity than where land donop monopoly ly 11 llou es nearly everywhere the large largo landowner has succeeded in in monopolizing the best tracts whether of 0 ti timber or agricultural land there has been some outcry against this condition yet the lack of greater protest la is significant it I 1 ia a to be explained by tho the energy shrewdness and influence Ini luence ot of the men to whom the continuation of tile the present condition Is desirable your commission his has had inquiries made as aa to how a number of 0 estalea cs talea q selected haphazard havo laivo been nc j u tired almost without exception collusion or evasion ot of tho the letter and spirit of the land laws lawa was involved it Is not necessarily to bo inferred that tho the present owners of theno theme estates ero era dishonest but tho the tact that their holdings or consolidated by practices which chic i con can not lie be defended tile the disastrous effect of this etem system upon the well being of tho nail biati ri na it i whole reli requires ires little comment under the present conditions speaking speak broader broadly the lirse large estate usually rema ns in a fow ow condition of cultivation whereat whereas under actual 1 by y individual home makers the same baino land would hayo have supported many families in comfort and would have yielded leaded far greater returns turna re agriculture la N a pursuit of whirl which it may be a r that it rarely reaches I 1 its is be best st development under any ally concentrated form of ownership there exists and la Is spreading pre allne in tho the wust ivest it a tenant or hired labor system which not only represents a relatively low industrial development but whose further extensions varr es with it it a most merlou serious threat poetically cally socially Boc lally and economically c thi I 1 system Is 1 had the land laws lall been effective and effectually e 7 t 0 MIA afa form 3 scene in great falls maritana Mo ritana land district land immediately raj A en reken tip V band law ly balse swearing ahr land kilde acx dacal lins line alre already adir been brought about by range ranga control on the forest reserves anil and that tile tho great bulk of the western stock nock nien fen a are definitely in favor of government control ot of tile the open range fajth upon fatia faias nt at m many ny public meetings licad hel throughout the ct and an 1 upon innumerable suggest lows which ha have v e boon been n received and considered your concurs in tile the opinion of the stockmen stoc kmen that some borne form ot or government control la Is necessary nt fit once but Is 13 opposed to the immediate application of any definite plan to all ot of the gr zing lands da hilke alike regardless of 0 loval condi conditions tiona or actual grazine value alue v the iho following follow ing plan Is intended to bring about tho the gradual a ap pp to each locality ot of IL a tor tona it of control specifically suited to that locality ft whether nether it may be applicable ople aple le to any art y other locality or riot not i alu our on ic te commends that enit bult 11 able ble authority |