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Show LID REVENUE ' ' FDR THE WEST i Western States Want Public) Domain to Avoid Deficit ------ WASHINGTON, D. C In cennec-j lion with the effort that the western i staes are now making to secure fromj congress the cession of the public! lands to the states wherein they are I situated, some forceful facts and fig-' urei have been supplied by the governors govern-ors who appeared before senate and house commutes which have to do with public lands questions. Governor JO. A. Larrazolo of New Mexico, upon request of officials of the American f Automobile association, which in its j annual meeting approved the King bill, thus concisely summarizes the matter I ana connects K up with roads bundling: bund-ling: I "I doubt if the people of the cotm-Itry cotm-Itry know that in the states or Mon-jiana, Mon-jiana, Wyoming, Colorado, New' Mexico, Mex-ico, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Washington, j Oregon, Nevada and California, the United Slates government owns 370,-j 370,-j 357.772 acres of land, of which 150,-1 150,-1 0S3.157 acres are reserved lands, and 220,27-1,175 acres are unreserved and unappropriated public lands; this in addition to 3S.590.299 acres of Indian lands. ''In other words, in each of ihe .above named 11 stales the govern-lnent govern-lnent has retained unto itself the own-jcrshlp own-jcrshlp of from 35 per cent (which Is- the lowest in the state of Washington, Washing-ton, to 86V per cent in the state or , Nevada. These lands do not pa any taxes, and with the exception of a isnvill percentage derived from the (leasing of these lands, they do not in :any way contribute to the develop-j develop-j meat of the west. Yet, the west, which is i country of very great distances and of large ""areas, -is very , sparsely ! populated and its wealth is comparatively compara-tively small. In spite or these disadvantages, disad-vantages, the west must keep and does keep a system or public educaiion and other higher institutions or learning i that will compare favorably with ihose or our more fortunate and wealthy I , sliWes of the other sections of the country. 1 "For instance, speaking for New Mexico (and wlili very few exceptions all of the western states are in practically prac-tically the same condition), oui of a I iota! assessed valuation amounting to something leas than four hundred mil-! mil-! lions of dollars, there was raised by Lix.it ion for ihe year 1919 the sum of iG,690,21G. or which total $-4,000,070 were spent Tor educational purposes. "In New Mexico thore are 13,091 miles or road actually in operation and uoe, and during tho years 1917, 191S and 1919 we spent $2,936,597, raised by taxation, in addition to ?219,97R derived de-rived from federal aid, in the construction construc-tion or roads in thai state. The road building program for the years 1920 and 3921 in my state Involve the expenditure ex-penditure of ?5,-l 79,923, which must be eonributed by the federal and state governments respectively on a fifty-fifty fifty-fifty basis; in addition to this the Mate alone will spend in the next two jears the sum of $2,05S,G09 in the maintenance mainte-nance and upkeep of Ihose roads. "It will thus appear that these western states have great works of improvement and development to perform, per-form, for the benefit, not only of those states, but for the benefit and the enjoyment en-joyment of the whole nation, development develop-ment which involves the expenditure of millions and millions of dollars, all of which must be raised by direct taxation taxa-tion from the people. "'f these lands were ceded to the states, their sources of revenue would thereby be largely ir.crcased, the burden bur-den of taxation upon its inhabitants would be materially diminished, and j the work or development would be (advanced very materially. The west j offers to the people of the whole country coun-try a natural scenery, the beauty of whi':h certainly is not surpassed any-i any-i where in the world, and the main thing 'that is needed to put all this within jrench of the tourist is good roads. This I tourist often becomes a resident or an investor in a state which appeals to hiui for one reason or another, j "One of the objections raised lo thy i ceding of these lands Is to the effect l thai the public domain belongs to the J nation and that it should be kept by i thi lederal .government as a revenue producing fund for the benefit of the whole country. This Is a rather nar-rov nar-rov minded argument, because Indeed, if the thing is looked at in its proper light, Il is to the interest of the whole country that its natural resources be lully and thoroughly developed, regardless re-gardless of that -part of the republic whore they may lie, because this nation na-tion as a whole is benefited by whatever what-ever benefits any portion of It, ?nd is likewise injured by anything that retards re-tards the growth and development of any part of the same. "Granting that the argument is sound. 1 would be willing to concede that there is merit in It If it were itruv thai the public domain is a source of revenue in the hands of the federal i government; but It is a fact that can-not can-not be contradicted that it i3 a 1 la-i la-i bility and not an asset in the hands of 'the govcrnmenL In 1S81 the congress I appointed a committee to investigate the management of the public domain, and after a thorough investigation that committee reported that rrom the in-'ceplion in-'ceplion of the creation of the public j domain to the year 1883, covering a period of over 100 years, there had been expended by the government in its management the sum of $351,981,-lfio $351,981,-lfio 32. and during the same period of (time there had been received from l ' thai, source the sum ot $225,552,676.23, leaving a deficit for that period of :$12'5,42S,-IS-1.S9. i '"It Is a fact that there has not been one single year from the beginning lo Idate. covering a period of over HO (years, when the handling of the pub-1 pub-1 lie domain by the government has not ! resulted in a deficit of from one million mil-lion and a quarter to two and one half 'million every year, which deficit-has I been covered by appropriation by con-1 con-1 gross. In my state, we came in pos-1 session of 12,000,000 acres of land I when we were admitted to statehood, land we still own over 9.600,000 acres; j we nave managed these public lands al a tolal expense of 4 per cent In 191S, to 3 1-5 per cent in 1919, of the total revenues derived from, .them, and wo jhavo been able to pay into our stalo i j treasury conoiderably over $1,000,000 a year from that source. Comparing tin .two managements, the results -pcak for themselves. |