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Show JOKER ALLEGED IN FRENCH'S MEASURE BOISE. Idaho, Feb. 20. Miles Cannon, Can-non, state commissioner of agricul lure, e oiumcnling upon house bill No. 77. which was introduced by Representative Represen-tative Burton L. French of the First Idaho congressional district and Whi )i passed buth houses r.nd is before I President Harding for signature, de-1 dares there is a joker in the resold lion tor it would permit removal uoni homestead settlement, rich logged off lands in northern Idaho and give under a lieu selection provision 260.0fio acres i ol grazing land in southern Idaho to sheepmen. Commissioner Cannon issued a statement as follows: "My attention i.i attracted U) H R. No. 77, which, we understand, has passed both houses of congress, and is now before the president for his signature. signa-ture. "What docs this measure mean? If we understand it correcth. it means a strip tit land six miles wide along the western boundary of the Selway, Glearwater and St. Joe forest reserve extending from Salmon river to tie' city of Wallace, and which embraces a troct as large as Gooding count-, which will bo forever removed from ! the honieseeker and transferred to the! forest reserve. "This land is composed largery of' what is termed logged oft land, much of which is very valuable for farming purposes. I means, moreover. Ihal ; the owners, which, generally speaking, are the timber syndicates, can ex- I Change this laud for a like nunibc of acres of i lie public domain (grazing laud) in southern Idaho, v-hich will in I turn go into the hands of other power fttl syndicates and the- public be de prived of its use forever. "Already, as we are informed, a syn-1 dic.itc of she-ep men, opt-ratlnx in Lin coin county, lias taken an option on 260.000 acres of this loged off lund, which, if the president signs tho bill, will be deeded to the government In exchange tor Erasing land situated in Lincoln and Gooding counties It Is not unreasonable to presume that these enterprising gentlemen will select se-lect every alternate section of this grazing laud, which will, for all practical practi-cal purposes, give them two sections for every one section of iogged-off land wbirh they deed back to the government." |