Arizona citizen., 1877-12-21
Desert Lands Again.

been so basely and willfully misrepre- sented by the press as has the now no
 torious Desert Land Act, and what
 seems to be a bad feature of this mis-
 representation, is that it was chiefly
 made to damage public men instead of
 benefit actual settlers. The San Fran
 cisco Chronicle led off in the infamous
 business, and was certainly moved to
 do so for no public good. The whole
 Pacific coast delegation in Congress,
 without regard to their partisan char
 acter, favored the passage of the act, yet the unworthy Chronicle not only
 labored to make the act appear bad,
 but also to make it appear the work of one or two men; while the facts are
 that, allowing for some abuses of this
 as there are of all laws relating to
 lands, this particular act is one of the very best land laws on the statute books of the United States, and was in fair
 way to cause millions of acres of arid
 lands to be cultivated to the great ben cit of the government as we'll as the people for whom government is sup posed to exist. But the libelers and hindrances to public progress were so persistent in their work, that the great central land department at Washing ton became frightened and became their ally, without waiting for the real truth in the interests of the people. These enemies to public progress made their especial efforts against the desert land operations Tn Kern county, Cali fOrnia, and secured, it seems. some ig- norant or venal agent to falsiiy the facts to the Land Department. Months ago the Board of Supervisors of that county strongly endorsed the act and its application in their county, and very recently Congressman Luttrell of Cali
 fornia, has received and had put on the records of the House, Irrefutable proofs of the desert character of the land in Kern county, and also of the good faith of the far-seeing and useful capitalists who are retaining the land
 in strict accordance with the terms of .he law. Professor Davidson, of the Coast Survey, man of just views and known integrity and capacity to judge alright, unites with General Alexander and Col. Kendall of the Army, Gall three being members of the United States Irrigation COmmissionD in pro- nOuncing the lands desert under the act of Congress, after careful exam ination of them; in like manner do the circuit judge, assessor, sheriff and other Kern county officers testify, and all are backed by the affidaYits of over three hundred of the most respectable citizens of the same county. And yet there are people interested in the pro gress of the vast and parched interior, who still believe in the Chroniclel
 The act, under the original and just instructions of the General Land Of flee, would have been a blessing to Arizona. Projects to build large and correct systems of irrigation to reclaim and cultivate with most desirable fruits grains, etc, large tracts in Gila and Salt river valleys, were about being perfect. ed when orders to suspend all entries were issued and stopped all. Men of small means, unless associated togeth- CT cannot reclaim much of the land in these valleys. But for the willful mis- of the Desert Land Act and operations under it, men of broad views and ample means would today be at work retaining hundreds of thousands of acres of our arid lands to the great benefit of the public gen. erally If the influence of liars and personal enmities is to prevail against the necessary use of associated capital in building up Arizona, then progress will be slow and almost discOuraging.