Arizona citizen., 1877-08-11
for Cutting Timber
 On the Public Lands. sCe.

Robert GaSSaway, convicted or cut ting timber on government land in Nevada county, was sentenced To pay a fine of S42 and serve ten days in the Nevada county jail J. L. Bowman,
 who plead guilty of a similar offense, was adjudged the same penalty. w. W. Gassaway, who was convicted on the same indictment, was fined S42 and sent to the Nevada jail for thirty days
 In passing these sentences, Judge Hoff-
 man said he dId not intend to be very severe in cases where the offending parties were bona fide settlers and making valuable improvements on their land. He regarded the dcstruc- tiOn of timber on government land as great an Offense as if the land belong cd to a private individual. He charac- teriZed the cutting of timber on pub 1 lie land as stealing, which should be punished with equal severity as in cases of the theft of private property. ! The offenders were warned that if ! brought before the Court for like of : fense the second time, they need nol expect so much lenIencv.
 ] On motion of the United States At torney, a nOlle prosequi was entered ! in the eases of John Ladd and stephen ! Thompson. Ladd was indicted for cutting timber on government land, but he has shown that he only cut a sufficient quantity To build house on | his own land. Thompson was shown l to have acted as stool pigeon ' for . Los Angeles detectives, and was indict- ed by mistake.
 ! The above is from the San Francis co Bulleun of August ? We give 1t to show what IS being done in the mat
 Ter of prosecutions for cutting timber on the public lands, and to say that it
 would be much more consistent m government to provide a way by winch
 men can buy timber lands and thus
 buy timber for themselves and the community. before carrying on crim-
 inal prosecutions as now done. As a cold -blooded interpretation Of the law, Judge Hoffman is unquestionably cor
 rect iB hIs remarks, but we think he
 might, consistently enough, have said
 that the law is one which operates against settlement and improvement
 and therefore against good public poll cy. Congress might, with almost the
 same justice, make it a criminal oftensc
 10 use the water and the grass on the
 public land without first buying them, and then consistently neglect 10 pro
 vide any practical way by which they
 could be bought There is hardly an acre of land bearing timber valuable
 for building purposes in Arizona, on
 which anybody would thlnk for a mo
 ment of making home, and il is only
 under the prc-emption cor homestead
 law that anybody can gct title 10 such land. One hundred and sixty acres of
 such land is of little account without more can be obtained, and should any
 body apply for that amount under cith- CT of the laws named, they would not . do so in good faith but merely as a shield from punishment while cutting ' off the timber, and afterwards abandon
 the land, never perfect title, and leave ] it worthless to government or indiyi-
 duals. Ii government should put the
 timber land into the market, it would
 soon be purchased and protected from
 waste by the purchasers; and it is the
 duty of government to either do this or cease punishment Of settlers for
 taking what is necessary to their exist
 cnce on the public land where the pre-
 empjion law invites them 10 go.
 Ahl but, says the Judge, John Ladd
 |" only cut a sufficient quantity to build
 "a house on his own land" Now,
 what is the difference as a matter of
 "thcft" or waste " of timber, whelh-
 CT John Ladd only takes enough
 to build a house on his own land or
 enough to build houses on the land of
 all his neighbors2 If John does it for
 his neighbors, the ncIghbors will not ] if he does moi, the neighbors must
 each steal the lumber for himself, or ! have no houses and John no neighbors.
 According to Judge Hoffman, every
 building in Arizona contains more or ] less stolen timber Very few men
 could afford to go 10 the precipitous
 mountains and get the lumber they
 must have. Of necessity as well as
 economy, they buy it of those who
 make a business of cutting, making
 and selling lumber In building up
 the Territory, lumber is absolutely nee essary, and yet government has failed
 to provide a practical way by which people can get it according to law. The fact Is, Congress should at once revise its legislation on tinber and desert lands.
 IN the United States Circuit Court today in the case of H. W. Gibson,