Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1880-05-06
Helena, Montana, Thursday, May 6, 1880.


bench lands and parks OF the Territory. They
are to be sold in unlimited quantities at ST. Is
per acre, and in homestead entries of four
miles square at 81 per acre. The minority
of the commission propose several amend
ments to that part of the bill disposing of
pasturage lands, one of which requires that
every patent issued shall contain the follow
ing clause:
| ''ExceD! and excluding from those present
| all subteranean property rights in any mine
| of gold, silver, cinabar, lead, tin, copper,
coal, iron, or other valuable mineral deposit
and the property conveyed in this patent
| shall be servient to the easements necessary
for discovering and working mines thereon,
etc."
This seems to be very nice promise, and
if the bill must pass, we trust that it will be
50 amended. There can be no doubt that
valuable mines exist and will be found with
in this class of lands, and, although the fact
seems ADMITTEDLY by all, yet strange to say,
the majority of the commission are opposed
to the amendment.
The changes proposed by the commission
for the sale and regulation of the mineral
lands have been discussed at some length by
the press of the Territory. We will therefore
not refer to them or the class designated as
timber lands, as they are not to the purpose
of this article.
We have already referred at some length to
the class known to the bill as irrigable lands,
and have shown how the door has been
thrown wide open to spectators, and how
easy it will be for them to appropriate and
gobble up all that remains. The amount of
these lands are limited, and they are the
most valuable and most important of any
and all the other classes within the Territory.
and depend on to produce the food that sus-
tains human life. Neither grain or vegetables
nothing, absolutely nothing, can be raised
in any quantity for the support of man in
any other lands within the Territory How
wicked, how disastrous will it be to the
future prosperity of the Territory, for few
wealthy companies and individuals to get
possession of and convert them into vast
cattle ranges. The passage of this bill will
almost as effectually lock out the small farm
er and producer from these lands, as if they
were withdrawn from the market, and leased
as pasture lands for term of years. In the
latter event the title to the land would still
remain in the government and future legis-
lation could remedy the bill, but in the
former there is no remedy.
MIR. George W. Julian, in a lengthy and
most excellent article on "Our Land Policy"
in the Atlantic for March, 1879, says: cit
is certainly the duty of the government to
render the Territory under its control as pro-
ductive as possible. and to encourage the
multiplication of small homesteads, upon
which the man who holds the plow is the
owner of the soil. 1t is equally obvious that
this policy supplies the strongest bond of
union between the citizen and the State, and |
is absolutely necessary in well ordered COM
monwealth. If our institutions |
are to be preserved we must insist upon the |
policy of small farms, thrifty tillage, COM
pact settlements, free schools, and equality |
of political rights; instead of large estates,
slovenly agriculture, widely scattered settle
ments, popular ignorance, and pampered |
aristocracy lording it over the people," 1t
was this same sentiment that actuated Presi- |
dent Jackson as long ago as 1889 to recon-
mend that the public domain be made free
to actual settlers in limited quantities, and
that prompted Andrew johnson to introduce
the first homestead bill in Congress in the
winter of 1850. 1t is this policy that has made
the name of the United States revered by
people everywhere throughout the civilized
world.
Will the bill pass? We are inclined to
think it will unless very strong effort and a
powerful influence are brought to bear
against it. 1t is the work of a commission,
composed Of men at the head of the land de-
of the government-men who are
entrusted with the execution and interpreta-
lion of the land laws, and who have been ap-
pointed by Congress and provided with am
pie means to give the subject thorough in
vestigation and this bill is the result of that
Cannot some plan be devised for the recla-
nation of these irrigable lands and govern
nent induced to reclaim them before sale is
made? We think not. She once had large
class of lands Swamp and overhoweO that
we're actually in the way of settlement of
rood lands, and rather than undertake the
ob of reclaiming them gave them to the
states wherein they were located. Here,
hen, is precedent established that may be
If service to rs so far as defeating that por- ,