The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1884-01-30
THE PUBLIC LAND INIQUIT'Y.

THE PUBLIC LAND IN1QUITY.
The statistics Of the disposition Of the
public domain tell an amazing story.
What yet remains of it that is adapted
to the needs Of the agriculturist is chan
ging into private property very rapidly.
Within the past decade an area as large
as the whole of Montana has been dis
posed Of to individuals, and of this more
than 80, 900 square miles within the last
year.
That which is appropriated by the
actual settler is by no means a loss to
the government. The men of nerve and
muscle who convert the wilderness into
a garden, and make the desert blossom
like the rose, add by their toll to the
wealth and Importance of the country,
and thereby fulfill the intention of the
originators Of the various land acts.
It is the short-sighted policy of the
government in granting immense sub
sides to railway corporations that has
wrought mischief. the full effects of
which will be most keenly felt in days
to come. The total amount of such
grants represents the enormous area of
one hundred and twenty million acres,
being a tract as large as all the New
England states, New Jersey, and New
York combined.
That vast body of land has been with
drawn from the people OF small means,
whose best resourc is to get something
out of the soil, and without any visible
compensation, has been placed in the
hands of bleated monopolists. They
no Improvements thereon that would
furnish labor for the unemployed and
increase the revenues of the country,
but they hold it to extort from the pro-
ducing class the highest price that can
be squeezed out Of them.
Undoubtedly the greater part Of it
will be held until all available public
land has passed into private ownership,
and will then be offered at the enhanced
value which it has received from its
proximity to improved property.
If it were simply through the eyre
gious folly of our statesmen that such
things happen, we might excuse them
in consideration of the fact that our
Wisest ard ablest men are seldom found
in office, but knowing the shyster meth
DDS that prevail at the national capital
at all times, every sensible man must be
disguised with the knavery and bride
taking that has brought about this de-
plorable state Of affairs.
To add, if possible, to the iniquity
which characteriZes the average so-called
statesman, certain of them who have
profited by fraudulent practices are try
ing to assume the garD of self-righteous-.
ness by bringing forward bills to repeal
the beneficent pre-emption act.
Nobody will deny that Irregularities
have occurred under that act, for no law
can be devised that will not admit of
sharp practice, but it is also undeniably
true that much good has resulted from
its generous provisions. The good re-
suits compared to the evil may be set
down in the ratio of ten to one. AT the
worst it is not unfair to assume that the
citizens of the land have a just right to
each mans share Of it, whether he
chooses to occupy his portion or by
transferring his right that can be done
but once, and he thereby acquires the
to engage in more congenial pur-
suits.
By repeating the pre-emption act
much inconvenience would be entailed
upon the poorer classes, and the settle
ment Of the great west retarded but no
n who knows the capacity Of congress
for doing mischief can doubt that it will
invent methods equal to substituting
railroads to fritter away the public
domain.
The best lands lying beyond the So
called rain limit, viz, the arid region
west of the Tooth meridian have already
been given to great corporations. That
which remains should, according to the
views of those who inhabit that region
and consequently are the best Judges in
the matter, be disposed Of in q manner
that will be defined in afusure article.
CRITo.