Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-07-10
Land Stealing.

The recent action of Secretary
Lamar in susnenI;ng land entries in
certain quarters has provoked li-cus-
son all a'Org the line, and called
pnb,lc attention to the Wholesale
lana r. bbrlies that have grown to
be an organized industry everywhere
there are lands to be gohbied up.
1t is now stated that Commissioner
Sparks believes it to have beenrhe
Intention of the Government in the
passage of the pre-emption and
homestead laws to give every man a
home, net two homes, and that they
Are mercy alternative rights, the use
or one Of which des roys the other.
rheie can be no doubt TINT it was the
intention Of the Trainers Cf the hume-
stead law 10 yve POOR men who
W med homes land hey weie will
ing 10 live uron lut did not have
the means to rre-empt.
Their Is an unhealthy sensitive
ness in the far west about any refer
ence to the disposal of the public
lands. They are regarded as the
legitimate prey of railroad graLbers
and private land grabbers. Men
have but to look about them to be-
come satisfied of this fact. 1t is safe
to say that ore-half of the lands pre-.
empted in recent years did not re-
main in the hands OF the pre-emptors
two years after the title was oh.
tained; and for quite large portion
of them, men have gone to land
offices and without finchins made
afli lavit of continuous residence,
when, as a matter of fact, they were
either living in towns, working out
for wages, or pursuing some other
avocation elsewhere than farming.
This thing of constructive residence
has become fragrant abuse.
The public sense of the design of
our pre-emp'ion and homestead laws
has become blunted into federation
of the abnse of these laws, until, if
there is any effort to arrest title from
posing to claimant who has made
no effort to comply with the law. a
senseless clamor against lawless
jumpers is raised, when, in fact, the
Only per-on who intends to comply
with the law is the jumper. Com
missioner Sparks is right; let the
merchant > mechanic and all others
whose lives are devoted to other pur-
suits allow the farmer and the man
who Intends to live by the cultiva-
tion of the soil to occupy the vacant
lands, and it will be far better for
the business of the country, not only
in the locality of the vacant lands
but in the country at large.
The holding of lands by specula
tors and by men who farm for purely
speculative purposes is not advanta-
geous TO any country. The serfdom
of Russia, the landlordism of Ireland
and the peonage of Mexico is not
calculated to educate to the standard
of intelligence to be found in coun-
tries OF small land holdings. A
large farmer can produce grain more
cheap y 'ban small farmer, and u
inrge merchant Can sell goods more
cheap'y than small dealer; but it
is not considered socially whole some
that one man should own und farm
all the land or that one merchant
should do all the business. The in.
tehtion of the Government was in
the direction of a multiplication of
homes" lands for the landless and
homes for the homeless" and the
action of Commissioner Sparks, in
his endeavor 10 bring about return
to the spirit of the land laws, will
meet with general approval.
SERGEANT Mason, who tried to shoot