Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-04-21
Retaining the Plains.


THE GAZETTE is confident 1t could
do Texas no greater service than by
giving all possible publicity to the
capabilities of that section which con-
tains the major portion of the public
lands OF the state, and thus attracting
to 1t the attention of home seekers.
1.-THE Staked Plains' were for very
many years regarded as a desert"
upon which life for neither man nor
beast could be desirable. This I'M
pleasant delusion of the old ge-
ographies is being dispelled, and grain
and fruit and pure clear water are
now found in parts of the section once
laid down in the atlas as q desert
In this connection, and to aid in the
propagation of the truth concerning
West Texas, THE GAZETTE recalls
an interview had with Judge
Il. b. Wheeler by the Big
Springs Paragraph. In this in
terview the land law is mainly dis
cussed and, without signifying its
Assem-, to or dissent from the views ex-
pressed, they are reprinted for home
reading, as the veto of the land bill
will tend to more rational and prac-
teal discussion of land law than is
INDUCED generally by lease-law men:
Ina conversation with Judge II. Il
Wheeler while in our town last week,
we drifted into the subject Of the settle
ment Of the West, when he gave his
views on the lease system and briefly
outlined his ideas as to how the plains
could best be reclaimed. His reasoning
we thought very logical, and his plan q
most plausible one. In his opinion no
law could be so framed rs to operate
with equal justice and benefit to the or.
ganiztd and unorganiZed counties; and
therefore no lands In organized counties
should hereafter be subject to lease, but
should be held open for actual settle
ment only, No lands south OF the
Texas d Pacific railroad should be
leased, nor any north within fifty miles
OF said road-neither any of the east
ern tier OF the Panhandle counties !;
hut from said line, fifty miles north of
this road, and west of the eastern tier
Of reserved counties-north to Kansas
and west to New Mexico-should be
held either for settlement or lease, the
eastern half not TO be leased exceeding
five years, and the western half limi-
ted to term OF ten years. For the
first five years stockmen could obtain
supplies from the organized counties
along the eastern border and along
the railroad; but that at the end OF
this time settlers will have pressed
forward and the country suffi-
GENTLY developed to reserve second
tier or so OF counties from lease and
extend the line still newfoundland at
the end OF the second five years set
tiers will have pressed on to the line OF
New Mexico and the country advanced
so as to be reserved from lease entirely.
But to insure such rapid advancements
toward the development of these broad
plains, the state will have to make
many concessions and offer liberal in
cucements to settlers. IL should
abolish the competitive system and
have fixed price for the sale or lease
OF lands, hut at such rates az to llber-
ally encourage settlers or lessees. But
that the lands should be sold TO actual
settlers only, or leased for actual occu.
pancy by the lessee--aRd not
TO be transferred to syndicates /;
and that neither sale or lease should
exceed seven or eight sections. And
also, that there should be no law tax
ing from the lessee his lands before
the expiration Of his lease term; and
that with this assurance they would
drill wells, dig tanks and make such
other permanent improvements rs
their term OF lease and the liberality
Of the states policy would Justify
and at the expiration OF which term
many of these iessees would become
actual settlers. And thus the I'm.