Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-11-03
LET UPr
Stop the Sale Of the School Lands
and the Settlement Of the
Country.
The Ancient and Insetcrate Enemy Of the
West Reaches Out I,s rcntacics From
n Nav Iochtion.

pncos CRY, TEN. Oct 20.
To the Editor OF the Gazette.
When the devil undertakes Job
that shocks even Satanic modcsty,
he always dons a plous gown
The Galveston Dallas News In an.
pealing TO land.sharks aud political tricks
ters TO let II alone In the discussion of
land affairs performs work OF super.
erogatlon. The occasion for this Phari.
saaic display of extraordinary virtue
seems TO rest on the fact that the land
board IL being importuned 20 place the
watercd lands on the market at a low
price. The old cry that the school lands
are being sacrificed and that they should
be reserved until they double or treble ia
value, Is revived under the gulse
Of Il plea for the interests of the
school fund. Admitting and claiming
all that the News saws about
the fertility of the pecos valley and Its
natural resources--evcn more--let us an
alyzc It's deductions briefly:
II Is argued that the watered lands
should not be placed on the market be-
cause they viii not sell for what they are
worth. The valley Of San joaquin Cali
formal Is said to command from $50 TO
$40 per acre, Ergo, the watered lands
OF Texas which are equally fertile should
be reserved from sale until they are
equally valuable. What monstrous folly
without stopping to argue self-ovi-
dent proposition that thing is worth
what II viii bring, we advance TO the
proposition that land values are not de-
I termined by fertility of soil, but by loca-
ton, population, railroad facilities--in a
word, work. What would the famous
valley of the san Joaquin be worth II
situated In the iungles of African What
was the valley of the San joaquin worth
before settlement gave It value2 The
News realizes the weakness Of its own
/ position, and argues not present but pros
pcctive worth. How about this? Did
the valley OF the San Joaquin increase IN
value by holding II In duh inactivity,
waiting for rlSe2 Or did Il not advance
/ by regular scale of mathematical pro-
erosion? Would 1t be difficult to trace
/ back Its history TO the time when this
matchlCSs territory sold for So; yes, even
/ so cents an acre? The man
who bought for 81 sold for 81; from 81 II
went to IS, from So to SIG, from SIG TO
/ S32, etc, suppose, however, that the 50
man had fenced In the valley of the san
joaquin and retired to his tent to await a
/ jump to $40 an acre, what period would
/ have ended his weary watchingg Does
even the News with It's plea fora RIP Van
( Wmklc nap in land legislation imagine
that one cent would be added to its mar
/ kctable value under such circumstances
But who has uttered The cry To "lct
up!" Al, who but the News? Lieut.
( Gov. Gibbs, COL Swain and other friends
/ OF Western development desire TO see
the watercd lands pat on the market
The News cries "lct upi let the lands
remain Just as they are; some day they
/ viii be worth 500 aud $40 an acre; see
/ what you viii gain" The state has been
holding the lands for years, now IT is
1 proposed TO Introduce active landhuldcr,
who viii cultivate them, hut the News
| protests, "let up.n The same argument
/ that would prevent the News from selling
/ the lands at 50 an acre Is equally potent
against SO rate, II is not proposed "a
sell the lands mt all, bat to hold them
I Let upn
/ Tho News lavors holding the watcred
| lands as u speculation. Now they viii
bring but So; twenty years hence they
] may be worth $50. 1t must be confessed
! that the News scents usurious bargain
with ayidity, even If its Judgment ii
sometimes at fault. What Is the PROPOSE.
/ tion? Let us stand OF the settler for
! twenty years, aud The speculation will
] pay $50 for every 81 invested Fair
/ dividend that. Could the News invent
some method by which the magical
touch OF the laborcr might be supplantcd
in giving value TO land, the suggestion
would be good one-il the state is re-
solved TO 90 into the speculative
/ business. The land sales Of the
/ past are held up as an aw-
/ iul warning. In six years the state las
/ sold 5000, 900 acres for about So, 100000,
, now worth $4,000, 900, II will be seen
/ that TIE News considers these lands
worth an average OF 50 an acre. A pretty
fair figure for paper which has never
I believed very strong in the agricultural
possibilities of the West. But these six
years show something clsc--an increase
OF taxable values from $500, 600 TO
5000, 600, 900 and an increase Of popula-
ton from about 100000 TO 2,0O0,000
These additional one million people are
diligently engaged Just now paying taxes
and developing the country, In which II is
TO be hoped they will make up the differ
encc in actual values and the price re-
ceiyed is 1t TO the interests OF the state,
however, TO 90 into tie land buSinosSf
Which is its most legitimate province, 20
settle up millions OF acres of uncutivated
territory or take them of the market, ana
refuse them TO settlers at prevailing prices
because In twenty or forty years
there is probability that they will en-
hance in value. mere statement OF the
fact will appeal TO the common sense Of
every one that the increase ia values from
81 to 50 claimed by the News Is due TO
the very sales OF which It complains.
The accretion Is certainly not due TO any
intrinsic development, but 10 Improve
ment. Under the same conditions OF six
years ago the lands would be worth what