The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1886-12-18
PUBLEC Ian DS.
RepeaI OF the Presumption and Timber
Culture Acts Recommended.

Repeai OF the Presumption and Timber
Culture Acts Recommended.
The recommendations of the secretary of the
interior and the comm ssioner of the general land
Office looking 10 the better protection of public
lands and OF the public surveys the preservation
of national forests, the adjudication OF grants To
states and corporations and of private land
claims and the Increased efficiency OF the public
land service. are commended 10 the attention OF
Congress. To secure the widest dlsl-i-
button of public lands IN limited quantities
among settlers of residence aud culu-
vation, and thus make the greatest numbers of
individual homes was the primary object of the
public land legislation in TIE early days of the
republic This system was simple one. IL
commenced with sn admirable scheme of public
identify the tract upon which ne wished TO estab-
Esh his home The price OF lands was placed
within the reach of all the euterprising,
industrious and honest pioneer citizens
found that the object Of the laws
was perverted under the system of cash sales
from distribution of land among the people to
an accumulation Of land capital by wealthy and
speculative persons. To check this tendency
preference right OF purchase was glven 70 settlers
on The land, plan which culmlnateu IN the gen
eral pre.emptiOn act OF ISL. The foundation OF
this system was actual residence and cultivation.
Twenty years later the homestead law
was devised 20 more surely place actual homes
in the posessinn Of actual cultiyators OF the soil
The land was given without price the sole con-
ditions being residence, improvement and cui-
tivation. Other laws have followed, each de
signed to encourage the requirement and use of
land in limited individual quantities But in
later years these laws through vicious admins
tratiye methods, ana under changed conditions
of communication and transportation, have been
so eyaded and violated that their benehcent
purpose is threatened with entire defeat
violations we forth in detail in the reports of
the secretary OF TIE interior and commissioner of
the general land Office The rapid appropriations OF
our public lands without bona fde settlements or
cultivation and not without intention of resi-
dence but for the purpose of their aggression in
large holdings IN many cases IN the hands OF tor-
etgners, invites the serious and immediate aten-
/ ton of Congress The energies of the Land De
/ partmenI have aeen devoted during the pres
/ ent administration 10 remedy defects and
/ ice. The results of these efforts are so
/ largely in the nature of reforms in the methods
| of our laud system as to prevent adequate esti-
| mates; butt appears by a compilation from the
reports of the commissioner of the general land
/ Office that the immediate elect IN leading cases
which have come to a final termination has been
/ the restoration to the mass of public lands of p
/ 750.00J acres; that 2,370,o00 acres are
| embraced in Investigations now pending before
/ the department or the courts, and that action
/ of Congress has been asked to effect the restoIa-
ton of 790 600 acres additional, besides which,
/ 0t0, 900 acres have been withheld from reserva-
/ tion and the rights of entry thereon maintained.
/ ] recommend the repeal of the pre-emptiOn and
timber culture acts, and that the homestead laws
/ be so amended as TO better secure compliance
/ with and cultivation for the period of i've years
1 from date of entry, without commutation or
1 provision for speculative TelnqulShment.
/ also recommend repeal OF the desert Idnu laws
unless 1t shall be the pleasure OF Congress TO so
amend these laws as 10 render them less liable to
abuse. As the chief motive for the evasion OF the
/ laws and the principal cause OF their result of
/ land accumulation instead of land distribution
| is the facility with which transfers are made in
the right intended to be secured to settlers, it
may be deemed advisable 70 provide by legisla-
I ton some guards aui checks upon the alienation
/ of vested rights and lands covered thereby until
| patents issue
Last year an executive proclamation was Is
: gd frluf 1pg ha which IL
! closed the public domain. Many of these have
/ been removed in obedience 20 such order, but
much OF the public land still remains within the
lines Of these unlawful fences. The ingenious
! methods TesoTted to in order to continne these
trespasses and the hardihOod of tlt pTCtenses by
/ which in some cases such Enclosures are justified
fully deaiied in the report OF the secretary OF
The interior. The removal of the fences still re-
/ mining which inclOse public lands viii be en-
/ forced with all the authority and means with
/ which the executive branch of the government IS
or shall be invested by Congress for that purpose.