, 1889-12-05
A BIG FARM
That is What Uncle Sam
Has.
BIGGEST THING ON EARTH.
The Great Problem of the
Country.
HOW THIS VAST ESTATE WAS ACQUIRED
HOW THIS VAST ESTATE WAS ACQUIRED
Although 7oo,Ooo,ooo Acres
Have Been Sold and Donated
,l5o,ooO,oOO Remain.

CIuulng Alaska. About IOO,OU,OUO acres
of land have been sold and donated,
about /, l5o, COCOON remain unsold. AS
the area of Alaska is 800, $50, 90 acres,
the area unsold, exclusive of that terri.
tory, is about $50 900 900 acres.
This vast landed estate, says Joseph
Nimmo, Jr., in Frank Leslic's illustrated
Newspaper, was acquired by the war of
Independence, by the. purchase from
France in 1903 of the enormous area
known as the province of Louisiana, ex-
tending from the Mississippi river to the
Pacific ocean; by the purchase Of Florida
from spain in 1921, by the
treaty of peace with Mexico
in lsiS, and the supplemental treaty
of 1883, which gave us California and
brought our southern border line down
from Oregon to where it is now; by pur-
chase OF border.lands from Texas IN 1850
and by the purchase of Alaska from
Russia in 1867. The cost of the public
domain for purchase, quicting Indian
occupancy titles, surveys, and sale has
been II 20 cents per acre. The prices at
which the public lands have been sold
have ranged from l2la cents to 81 30 per
acre for agricultural lands; 81 80 to IS
per acre for mineral lands-oXcopt
coal lands, which are sold ut SO and 500
per acre, according to location with re-
spect to aud-grant railroads. Tne gov
ernmental balance. sheet on account of
public lands the Both oi June, 1850, stood
thus:
Expenditures
ror purchases aud ccsslons. $ ss 157,3oO
For surveying and sale .;....." 41AN3,3O2
For Indian occupancy title, etc. ls73ls,9O4
Total.......... ....o.,........ s322 ,Ol0, 500
Receipts
From sale of lands ............. s2Oo, 7O2, $40
Expcnditurcin excess Of re-
ceipts ..,..,..,,-. .,,,.........Sl21 3lD,74T
This excess of expenditures, however
is offset by the 7S0, 100000 acres OF land
exclusive OF Alaska, still in possession
of the government. The value of this
remaining part of the public domain is
estimated at $50, 100000. If all these
lands, or the proceeds from their sale in
excess of the present balance against the
government, shall be appropriated to the
reclamation of the arid regions by means
of irrigation, such action will be entire
ly in harmony with the policy pursued
by the national government from the
lands not us u source of revenue, but
simply Tvs a public trust, with the object
steadily in view of transferring them to
actual settlers at the lowest possible cost
and as rapidly as may be consistent with
u healthy national development. Nopo.
aud beneticent policy, and no admins
tration of tho national government has
been false to this great trust.
THE FRoNTIrRsM>N PROTECTED.
In our Homestead" "Pre.emption,"
Tree Culture" and Desert Land laws
the most humane and bencficcnt
features of all our publc-land legislation
the poor fronticrsman has been uc-
corded IL vantage and a protection which
have guarded him against the cncroach-
ments of influence and of wealth. Our
public-land policy has also been just
and generous toward the Indians pa-
ternal and kindly toward the soldier and
sailor, while honest and upright toward
the public interests.
For the erection and sustenutiou of
schools, seminarics and agricultural col
lcges the magnificent donation of Is, G5o,-
900 acres OF land has been made. There
have been granted to the states for pub
lie improvements I, ,SW6 600 acres OF land.
One OF the wisest audin its result bcne.
tiCcnt features of our land policy has
been the granting OF about 81, ,375, 900
acres of public lands for the construction
ot wagon roads canals and railroads,
and chiefly the latter. Within certain
limits the government has given half
the land in alternate sections to rail.
road companies; but ut the same time it
has doubled the price of its remaining
lands within such limits. No other ex-
pedient has so eitectunlly helped to pro.
mote settlement, or to secure the devcl-
opmcnt of the resources of the country,
and especially of that vast area toward
which the attention of the country is
now turned with such deep interest
the .arid region AT the same time it
is the intelligent and well-considered
verdict OF the American people that the
policy of land grants went about far
enough.
The conduct OF our public land inter.
ests is crowning glory Of American
statesmanship and an abiding honor to
the administration OF our national
affairs. In world in which every force.
ful man is seeking his own it is.a record
which illuminates our civilization.
There have been heated disputations at
times in regard to methods of the ad-
ministration and matters OF detail
touching the guardianship and dissposi,
ton of our public lands, but no political
party line has ever been drawn on any
OF these questions, and there appears to
be no sensible excuse for such action in
the future.
The method of dividing the public
lands into townships six miles square
and numbering the square miles or "sec-
tlDIlS VI cttCll III VIC SuIIlc lllNn-
ner from one to thirty-six was devised
during the period when our national
government was a confederacy. The bill
which enacted 1t is dated May 20, 1855,
and was reported by committee of
which Thomas Jefferson was chairman.
Such, briefly, are some of the more
important historical facts in regard to
'Uncle Sans Farm" And now let us
turn from the past to the present and
the f,lturC Great ulles ions of ad dmiuis.
tration and of public policy confront us
and demnnd solution at the hands of the
generation which now controls the des-
tinies of the nation.
THE HUMID AND THE ARID REGION.
The national domain is divided by ma
turc into two distinct areas, sometimes
designated as tho "humid rcgion'' and
the "arid region" The former Elm mbraces
all lands upon which agriculture may be
carried on by means Of the natural rain
fall and the latter the area in which ag-
rionlture can be successfully, prosecuted
only by means of artificial irrigation
The physical characteristics of the arid
region affect the national economy in
important particulars, and constitute
conditions which demand certain modi-
fications of our public land policy.
Practically, the government has dis
posed OF all lands OF any value within
the humid region. This has given
pause to westward immigration. The
posed upon settlement was recently
illustrated by the rush of immigration
into Oklahoma, portion of the Indian
territory well within the limits of the
humid area. In the remainder of these
articles attention will be invited exclu-
sivcly to that portion of "Unclc Sans
Farm" which lies west of tho Tooth
..... H.. a