, 1889-12-05
90

In the senate yesterday Cunom of Hi
nois introduced what timid Eastern peo-
pie may regard Is = rather bold measure.
1t puts the entire irrigation business on .
new basis and provides the states them
selves with means whereby they may be
able to attend to the matter without
further national assistance than that con-
templsted in the bill
His bill provides that al public lands in
the United States in California, Oregon,
Colorado. Nevada, Washington. Mon
tana, North and South Dakota, and in
the states that may be formed out Of the
territories of Arizona. Mexico. Utah.
Idaho. Wyoming and Alaska AMI which
shall not have been otherwise disposed Of
shall be reserved before tie 10
ceptance Of this act by the states 1t
provides that these lands shall be ceded
to the states aud eventual states 10 which
the lands lie on condition that the staten
shall convey not more than eighty acres
susceptible to remunerAtive irrigation to
say ore settler. If the state shall elect to
sell the lands the proceeds shall be used
for the irrigation of such lands ~ may be
made remunenively productive. If the
land is given to settlers it Is to be taxed
and the proceeds applied to irrigation
purposes
This synopsis OF the bill, which N
by telegraph from Washington. is Scarcely
clear enough in all It's details. but it seems
the senator is disposed to lay entirely too
much stress upon the simple irrigation
features of his bill. Pretty nearly every
state and proposed state presents features
that are peculiar to itself, and it d per-
haps too much to say that any specific
rules can be made applicable to them all.
Very much Of the land which the land
authorities At Washington seem to regard
as SO valuable, is practically worthless IS
it now.stAnds. In land matters the West
has been. and is now. handicapped. With
the laws being administered by men who
have little real knowledge Of the existing
conditions here the pathway Of the honest
settler is too frequently strewn with
thorns.
If the general government desires
speedy aud thorough development in tho
West why not turn the nnrsserved public
lands over to the various states n which
they are situated and let these states work
out themselves the peculiar local problems
which now stare them in the fsce? The
National government has almost drained
the life blood put Of Wyoming through its
land laws. As it happened the people
have until lately devoted themselves al
most exclusively to settlement in prefer
ence to development. As the lands
which they have acquired became hedged
in through settlement and the fencing of
the country they have in many cases be-
come practically valueless until such time
as agriculture and small stock growers give
them a marketable value.
Meantime, however. hundreds Of thous-
ands Of dollars are drained out Of the ter
ritory annually in payment of these lands
and the non is stacked up in the treas
ury vaults in Washington withdrawn
from circulation aud Of no value to the
government which has $40. 900, 900 moro
than it needs, without counting its sink
ingfurd. with which to defray every legii-
mate expense that can arise.
The unreserved public lands should be
turned over to the states and the t~erritor-
tories as they become states SO that the
proceeds Of their sale may help to build
up strong state governments instead Of
pihng up the money in the national
treasury where the surplus is SO great that
the ingenuity Of statesmen is exhausted
in the effort to legitimstely get rid Of it
Give the blooming West a showl