The morning call., 1890-06-10
THE CONDITION OF SETTLERS.

The friends of irrigation have run against
Il snag at the very start Of their enterprise.
Nearly two years ago alarm arose lest
spectators, obtaining early knowledge OF
the plans of the Government surveyors,
should monopolize the arid lands which
were to be made valuable by irrigation,
and Congress. on October 2, 1888, passed
law Withdrawing from sale all lands select
ed for reservoirs, bitches or canals, and all
l&nds made susceptible of Irrigation by
such reservoirs, bitches or canals. Subse-
quently, without due consideration OF this
law, thousands Of bona-fide settlers in Cali.
fornia, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colo
rado. Washington, Nevada, Idaho and
Montana took up Government land by regu-
lar process Of entry, and cultivated it by
the aid of irrigation works of their own.
.: They are now informed at the land offices
that no patents can issue for such land and
that the entries will in due course be can
celed. as having been made contrary to
law. and the lands forfeited to the Govern
ment with all the improvements thereon.
Some days ago these settlers moved a
friendly Senator to inquire of the Secretary
of the Interior whether lie proposed to put
this construction ON the act of October,
1888. He replied on Wednesday, and trans
mitted to the Senate an opinion by the At
torney- General stating that the effect of the
act in question was to withdraw from sale
all Western land susceptible to irrigation.
. that is TO say the whole arid area of the
West, and that all entries of such land
made subsequently to October 2, 1888, were
void and Of no effect. That the opinion has
spread CONSERVATION among the new set
tiers of the western portion of the conti-
nent goes without saying. They are ask
ing why the Registers Of the land offices
accepted the entries if they were illegal
and of no effect?
.. 1t is not to be supposed that Congress had
any intention to defraud bona-fde settlers
when 1t passed the act of 1888. Its object
was to reserve the arid lands for such set
tiers, and to prevent their being gobbled by
capitalists or corporations. But in the con-
fusion incidental 10 the close Of the session.
the provision against land monopoly was
carelessly drawn, and it strikes at the very
class which Congress desired to protect
None of the members who voted for it
realized that the wording Of the ac. would
have so wide-reaching and disastrous an eff
feet. But the law stands as they drew it,
and the officers of Government are bound
to-apply it as they find it, without regard to
any opinions they may entertain Of the OBJ
lect which its authors had in view.
1t would seem that an amendment Of the
act is in order. a way must be found to
bar spectators out CT the public domain
without defraGding bona-fde settlers of the
homesteads which they have improved by
private irrigation works. Indeed, if the
present land laws are faithfully carried out
it is difficult for spectators or corporations
to lay hands on any considerable area of
land. Every one knows the trick by which
corporations have succeeded in monop-
oliziDg large stretches Of redwood land in
Humboldt and other counties; but they
could not have accomplished their purpose
without the conDiyance of Government
officials ON the spot. A Quarter-section of