Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-06-30
TEXAS LAND POLICY.
The Land Laws of Texas as They Are and
as They Ought to Be-By F. C.
Cook of stonewaIl County.

y Editor Gazette:
mss Believing that the advancement an,
AG development of West Texas should b
4 the chief end and aim of all her citizen
81 and with this object in view, shall Civ,
Sawhat experience of five years as a tile
Ssof the soil in West Texas has taught MI
sawould be good land policy, there be
Sslng no other questions that now or will
gain the future affect the homes of the peo-
a3ple in the West as much as the land laws
s5ot the state.
e That the present land laws are wholly
Ss Inadequate to meet the demands of the
n West and at the same time do equal JUS
7Stice both TO the settler and the state will
ssnot admit of argument, nor do 1 now
saseek to criticlse the acts of our repre-
X sentatlres in the past. Believing as dc
sgthat lhey have acted in good faith and
VI have done the best that could have been
s5done under the circumstances, and with
sSthe lights they had before them; but
sstimeS have changed, and the lands in
fNWest Texas, that few years ago were
s3considered as OF no value but for the
ssuRtiVe grass they produced, are now
ijtound to yield abundant and paying crops
Igby reasonable and sensible system of
IBaSriculture. But the man who attem pts
,1to build q home for himself and
Ishis children in West Texas is
Ismet by many, and in some
ceases almost insurmountable, obsta-
Ecles, the greatest of which is his lack of,
knowledge concerning the country in
(which he proposes to pitch his tent. UGdre.
9the present land law a man is compelled
Jto enter into contract with the state at.
5once to purchase any amount of land that
Che is entitled to whether he will ever be
gable to pay for same or not thus leopard
sizing the labor or improvements that he
smay have thereon, which in many in I
5stances is all that he may be possessed
sof, and should he meet with misfortunee
lor fail through no fault of his own tok
spay the interest due each year by given
Sdate, he sees his little all forfeited to thes
state, with no chance to ever realize any,
thing for his labor or means expended ins
improving what he once thought would
be his future home, but which he nowS
sees swallowed up by the FORGETTING
clause of statutory law. A law that ouf
fits face should be pronounced uncon-a
lstitutional from the fact that it invades8
the constitutional rights of the citizen ina
labor and means without giving even as
possible chance for compensation. TheseR
two evils, beng forced to purchase be-
yond his means, and FORGETTING his all FORE
failing to pay interest by a given date
each year, should receive the early andN
careful attention of our coming Iegisla- rs
ture, and q law framed that would allowN
a man to enter into a contract with the#.
state for 160 or 800 acres of land with thee
privilege of leasing an additional 16O orb
800 acres with the right to buy the landsN
so leased at any time within three years ~.
should the settler thus leasing fail to4,
enter into contract to purchase tbe&s
land SO leased within three years, heS
would forfeit his right to purchase suchH.
additional 100 or 800 acres and the slatea'
would have the right to have the sameE;
and sell to any other actualEs
settler. The interest on the actual Dur-El
chase should be made payable on q fixedEi
date each year; but should the settIerE
Tail to meet the interest when due an ad-
iitional interest of per cent. would bee
charged on the interest thus due. Thishs
would serve as spur to make the buyersss
pay his interest at the end of each year fs4
out in the event that he should fail fromES
allure Of crops or other misfortune toE
meet the interest due the additional SIS
Der cent. would not be burden that hefss
'ould not carry. Provided further, thatEs
whenever the purchaser shall be IN arr
ears on interest for five years from daS
Il last payment of interest, the staJs
you'd have the right through her taaI
collector of the county having jurisdic-,
ion to sell said lands to the highest bid-s
Ter after giving thirty days notice in Y
ONE newspaper published in the county b
there be one published in the county re-
not, then in the newspaper nearestHa
there the land is situated; and aftera3'
atisfying all CLAIMS held by the state theEsJ
alance, If any, to go to the orlginalEH
his heirs or assIgnees. El
The state would be perfectly safe in in
ulging her people to the extent of al-E
wing the interest to run for FIVE years5a
efore foreclOsing, as our experience has IA
aught us that raw lands in the organ ga
ed counties of West Texas have in 5J
reased in value from 100 to 400 peril
ent. in the last five years. Two Offs
lose five have been the worst that WestgNe
exas has ever seen, or may expect toA
,e in the future. Then again, settlers
'uld not, or would not, live on 100 orb
20 acres of land for five years wIthoutaa
uLliuS LDHL
mount TO at least 81 per acre. Thus, ifSa
lie land only increased in value 100 perNs5t.
mt. and the Improvements amount to32,
1other 100 per cent. the land at the III
Id of five years at the low estimategA
ould be worth at least Sc per acre. s
That is there would be plenty of buyersEg =
improved lands at that price. AnotherEu
gument in favor of this system, is theHd
ct that it takes the farmer two wears toss5;y
It his land in fair state of cultivation ~
1us three years would elapse from theS"
tie of purchase before he could reason :,
'ly hope to realize anything off of hisa u
rm, and in. the meantime under thew
esent law he must pay his interest an
Ially under penalty of forfeiture. IN
Rayner, Tex, May 81, 1890. @,
Eate