, 1891-03-18
POOR SATISFACTION.

The Sun, in a long and rather rambling
article on the new public land laws, ad-
vances this argument
The TACT is hat none Of the old laws
were adapted to the wants of Wyoming
settlers. aud under the most liberal con-
~structions of them there were great hard
ships encountered in consequence Of the
requirements Of the law as to occupancy
Of land from which 1t was exceedingly
difficult TO obtain a livelihood.
For the reason that they we're not good
the Sun seems to think the RepubicancOu-
gress was justified in making them worse.
In other words while under the old order
of things, with all its annoying r~estric-
tons, thousands of acres Of the public
lands we're passing from the government
to private ownership, 1t was beneficial to
the West to repeal two Of the laws and so
hamper the remaining two that practically
no land at all could be taken up under
them. This cannot be regarded but AS
peculiar logic coming from any source
which claims to be gifted with human
intelligence. Under the old order Of
AAAuE0 Ahg hAHluNNN va AAe eNAAh wac
sufficient to support six land Offices, at
Cheyenne, Evanston. Douglas. Sundance,
Buffalo and Lander respectively. Under
the new order Of things the land office
officials themselves say the business will
not more than decently maintain one
office, This may be all for the public
good but many people cannot sec it that
way. Indeed the Buffalo Bulletin, with
a fcryor truly worthy OF admiration. proves
TO its satisfaction that many people
OF Wyoming are land poor because
they own more land than they can
comfort,bly look after aud uroclaims ia
stentoriau tones that 100 acres will be
sufficient for anyone alter the land La,
been irrigated But there's the rub.
Much OF the land which can be brought
under irrigation by costly irrigation works
Is still the property OF the govern
mcnt. Il is next to impossible for a
man to comply with the condi.
tions imposed preliminary to secureing
title-what them Without the land it
would be foolish to build expensive lri-
CATION works. Meanwhile settlers are
rapidly drifting elsewhere, to Texas for
instance, where athe preliminary con
dituuns are less Oncrous. 1t is not
sufficient to tell the people OF Wyoming
that state ownership Of the lands settles
the question. We do not doubt that
fact, but we fear there is a long and
thorny road to be Travelled before that is
accomplished. II is what we are to do
meanwhile, under the operations of the
odious law which our own representatives
helped to enact, that worries the people.
Ii is poor satisfaction to be told that the
next congress will do wonders for the
West when our representatives in the
last congress we're not true to the in
tcrests Of their own constituents. If they
were false this month why not next win
ter2
Few men in Wyoming would lay a straw
in the way of the Wyoming Develop
meut compau gaining title to the lands
which they have earned. Senator Carey,
who is n large owner of the stock Of the
company, sacrificed the Interests Of his
constituents So that be might personally
profit by the enactment OF this law.
Even yet the fabric which he so laborously
raised may fall about his ears, Tor the
construction locally placed upon the law
is uniavorable to his private interests.
The Republican press on this question
is in the same old business Of swearing
that black is white. But in this instance
the people will not prove color blind.