Los Angeles herald., 1892-04-01
OUR ARID LANDS AND THE LAND
GRABBRR.

GRABBRR.
A strong movement is being made in |
congress to have the arid lands surren-
dered to the various states and telrito-
ries in which they are located. This
plan will meet with vigorous opposition.
There is quite general sentiment, at
least in the west, which favors the in
itiation of the scheme for the reclama-
tion OF these lands by the government
itself. Thus far congress has confined
its efforts to appropriations for surveys
of the arid regions with view to ascer-
tanning their water resources. This has
been naturally looked upon as the begin
ming of @ system of reclamations by
which the government would add to the
value of its own property. 1t is in no
sense a speculation, and it does not en-
ter into the domain of doubtful expendi-
lures, as to whose constitutionality there
might be reasonable doubt. There
would be as much warrant for such ex-
penditures as there is for leveeing the
Mississippi, constructing locks and other
conveniences of commerce in rivers and
improving harbors. Indeed, there would
be more, for the government would not
only add to the general prosperity OF the
country, as in those cases, but would
recoup itself by the sale of the lands
which had been supplied with the need
ed facilities for irrigation. While the
leading consideration in such pro-
gramme would not be money
making one, it is no drawback
to the carrying out OF great
national enterprise that it would pay
we'll. Having begun the work, congress
should see to it that it is pushed for
ward. Several sites for the irrigation of
the arid lands ought to be selected at
points sufficiently distant from each
other to avoid the appearance of Sec
tional favoritism, the water ought to be
developed and the lands sold in con-
venient tracts to actual settlers. The
price ought to be just about sufficient to
reimburse the government, with inter-
est on the investment. There is nothing
visionary in such a scheme. Managed
with ordinary business prudence it could
not fail to be success. Reservoirs.
bitches, submerged dams, and all the
appliances by which water can be devel-
| oped and distributed for the purpose of
irrigation, OF course cost money, but the
money SO employed would be like bread
cast upon the waters, and would return
to the national treasury before many
days. The adoption of such wholesale
plan OF reclamation of the public lands
would indefinitely extend the area Of
| the national domain, the fairest part of
which has been frittered away. 1t
would create new basis for homesteads
for the ambitious and industrious, and
would add amazingly to the wealth OF
the country. 1t would increase the
value of the arid lands themselves forty
fold, or, rather, it would impart value to
them, for, as they stand now, they are
worthless.
One of the Wyoming senators has in
troduced bill into the United States SEN
ate giving the arid lands to the several
states in which they are located. This
bill ought to be beaten. 1t would be
practically handing over these millions
of acres to state rings and to spectators,
who would soon have the best of them
in their possession, and who would only
tolerate the settler upon the payment
of big prices. The quick and dexterous
manner in which the school lands OF
California were gathered in by specula.
tors shows the way the intent of the
best intended laws can be defeated.
Congress ought to make provision fol
the spending OF $10,000,000 year, fol
the next ten years, in developing the
arid lands and preparing them for the
settler. They ought to be sold on easy
terms OF payment, and at price just
sufficient to make the national treasury
whole. The profit on the transaction
the United States could very we'll afford
to take in the multiplication OF pro.
ducers and taxpayers. The sale of the
land and water should be regulated vii b
great care, and the speculator should be
barred out. The rush which was made
to Oklahoma and to the Cherokee Strip
shows how great is the demand for farm.
ing lands in the United States. Hun
dreds of thousands of people are still
looking around for homesteads in the
west. 1t ought to be the policy of our
government to provide them. What
remains of the national domain ought
to be jealously guarded and zealously
extended. 1t ought to be looked upon
as sacred trust, religiously dedicated
to the people. The land available for
settlement can be indefinitely increased
by irrigation.