The herald., 1894-03-12
THE RIGHT TO ROADS.

Public roads are as necessary as air,
or sunlight, or rain. 1t is not possible
to get along without them in civilized
community. All lands, no matter by
whom owned, are held subject to this
requirement. Every owner of land,
from necessity, makes use of the land of
others whenever he goes forth. He can
not move from his own door without
using some road, and then he travels
over the land of some one else from
whom this land was taken. No man
can therefore consistently object to the
use Of his land for public road when
ever the public convenience requires it.
This mutual concession of right of way
for roads is at the basis of our civiliza-
tion and cannot be ignored without a
step toward barharism. There would
be neither consistency nor justice in
denying to the public this right to high
ways, and no good citizen can be ex-
pected to do it.
There are, however, people who claim
to be good American citizens who con-
tend vigorously against it. Many very
necessary roads in this county have been
denied the public, and even many old
roads have been closed up by the own
srs Of the land through which they hap
pened to run. This has been done, not
only on Spanish grant lands, but also on
lands of the United States. or which
were the lands of the government before
settled upon. The disposition to yield
to the arbitrary usurpation of public
roads by private land claimants has
been, it would seem, marked feature
OF our public policy. An unaccountable
reluctance on the part of our officers to
prosecute and punish encroachmenta
upon highways has always manifested
itself, and the consequence has been dis
astrous to the public. Many valuable
roads have been lost from sheer neglect
of those whose duty it WAS to protect
them.
In 1866 congress enacted the following
law: "The right of way for the conGtruc-
tion of highways over public lands not
reserved for public use is hereby
granted"
There would seem to be no possibility
Of Misunderstanding this enactment,
and yet it is doubtful if any heed what
ever has been given it by settlers on
government lands in this county. In
numerous instances it has been ignored
entirely, greatly to the detriment and
inconvenience of the public. 1t is an
absolute grant of right of way by con-
gress to the people, or to the state in
which the land is situated, and cannot
be defeated by lapse OF time. 1t does
not appear why it may not be taken ad-
vantage of at any time when the neces-
sity exists, and the proper officer sees
fit to move in the matter under the
state law.
While much trouble has arisen in
this and other countries out of q disre-
gard of this act OF congress, greater
trouble, If possible, has sprung from the
owners OF Spanish grants. These own
ets, as a rule, concede to the public as
few highways as possible. Their lands
are generally fenced in, and the fewer
roads across them, the less fences have
to be- built. 1t thus occurs that people
near Spanish grant are frequently
compelled to travel miles out of their
way TO get around some mans pasture,
and without doubt hundreds Of thou
sands of miles are travelled in that way
unnecessarily every year in this coun-
rry. This is one of the evils flowing
fr,ra tho presence of large Spanish and
Moxicsn grants of land mong Us, and
70 u reason why they should be broken
pp. The public may yet find some way
IA relieve itself OF these unmitigated
naisances. 1t is susceptible of clearest