The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-06-18

WASHINGTON, June 1S.-(Special.)-
Before long Uncle Sam will be in a posi-
ton to make you the handsome present
of a tropical home in one of his new
islands Counting over the spoils of war
and annexation, he finds that $1,000, 600
acres, distributed in various islands, have
been added to his public domain. If all
of this land were adjacent it would form
a vast tract equal to Utah in area.
And what is to be done with all of this
wealth of tropical land to which there is
no private title? The bulk of it is to be
settled by loyal citizens and subjects of
the United States through homestead
scheme which must be especially devised
In the near future. But Uncle Sam will
first set aside some of this vast area for
his own purposes. He will need fortii-
cations, arsenals, military posts, bar
racks and navy yards, but most of these
will be located where old Spanish and
Hawaiian military stations have stood.
Uncle Sam will also need sites for public
buildings. He will probably need tracts
to be used as reservations for the native
Filipino tribes, such of them as are I'M
49,
the islands sufficient public land for all
loyal Americans willing to work for it
under the homestead scheme shortly to
be devised.
A brand new homestead law will have
to be enacted for the new colonies be-
cause the standing laws are not appli-
cable. They had to be extended to Alas
ka by special act and many alterations In
the old continental laws were made for
the Arctic territory.
BY far the greater proportion of this
new addition to the public domain hes In
the Philippines. The war department es-
Inmates the entire area of the group to be
equal to that of the great territory OF
Arizona Much more than a half Of this
is either uninhabited or occupied only by
wild tribes of wandering savages whose
abodes are no more permanent nor liked
than are those of the beasts of the jun
giles whereabouts.
In Puerto Rico there are additional
public lands from which Spain derived
revenue, but the insular bureau the en-
bryo of the new colonial department
has not yet determined their exact ex-
tent Spain made few If any accurate
SURVEYS, either gSOn0Ilc OF SSOlokiC.
Even upon the peninsula her only reliable
surveys directly surround Madrid.
1t is found that in Hawaii we fall heir
to ]. Up, $40 acres of public lands, including
the crown lands of Liiokalanfs regime.
These Hawaiian government lands are
alone greater than the entire state or
Delawar 1t is estimated that about
10000 acres are suitable for coffee grow
ing, said to be the coming industry OF
fc, orc nm IN
%, 900 acres, while 1000 acres more are
rice lands -Four hundred and ffty-one
thousand acres are used for grazing,
while 681 900 acres contain rich forests.
When we came into possession of HAWAII
the local government was receiving an
. income aggregating 100000 year from
such of these lands as were leased 10
private parties. OF the add1tlonal ma
Waiian government lands now added to
orr nrblic domain, 145 acres are in build
ing lots in Honolulu and Elilo. About
two-thirds of the public areas lie In the
island of Hawaii. The remaining third
is scattered over the many remaining
islands AS in the case of the other new
possessions, Our existing land laws 90 not
apply to any of this and new ones must
be shortly framed Congress will have
to act before the tracts can be opened
to settlement Meanwhile the ISLANDS
can profit by the 100000 a year received
in rentals. This as we'll as all future
money received in any way from the
tracts will be used solely for the educa-
| ticn' or public uses of people living In
Hawaii, except when needed for building
| army and navy stations and public build
| ingS.
The new homestead laws for the colo
| MES will, without doubt, provide that any
one. whether of American or foreign
birth. can earn for himself a home II
| citizen of the United States, or even II
| having applied for naturalization 1t Will
probably be required that he be OF age
| unless a married man, soldier, sailor
| or a marine To encourage colonization
| the usual period of five years, during
which the land must be cultivated ana
| improved, before the receipt of the title
may be reduced to four or even three
wears. 1t is also probable that unusual
inducements will be offered to the brave
boys participating in the Spanish-Ameri-
can war and the present brush with the
hostile Filipinos. Without doubt their
periods of service will be deducted from