, 1900-02-01
THE LAND LEASING QUESTION

ilSJ VI cue VI tHe petlIlOn Nv
the Rawlins Republican against
the policy of leasing the public
lands.
A good many of them seemed to
have little interest in the matter,
neither owning sheep, cattle,
ranches nor anything else save,
perhaps, real estate in town on
which they don't want to have
their taxes reduced 1t is motor
ious how easy it is to get people
to sign a petition-many of them
would rather do it than not
which will account for q good
many of the m
Then there is another class
we will take as q representative
Cosgriff Bros, who probably own
or control in the neighhorhood of
one hundred square miles of land
Counting in the government sec
tons in between X. r. sections.)
This class probably have all they
want now, but are m%iserably
afraid lest some one else should
get some tool We will not waste
sympathy on them.
Then there is another large
class of men who know that as the
leasing is done now it often works
against the public interest. AS to
the Union Pacific lands, we can
not prevent the r. r. from dis
posing of them as it pleases. The
next Legislature will compel les
sees or owner to designate bound
aries by sufficient posts or notices
besides the government
before they can prosecute for tres
pass.
Now as to the real question.
CI) 1t is not good public policy
to allow ownership or control of
large areas of land by one person.
We all know it. To prevent this
it will only be necessary to incor-
! porate in the leases hereafter made
this provision: IF by lease,
suitcase, sutfrance or agreement
of any kind, n corporation, COM
pany or individual shall appear
to have control or use of more
than five Tor tenn sections of state
land, it shall ipso facto terminate
the original leases on the excess
which shall then be open to lease
10y any other person, preference
being given to those living upon
adjacent or neighboring land. -.
(2) Much dissatisfaction has
been caused by the fact that in
some cases land has been leased
before other parties i'll the neigh
borhood knew of it. After appli-
cation has been made to lease
a certain tract of land and it has
been selected by the state, the fact
should be advertised in n newspa-
per of general circulation in the
same county, giving its legal sub
divisions and also giving its dis
lance and direction from the near
est postotfice. There is no more
excuse for secrecy in this matter
than in the matter of a desert or
homestead entry.
(3) There is one other objection.
a man said to me today, You
know that no one can afford to
pay five cents an acre for ordinary
desert pasture land here He was
right, Ordinary range land in
this part of the state should rent
at about one cent an acre as any
one who has had experience will
bear witness. When it lies under
bitches and can be easily irrigated
or i'll some exceptional cases where
bunch grass still lives in the
foot hills, it is worth more, but
that is less than one case out of
ten, The land should be selected
first and then appraised at its
true value. In the past people
knew that they could not expect
to lease land unless they would
pay five cents per acre for it, and
seeing it was a case of necessity
they agreed TO pay il, and had to
put n valuation on tho land ac-
cordingly. We must not blame
the Board of Land Commissioners
r., III. IF IL II /