The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1901-02-14
DANGER OF LAND LEASING.
Paris Gibson's Wise Views On the
Land Leasing Proposition.


From Rocky Mountain Husbandman
Editor Husbandman: | fully concur
in your opinion that great danger,
menaces the progress of the Rocky
Mountain west should what is known
as the King bill, or any similar bill,
be enacted by congress. The King
bill would cede the public domain in
the arid and semi-arid region to the
several states in which it is situated
thus giving our state governments
the power to dispose of the public
lands. The passage Of such a bill
would result in irreparable injury to
many of these states, and especially
to the great state of Montana, where
carnival of land grabbing by wealthy
men and corporations has already been
inaugurated through state land leas
ing and the inquitious desert land act
If the public lands are ceded to these
states, as contemplated in the King
bill. the entire public domain will at
once pass into the control of few
men, and this is really the object of
the bill. 1t is not framed in the
interest of the poor and the man,,
but for the sole benefit of the few
and of the rich; and it is radically op-
posed in it's spirit to the settlement
and the upbuilding of the Rocky
mountain west.
1t means that there shall be no ma
tional aid to the great work of irri-
CATION; that desert conditions shall be
maintained and that the rich farm
lands of Montana shall never pro-
duce anything but native grasses. 1t
means that, in lieu of prosperous farm
settlements and thriving communities
everywhere, few men or one or two
companies may control vast areas If
land 1t means that Montana shall have
no rural population and that it's cities
will be small because there will be no
surrounding country to maintain them.
If the public lands are ceded to the
states, the people of Montana know
full well, from experience already had
in land leasing, into whose hands
these lands will surely and quickly
pass. The people of central mad
eastern Montana know that a very few
men, and most of them non-residents,
are the beneficiaries of the existing
state leasing system and that under it
the choicest lands of this region have
been retired from settlement. If all
the federal lands within our state
are ceded to. it, can we expect bet
ter results than have already accrued
to the state in the disposition of it's
public lands? Cede the public lands
to Montana and you will see more
legislative corruption here while the
lands are being disposed of than was
ever dreamed of before in this state.
Combinations of capitalists, desiring
to acquire large bodies of land, can
and will shape legislation to suit
themselves. Can any intelligent
Montanan doubt this? AS this is
pre-eminently the age of greed, there
is a desire, hitherto unknown, on the
part of the rich, individuals and cor
porations, to acquire and control lands
in immense tracts. and unless all
measures looking to the ceding and
leasing of public lands are defeated,
there can be no hope for the settle
ment Of this state. Petitions, num-
erously signed, should be sent to con-
gress from every city and town n
Montana without delay, asking that
the public lands remain under the