Arizona republican., 1901-10-18
NEED NEW METHODS
Government Defrauded in For-
 est Reservations
Thousands of Acres of Stumps Turned in as Forests and Owner Indemni- fied-New Court of Land Claims Suggested.

Genver, OctL 1.-The present scheme of forest reservation and the adminis- traticn of the same are giving rise to many complications que to imperfec- tions in the law and an apparent lack of understanding on the part of those charged with carrying it out
 About 50.0000O0 acres of forest have been reserved from the public domain for the purpose of protecting not only the timber but the water supply origi- nsiuinS in the mountains. Thsse res=r- Na,tors have invariably been made up- in straight north and south and east and west lines, generally following the section linss Of the land surveys. As it is evident that no forest or forest land Is found in exactly rectangular blocks II must follow that in these reserva- tions are H.any acres of open valley -S1i;ld suitable for settlement or upon which settlement has been made. The reservations have been set aside, how ever, regardless Of this fact, and those who already had secured land from the gove. nmsnt within the lines of these new reserves have been compen- saied by being given transferabls scrip; emitting ,asm to Jake up o;har govsrn- ment land acre for acre in lieu of the
 
 So much of this scrip has been issued , of late that il has become a recognized marketable product. and the going pT-ce for the same in Washington, Idaho and oLler states where reserva- tiens have besn made is s5 per acrs. This scrip is bought by those who have exhars,,e ed their land rights as citizens to further extend their possessions. by large live sock companies to perfect r. I,~-. -.V [ by railroads and other corporations who have need of certain pieces of land for which there is no other way to ob- tain title. This scheme of issuing in demrity scrip has made an opening for widespread abuse of a law which was thoroughly good in its intent. It is a. drawback to any section of the coun- try to have the mountain valleys re- ss,ved from settlement. for these val-I leys ofttimes contain the richest and most arabIe land and furnish admir- able live otock ranches. The rsserva- ton of the forest is, of course, enor nouzly beneficial but the same result would be secured by making these res ervatiC1s conform to the timber and rot to section lines. That is to say. the timber district could be drawn out upon map according to the topog- raphy of tihe country and not according = of the forests and exclude all of the land which might have been settfsd upcn CT could be settled upon in the future. This plan is highly indOrs2d by Prof. Pinchot of the bureau of for e1try and by Mr. Newell. the chief of t!ze hydrogTaphical survey: but for some reason or othsr there seems to be grSat difficulty in securing considera- ton for this much needed change in the preserat system.
 The result of issuing scrip to settlers within the foresJ reservations has been that in many instances they have ob- tair5ed indemnity land in lisu of other land from which they have stripped all of the timber and which was taken up by these settlers for the sole purpose of securing the lumber which could be cut uneIefrom. In cases of this kind tte government is defrauied not only of the original timber which was on the land. but of the land given in re- turn for the ceEsion Of lot of stumps.
 It is not uncommon to find, upon in- vestigatron that some of the forest res ervltfons have been issued in response to petitions gotten up by a lot of set tlers, who find it much more profitable to secure damages for their land than to continue their residence upon the o.tginal calm. A demand for a reser-
 
 kind becomes purely a political job, and while the area which has been yielded to such demands is compara- lively small. :'here are number of mo- toriOus cases wf.sre the government teis been worked effectively through DO orsical influence. There are now o6,- GOO. 900 more acres recommended to the land office fo: forest reservations. and many of those who are most earnestly .Nft t,aaf are extremely anxious that the govern- ment should first change it's system of r,af-king out these reservations and ex- anime very thoroughly into the origin Of the demand for each additional re serve before such reserves are set aziGe.
 During the year 1900 there were near ly 2,5O0 entries made under the timoer arl stone act. These entries covered an area Of about S0o.o00 acres. ard brought the government $'oO.OOo In cash The law provides that this land can ht. bought by any citizen in quan- rties not to exceed 160 acres and at the rate of $2.5o an acre. if such rand IS rsroyen to be more valuable for timber CT stone than i. is for agricultural pul l poses and is not available for mineral expioj. ation. There does rot seem to- i be any g1-siats need for such a law It is |. seldom usei legitimately, for nearly all , of tte entries made a:e for the purpose of cen rolling land for some specahc purpose, and nct for getting timber or for quarrying stone. In Wyoming number of stockmen have used this law to increase their privileges upon the public range. In Co;orado the law has | bean used by railroad and other corpo- l rations to secure land for industrial en- terpIssss or for small town sites which | f.aasl Nt1laen | purposes are not necessarily evil but it should not be necessary that the law be evided or men commit perjury to work out a sgitinlate and admirable enter