Arizona republican., 1901-10-04
NEEDS SOME FIXING
The Evils of the Present
 Homestead Law
It Should Be Made to Apply to the Arid Region and Should Be Made Adjustable to New Con ditions.

Denver, Colo, Oct 3.-The home stead law, after having accomplished a magnificent work in bringing about the settlement of the western states. has outlived it's usefulness in its pres ent form. The public land area to which the homestead law applied in spirit as well as letter was practically exhausted several years ago. Ir fu- tile attempt to render less onerouS the provision requiring five years resi- dence upon a homestead claim before title passed from the government. con- gress nulfified the original intention of the law by making it subservient to the purposes Of land grabbers and spscr- iators. This wa@ done by the so-called communication provision which at first allowed a homesteader to obtain title
 to his claim after six months residence and by the payment of SIPS or S2-50 on this communication privilege was changed so to require at least thir- teen months residence before the land could be bought from the government. But even this still allows the home stead right to be used in manner not contemplated by the law or in the i'm terest of good government.
 The law as 1t now stands gives the settler two options. He can settle upon enter and acquire title to 160 acres or land practically free of cost by estab- fishing and maintaining residence thereon and improving and cu1tivatiny the land for q continuous period of five years. He may. on the other hand. at the end of fourteen months of sucn continuous residence. improvement anu cultivation. secure a patent from the government by paying S1-25 per. acre for his land if it lies without the limits of railroad grants or s2.50 per acre within such Nmits- Tn either case act ual residence, improvement and culti- vation are theoretically required. He must. according to the law. make ap- plication for this land in honesty and good faith not as an agent for others. but in the honest intention to make home. and all agreements to sell prio;
 to the Issuing of the patent are forbid den.
 In paying for this land he can use cash, military bounty land warrants. agricultural college scrip or private land scrip. It is a well known fact that without an exception the home stead law is used today entirely in the uous residence and cultivation from
 the beginning is practical inpossibii- ity. One exception may be made to this sweeping generalization, and that
 is where a homestead is filed in the arid region under some canal or othsr
 water works constructed for the pur>
 pose of furnishing irrigation water to incoming settles. There are few eases of this kind, however for the reason that before such canals are built the companies take good care to secure
 title to all irrigable lands. as such land Is worth far more with a water right
 than the price charged by the govern ment.
 The commissioner of the land office. in his annual report. which will be published this month, will call atten- tion in a spirit of congratulatioa to the enormous number of homestead filings recorded in the fiscal year end ing June 30. 1901. He will show that during that year there were 6S,64S original homestead entries covering 9.497. .275 acres of land, this being an in crease of. about 10 per cent over the i number of filings in any year since the enactment of the homestead law in 1882. The commissioner will alsl show that about 5000 ,homesteads. GOV ering about 100000 acres of land, were commuted during the past year The government received for these com
 muted homesteads over S5o0.0O0 in cash
 which viewed from a narrow business [ slanCpOlII, InlSnI De SsilQ to De SdtlS- factory: but when considered in the light of the real intentions of the gov ernment. the purpose of the law, the morality of the communities in whicn these homesteads are secured, and the welfare of the states and territories in which they are established it is q most
 undesirable showing. During the year
 1901 the original homestead entries. final proofs and coh1muted homestea1s amounted to 111.390 entries, covering 15.z55.057 acres. or more land than has been segregated from the public do- | main in any one year since the founda | tion of this government.
 Those who are familiar with ths , present condition of the public domail 1 and it's practical restriction to the arid region may well inquire whence comes ' this boom in homestead location upon | land which is practically uninhabit abie i without the expenditure of an average of Sl0 per acre for securing the neees- | sary water. What is more. II Is also 1 known that thousands of these filings i are made upon lands where irrigation i is an impossibility at the present stage
 Of the country's development.
 i Since the passage of the homestead act in 1862 there have been about l. 345, eco original homestead filings, GOV ering about 1S0.C00,000 acres. During . this same period the government has 1 issued 637.0o0 patents to homestead claims. covering about S6, 100000 acres.
 It is evident, therefore. that about 50
 per cent of those who make original
 homestead filings carry the process
 through to completion and receive tit.e to the land.
 | Tine truth of the matter Is that this remarkable increase in the number of
 homestead filings means that fraud is
 becoming more common and apparent
 ly easier to accomplish. The men who
 control the big cattle and sheep ranges
 realize more keenly each year the en-
 croachments of the settlers upon theiI
 land Tn check this sattlament. ana