Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-10-05
Laws Are an Aid to Fraud and
Monopoly.
HIRING MEN TO BUILD UP RANCHES
Using Rights as Citizens Put
Premium on Perjury.
Il II e WAY IT IS DONE
'ecial Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

HELENA, Mont. October 1, 1901.
THE desert land act is the most iniqui-
tous piece of legislation ever placed upon
the statute books" said a prominent west
ern senator recently. without any per-
ceptible increase in our farming population
during the fiscal year ending June 80, over
100000 acres of Montana's choice farm
lands were paid for and receivers receipts
issued. 1t is fair to assume that at least
as many more acres were taken up during
the same period that have not been paid
for. How long, let me ask, can this work
OF acquiring land largely for the benefit Of
companies and corporations continue before
our rich arid domain will pass beyond the
reach of settlers and home builders? In
view of national aid in the retaining Of
our arid lands, the first step should be the
immediate repeal, of some of our present
land laws and the preservation of public
domain for actual settlers. If this cannot
be done, federal aid will only be a dream
1t can never be a reality, for the nation
VIII not appropriate money except it be in
the interest of actual settlement. When
the desert land act is repealed and the is
suing of scrip is stopped, as it should have
been long ago, and the public lands are
held for home builders, then. and not until
then, will we have laid the foundation for
the upbuilding Of agriculture and for an
industrial growth never surpassed in any
country.
We can readily understand why capital
lists IN Chicago, Boston and New York men
In nowise identified with the upbuilding Of
the western states, who have invested
money in cattle. sheep, water fronts and
Favored places commanding wide ranges,
should look with disfavor upon all meas
ures that tend to settlement and growth,
put 1t Is not easy to understand how men
living In the western states and taking
prade IN their achievements should be in
proprtety can we ask the federal govern
ment to expend millions of dollars in the
construction of reservoirs and irrigaring
canals after all the lands tributary to them
have been appropriated by a few men and
rev companies? In ninety cases out of a
hundred the provisions Of the desert land
act nave not been complied with In secur-
Ing title. In fact. the provisions of the
law have been fiagrantly violated and title
has been secured by the rankest perjury.
The General View.
This senator but expressed the general
view Of those who have investigated the
workings of the desert land law. This
law originated in 1875, when a big cattle
company In California, desiring to secure
title to large tract Of land, secured the
passage by Congress'of an act whereby it
was able to accomplish it's purpose nv
pretense of reclamation of government do
mann. The process was so easy that the
demand for a similar law became general
and In 1877 the desert land act, practically
as 1t now stands, was placed upon the STAT
ute book. Since 1877 there have been re a51
original desert filings under this law in
the ard states, covering 9.140,517 acres of
public land. OF all these filings made but
1o,9l2 have been proved up on and title
conveyed by the government, these final
proofs covering '2,674,695 acres. During
each year there are between $500 and 1900
desert filings made and between 500 and
800 final proofs accomplished, and it is
conservative to estimate that fully %
per cent OF the final proofs made on desert
lands are entirely fraudulent
AS the law now stands any citizen of
the United States can take up 800 acres of
arid land by making deposit at the time
Of filing of % cents per acre and paying
81 an acre more when title passes from
the government The law requires that be-
fore securing title the settlers shall prove
the ownership of sufficient water to irri-
gate this entire tract of land; shall prove
that he has expended at least 81 per acre
per year In improving the land, and that
he has actually irrigated within three
years from the time Of filing every legal
rtgation is the actual ownership of water,
the construction of the necessary canals
and bitches and the presence Of water upon
the land in sufficient quantities to pro-
duce a crop, as shown by the testimony of
witnesses.
Ten Dollars an Acre.
To honestly carry out the requirements
imposed by the law a man must have an
unquestioned water right OF sufficient vol
ume and. as experience has proved, make
an expenditure Of at least $40 an acre to
put this water upon the land in sufficient
quantities to raise a crop of some kind
which would not otherwise have grown
upon his claim. 1t is notorious fact
that thousands Of desert claims are filed
where there Is no possibility Of securing
the necessary water. 1t Is equally no.
torfous fact that the law is used In nearly
every instance to prevent others from set
Ting upon the land to secure monopoly of
live stock ranges or to monopolize water
holes and water fronts in such way as
to prevent others from using the public
range In that vicinity.
The manner in which many of the final
proofs are made upon these desert claims
Is almost incredible. In numerous In