The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-13
NEED NEW METHODS
THE GOVERNMENT DEFRAUDED IN
THE FOREST RESER-
VATIONS
SHOULD HAVE COURT OF CLAIMS
Thousands of Acres of Stumps
Turned in as Forest and
Owners Indem-
nified.


ing rise to many complications due to i'm
p6rfections in the law and an apparent
lack o. understanding on the part of
those charged with carrying it out
About fifty million acres of forest have
been reserved from the public domain
for the purpose of protecting not only the
timber but the water supply originating
in the mountains. These reservations have
invariably been made upon straight north
and south, east and west, lines, generally
following the section lines of the land
surveys. AT it is evident that no forest
or forest land is found in exactly rect
angular blocks, it mTst follow that in
these reservations are many acres of
open valley land, suitable for settlement
or upon which settlement has been made
The reservations have been set aside
however regardless of this fact. and
those who already had secured land from
the government within the lines of these
new reserves have been compensated by
being given transferable scrip, emitting
mem Il. take up other government land,
acre for acre, in lieu of the land alb
. sorne1 in the forest reservation.
So much of this scrip has been issued
OF late That 1t has become a recognized
marketable product. and the going price
Tor the same in Washington Idaho and
other states where reservations have been
made is s. per acre. This scrip is bought
10y to.se who have exhausted their land
rights as citizens to further extend their
possessions by large live stock companies
To perfect their hold upon the public
rarse, and by railroads and other cor
poratCnS. who have need of certain pieces
Of land for which there is no other way to
obtain title. This scheme of issuing in
Gemnlty scrip has made an opening for
widespread abuse OF a law which was
thoroughly good in its intent 1t is a
DRAWBACK to any section of the country
t. have the mountain valleys reserved
liom settlement. for these valleys oft
times contain the richest and most ara
Die land, ana furnish admirable live stock
ranches. The reservation of the forest is
O. course enormously beneficial but the
same result can be secured by making
tAeSe reservations conform to the timber
anu not section lines. That is to saw
the timber district could be drawn out
upon map according to the Topography
OF the country and not ACCORDING 70
lA- surveys. This would include all of
the forests and exclude all of the land
NHleh might have been settled upon or
tuuiu pe settled upon in the future This
pan Is highly indOrsed by Prof. Pincbot
81 me bureau Of forestry, and by MIR
Newell the chief of the hvdrooranl,icoI
survey: but for some reason or other
there seems to be great difficulty in Sc
.fihS consideration for this much-needed
cnahse IN the present system
i-+ result of issuing scrip to settlers
M-IN-li me forest reservations has been
IN. u many instances they have obtain
81 indemnity land in lieu of other land
from Nhlch they have stripped the Tim
"ei, and Which was taken IN nv tboce
S-I--rIS Tor the sole purpose of securing
Lre iInoef which could be cut therefroTo
!" cases OF this kind the government fs
S-i---UsU' not only of the original tim
Der which was on the land bnt Of H.
az" sven IN return for the cession of a
lot o. SJumDs
B. - not uncommon to find. upon in.
FeSISauon. that some of the forest ras-
eiNd Lous have been issued in reaDonsa
20 Ps1uohs gotten up by lot of SET
'lelS' VINO md it much more profitable
10 secure damages from their inonroI,o-
ments and scrip for their land than 70
continue their residence upon the oria
maj claim. A demand for a resor vation
based upon a scheme Of mis- kind he
comes purely political job, and while
'le area y .'l0n has been yielded to
sucn demands is -comparativelv- Srna1I
there are number of notorious casaS
"leit the government has been worked
EuseuFely through political influence
mere are now $4,000, 600 more acres rea-
'ii-ilithotd TO zthe land office for forest
reservations, and many of those who
ere most earnestly in favor of reservine
an 81 TIE forest are extremely anxious
mat the government should first change
It's system of marking out these reserv9-
Mons ana examine very thoroughly into
the origin Of the demand for each ad-
ou"nai reserve before such reserves are
ST. aside.
During the year 1900 there were nearly
25tn entries made under the timber ana
stone act. These entries covered an area
OF ABOUT 100000 acres, and brought the
government $4,000 in cash. The law
provides that this land can be bought
pN any citizen in quantities not to exceed
1to acres, and at the rate of So an
acre, II such land is proven to be more
valuable FOR timber or stone than it is
Tor AGRICULTURAL purposes and is not
available for mineral exploitation. There
does rot seem to be any great need for
such 9 law. 1t is seldom used legiti-
mateIy. for nearly all of the entries
made are for the purpose of controlling
land for some specific purpose. and not
for getting timber or for ouarryinsg
stone. In Wyoming a number OF stock
men have used this law to increase their
privileges upon the public range In
Colorado the law has been used by rail-
road and other corporations to secure
land Tor industrial enterprises or for
small town sites which the companies de-
sire 20 control These purposes are not
necessarily evil, but it should not be
necessary that the law be evaded or men
commit perjury to work out legitimate
and admirable enterprise. Some time
ago senator Wolcott introduced in con-
gTess coke-Oven bill, which was to
provide some means of securing land
near coal mines on which to build coke
ovens and other structures necessary
to carry on the business. This bill
was never heard of, however, since its
Introduction, and recent effort has
been made to revive it.
While it is true that congress has al
ready apparently exhausted it's ingenuity
IN devising schemes for getting rid of
the public domain, it is equally true that
q nam Der of new laws could be enacted to
the material advantage and prosperity of
the Western states. There should be
some law which would provide that in
diViduals or corporations could secure the
necessary acreage for Industrial enter
prises The acreage of such filings would
not be large, and each one of them if
honestly carried out as a large percen-
taGe OF them would be, would represent
far more good to the state in which Sit
Uated than an equal area devoted to al
most any other purpose. The present
tewnsire law is inadequate to the pur-
pose. and all of the other laws contain
certain requirements which malxG it I'M
possible TO take the land honestly and
use il even for the purpose of building a
plant to cost several million dollars and
employ thousands of men. The man who
Iomesteads such a piece of land for the
purpose of selling it out to the company
commits perjury. The man who takes it
under the placer act, the timber and
stone act the desert land act, or any of
the mineral acts, likewise evades the
moral responsibility placed upon him by