Arizona republican., 1902-11-10
The Lands and Forests.

To the people of the west the most
 interesting item in the annual report or
 Commissioner Hermann of the general
 land office is the statement that by the
 end of the current fiscal year there will
 for the construction of reservoirs and
 irrigation systems under the provis-
 ions of the irrigation law. This is
 really more money than the govern
 ment can use judiciously, for with the
 exception of the Tonto and San Carlos sites in this territory and one or two
 reservoir sites elsewhere, the geologi-
 cal survey is not yet in possession of
 the data necessary to enable the sec
 retary of the interior to proceed with the work of construction. And when
 it is remembered that the expenditure
 on a given reservoir must be spread
 over two or three years, it is clear that
 the government will always have a large surplus on hand in the reservoir
 fund, if the receipts from land sales continue to aggregate three or four
 million dollars a year.
 Aside from the item mentioned there are, however, other interesting facts in MT. Hernann's report. From the digest prepared by the Philadelphia
 Record it appears that during the last fiscal year there were aggregate en- l tries on behalf of states, railroads and homesteaders of 17,614, 792 acres-an area larger than the entire state of West Virginia-while 1,757, ,593 acres
 were sold outright for cash to intending
 settlers. The steady drift of poulatiol westward is shown in the selection by land grant railroads of over 100000
 acres, or more than double the area thus selected during the previous fiscal year. More than 100000 farms have | been added to the agricultural re- sources of the nation during a twelve
 month through the operations of the operations of the public land office There now remains available for set tlement about 3O0,O0O,O 900 acres of sur veyed public lands. Much of this area is. semi-arid, and probably 7O,OOOOOO acres would require irrigation in order. to render the land productive. There are over 6OO,OOO, 900 acres of unsurveyed lands; but more than one-haIf of this
 vast area is in Alaska, and much of the
 remainder in the mountains and un- cultivatable fastnesses of the Rockies. At the current rate of absorption, ac- cordingly, but ten or fifteen years time will be required to dispose of Uncle Sam's entire acreage of arable lands in
 the west
 With an enforced termination of our
 traditional homestead policy plainly in sight of the present generation, it be- comes more and more important to
 conserve judiciously and with patriotic wisdom the remaining available acre age of agricultural and timber lands. Neglect in this regard will increase
 enormously the difficulties attendant upon the governments eventual with drawal from it's long-sustained role of almoner to the landless. "The land for | the people" will be in the near future something more than a catchy phrase Of spread-eagle sentiment. When the l there will arise and develop a new ser ies of problems in social and political economy, involving the welfare of ex- some outlet must be found. Within the ensuing decade or two, it will be neces-
 sary to provide generously and perm anently for adequate forest reserves throughout what now remains of the
 public domain. Without its existing
 timber lands the new west would re-
 lapse into sterile aridity, from which
 could rescue it.
 In this lattre branch of public ser
 vice, however, the land office, with
 noteworthy assistence from other
 branches of federal administration, has made rapid progress. There are now established fifty-four government for est preserves, embracing over so, ,O0O, 900 acres, nearly one-third of which area has been added during the past twelvemonth. Forest fires have been notably decreased in number and in area of devastation, and intelligent ef- forts at reforestation have been in many instances attended with a fair degree of success. The western timber lands are, in effect the key of the pub lie land situation as it presents itself to official authority. Every hillside grove spared means a farm created in the valley, every denudation of tim bered land carries with it menace of future sterility,