Omaha daily bee., 1902-03-23

H94&&1 fraudulent requirement Of cattle
- and sheep ranges and the building
up of big land holdings by corporations or
individuals who are protecting themselves
against the gradual contraction of the free
range. 1t seems incredible that men can
be hired so easily to commit perjury. Each
and every homesteader who takes up a
claim with the idea Of selling it to a com
pany, or who takes it up to accommodate
his employer, who wants to range his sheep
or cattle to the exclusion of others, perjures
himself from the time he makes the first
application to the moment he accomplishes
his final proof and receives his patent. The
fraudulent use of the homestead law is due
to the fact that five years residence is no
longer required to secure a title, to the
utter uselessness of the law to the settler
in the arid domain, and 20 the laXity with
which the requirements of the law are ad-
ministered by the land office. No one ia
miliar with the west will dare assert that
rnSe is any opportunity for the taking
up of legitimate homesteads to anywhere
near the extent manifested in the original
filings made during the past twelve months.
Thus it is that a law which, in its day,
has been a boon of inestimable value to
humanity has become a vehicle of fraud and
a demoralizing influence upon the people
of the newest states.
The desert land act was passed in 1877.
Since that time there have been S6,951
original desert filings in the arid states,
these filings covering an area of 9~,14O,517
acres of public land. OF all these filings
but 1892 have been proved up on and
lie conveyed by the government to the
-idual, these final proofs covering 1884,
hres. During each year there have
between $500 and 5000 desert land
uons made, and between 500 and 900
al proofs accomplished. 1t is a con-
sentative estimate to say that fully 95 per
cent Of the final proofs made on desert
lands are entirely fraudulent.
Irrigation Rights.
AS the law now stands any citizen of the
United States can take up 800 acres Of arid
land, making a deposit Of 25 cents per acre
at the time of filing and paying 81 an acre
more when title is secured from the gov
eminent. The law requires that before
securing title the settler shall prove the
ownership of sufficient water to irrigate
this entire tract of land, shall prove that
he has expended at least 81 per acre each
year in improving the land and that he
has actually irrigated, within three years
from the time of filing, every legal sub
division of his claim.
To honestly carry out the requirements
imposed by this 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
this claim.
The manner in which many Of the final
proofs are made upon these desert claims
is almost Incredible. In numerous instances
no attempt is made to water the land at
all, the principal effort being expended in
the securing Of witnesses who will swear
to a statement Of alleged facts required by
the land office before patent issues. Some
individuals make a practice of furnishing
testimony for those who desire to prove UP
fraudulently upon their government claims.
To ease the conscience Of others, instances
are recorded where water has been poured
upcp the land from a pail so the statement
Ycan be made by the witnesses that they
ave seen water upon the claim
turning IA Trick.
- In well-known and now p~opulous valleys
many of the arid states there are hun
reds of authentic cases where enough
water to irrigate forty acres has been used
to obtain title to thousands of acres. Each
ell I has been proved up on by the use OF
my stream, the stream being diverted
ne claim to another in succession, as
- aided by the witnesses who were tC
swear as to the reclamation of the land. II
may be stated without exaggeration thai
nearly all of the large landholdings oil
] ranches of the west have been built up by
! fraudulent use of the land laws, and nota-
bly, by the fraudulent use of the homestead
and desert land acts. In the first few year:
of the operation Of the latter law eacf
claimant was allowed $40 acres, and undel
this law great valleys and plains were alb.
sorbed en- bloc by individuals and corpora,
tions, who employed people to use theiI
desert land rights all for the benefit of
single establishment. The amount Of Lane
which can be taken under the desert lane