Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-16
A GREAT !. LAND STEAL
Absorption !. Of the Public
Domain.
QUEsTIoNF I CONGRESS
LEGISLATORS INCLINED !. TO GIVE
MATTER MORE ATTENTION.
Senator Gibson of Montana Declares
That the Condition of Things
Is an Outrage.
QUESTIONsFORC CONGRESS

western land matters bid fair to assume
| cohsloeraole Importance in this Congress
| AS the question has risen from that of a
local issue In some of the western states
Whefe publfc-spirited men have for some
| time realized that valuable government
| farming lands were passing into the hands
| Oh SPECTATORS and wealthy stock interests
| instead OF going to settlers and farmers
VINO would create homes upon them and
upbulld their communities, to one of ma
tlonal Importance, where people outside OF
| the ard region are beginning to inquire
into the operations of the federal land laws
under which such conditions have obtained
| number of national statesmen feeling the
public pulse have announced their inten.
ton of championing measures of reform
along these lines. Senator Hansbrough OF
North Dakota has already introduced bill
amending the timber and stone act, and
Senator Quarles of Wisconsin will reintro-
| duce his bill of last Congress, providing fol
the absolute repeal of the timber and stone
act, the communication clause of the home
stead act and the desert land act while a
similar bill will be introduced in the House
inns Dill last winter got far as a favor
aoie report by the Senate public lands com
nlttee, and will undoubtedly be accorded
similar action this year.
SENATOR G1bSOnS Devotion.
Although nothing has as yet been heard
from him, Senator Gibson of Montana Is the
man who has done as much in Congress to
arouse interest in the land question as any
one.
AT the time of his election to the Senate
two years ago Senator Gibson made the
statement that he would devote his serv-
ices to the public land question, some thing
In which there was then no public interest,
ana ne mas been consistently urging upon
ms IeiloW legislators and the public that
there Is no more important question today
imam the enactment of a radical change in
the administration of our great public do
MAIN senator Gibson comes from a state
Where frauds under the land laws have
been most fragrant, and he has ample evil
dence at his command that hundreds of
thousands, if not millions, of acres of fine
farming land have in years passed and are
today passing into the hands of wealthy
and powerful corporations instead of being
settled up into small farms and made the
basis of homes.
Taken by Big Companies.
TN my own. Great Falls, land district, -
Senator Gibson said, great unbroken tracts
of public land suitable for farming, with
or without irrigation, and ranging from
1OOo to 10000 acres in extent have since
the policy of government irrigation became
a probability, been acquired by prominent
land holders under the desert land law and
the communication clause of the homestead
law. 1heSe laws, In the northwest are
mace use of by the big companies in the
most fagrant manner. The desert land
law IS supposed to contemplate the irriga-
tlon or the land entered. In a great MANY
cases of which l know persons1Iv na+ant
mas Deen secured from the government I'M
der this law where no irrigation has been
attempted or is possible
Much of this land is situated on what
We term the benches Under the shadow
OF the mountains, where sufficient rainfall
occurs to insure excellent Yields In other
cases large tracts of public land taken nm
der this law have been irrigated but thew
are now held as stock ranges and such re-
clamatIon has brought no Increase of
settlement to our communities The fun
damental defect in the desert land law
is that 1t does not require residence We
want men rather than steers To devotion
our communities. The water supply of Mon
tana is magnificent and those who have
the agricultural development of our state
at heart are outraged at this absorption of
our rich farming lands, which should be
irrigated for settlement from the splendid
rivers flowing out of our Rocky mountains
The state building that we want is that
of the home maker on his small and pros
porous farm of so or 160 acres
Under this desert land law SPECTATORS
and syndfcates keep on taking up land as
long men and women can be found to
sell their land rights. This law originated
in California and there is now in that state
as a single result of it fertile and pro-
ductive valley of 100000 acres, owned and
controlled by two families.
Lands Taken Last Year.
I'VE have still half billion acres of re-
manning public lands. OF these some 90
100000 acres passed into private hands
last year. But what was the nature of
these lands? Needless to say they were
not located upon the mountain tops, ridges
and impossible gulches of the Rocky
mountain region, which comprise proba-
bly, four-fifths of the remaining government
land they were selected with due refer
ence to their worth for agriculture and
constitute the choicest land resources of
the government.
This absorption. largely under the des-
ert land act the communication clause of the
homestead act and the timber and stone
act, is constantly going on at an even
greater rate. In my judgment their re-
peal is legislation absolutely necessary to
our development They are running the
splendid agricultural prospects of our
northwestern states. The only law that
we should have upon the statute books is
the homestead law, bereft of its commu-
tation privileges. Under this homemade
ing act settlers go upon 100 acres of
public land and obtain title to 1t after an
actual residence upon it and cultivation
for five years.
Il hope the day has come when the
nation is awakening to the fact that an un-
paralleled steal is being consummated be-
fore it's very eyes. The national conven-
lions of the democratic and the republi-
can parties have from time to time during
the last forty years resolved that the pub
lie land should be preserved sacredly for
actual settlers, but for the succeeding
four years after each such convention the
dictates of the big land holders and land
spectators have continuously prevailed"