The Elbert County tribune., 1903-06-04
sale of School Lands.


legged general or indiscriminate sale OF
state school lands by the State Land
Board. Governor Peabody has issued
the following signed statement:
''The majority membership OF the
present board is not at all worried by
the attacks against 1t during the past
week. We are acting In our Judgment
for the best interests of the state. or
which each county and every local
school district Is n part. and these
questions must be decided more or less
from a judicial standpoint. having all
these interests In view.
we have not established n policy
of selling state lands
I'VE have recently ordered several
small lots of land sold, usually in for
ty. eighty and i6O-acre tracts. wherc
the applicants have established homes
and for years have been the tenants OF
tho state. having invested all their saw
ings in improvements on state lands.
and where to have compelled them TO
follow the leasing system would hpve
been q rank injustice These lands will
provide n revenue from direct county
and school district taxation far In ex-
cess of the pro rata division OF the rev
enue derived from leasing them, AT tho
nAlHlf illllt. II puts int OMItI = nOlno
on n foundation secured by deed 10
the land. and does away with tho
shaky title secured by a lense, under
which the improvements on state lands
come to the market every time the
lease is renewed. because of the fact
that any person Is at liberty to enter n
bid for the land. Our action secures
for these purchasers and their families
permanent residence in our state,
which their Improvement of the land
sold shows they were striving TO win.
"A few counties are overloaded with
state lands. The continued rental OF
these lands. II the narrow policy OF not
selling anything was adopted, would
retard the development and progress OF
their school districts as well as the
counties themselves.
THE land board which Immediately
preceded us appears TO have held the
same views. II sold in i90i-2 9.is0
acres OF state lands and In most in-
stances the sales appear TO have been
ordered by unanimous vote OF the
board The average price was about
SS per acre. The records show that in
addition to the above the board unani-
mously voted to order sale OF 1.760
acres In Otero county on September IL.
1902. at which time 1t appears to have
very limited period of residence on tho
land to six years.
THE present land board hns unani-
n2usly ordered the sale OF about 1,2OO
acres to the Mormon settlement in
Coneios county. the land being situated
largely in the alkali belt. at an average
OF SO per acre; about 500 acres In 9TH
er parts of the state, several reservoir
cites, and has unanimously rejected APP
| plications for sale of about 1000 acres.
AT its last meeting the Republican
majority OF the board ordered several
GALES to be made, one of them roceiv-
ing the unanimous vote OF all the mem
| bers. Some of them are in Otero coun-
| ty. and minimum prices were fixed at
| SIS and 500 per acre. Another was to
| the Sugar Land and Irrigation Com
| pany. This company was allowed to
| purchase one-half OF a section for the
| erection of beet sugar factory and
trackage in Adams county. In addition
| to paying IS per acre for the land. they
have contracted to furnish water for
| irrigating other state lands TO the
value of $4,000. and which will easily
make the balance Of the section sell for
$3.50 per acre.
Perhaps this lis injurious to the
school fund II II is we want also to be
blamed for bringing the state land Of
| fee up to date In its work. We found
chaos when we took Office. To-day II is
In order working smoothly. and the
work is not tagging behind In any de-
partment
I'VE are constantly increasing the
acreage rented
I'VE are making uniform raises in
rentals of from twenty-five to fifty per
cent Where the old board was salts
GaI t,, for
farming lands we are securing In no
case less than 80 cents. and In some
cases as high as rs cents per acre
Prices now Will average about 40
cents
I'VE found 1900 due the state on
old certificates of purchase which
could have been collected by former
boards had their interest been as keen
in school fund matters as II is at this
time. We will collect a large part OF
this money. but In a number of in
stances the lands VIII revert to the
state.
I'VE found the Office full OF disputes
and contests that have hung fire for
years. and probably should be censured
for bringing about a settlement OF tho
controversy between the North and
Middle Park cattlcmen. whereby the
state school funds will derive a reye-
nue. of $1,000 per year. For eight
years previous to this time those lands
have not brought a cent of revenue to
the school funds.
"The majority OF the board expect
criticism. but we concede to none
greater interest in Colorado's schools
or Institutions than we possess. There
will probably be sales OF state lands or
dered In the future when the showing
made before fhp hoard iustifIaa auch
action. We promised the people OF THIS
state business administration and
they are going to get It,
stkafuC n r,tr4narv