The Teton peak. [volume] (St. Anthony, Idaho) 1899-1904, 1903-12-10

| ba tblu NOllu. lIbptT iinu laws
"a,,id he enacted. and the survey of the
syIic lands Immediately begun. Goal
pa laws should be provided whereby
.se coal-land entryman may make his
,sotion and secure patent under Meth
1s kindred to those now prescribed for
oa,nestead and mineral entrymen. Sal
nm hatchcries, exclusively under Gov
neut control, should be established.
rhe cable should be extended from Sitka
stward Wagon roads and trails
should be built and the building of rail-
nada promoted in all legitimate ways.
,,abt- houses should be built along the
i "eot Attention should be paid I'd the
. aoe5a of the Alaska Indians; provision
"hould be made for officer, with depu-
,ies TO study their needs, relieve their
Immediate wants, and help them adapt
themselves to the new conditions.
The commission appointed to investi-
cate. during the season of 1903, the con-
sition and needs of the Alaskan salmon
Gsheries, has finished its work In the
aeld and is preparing a detailed report
thereon. A preliminary report reciting
,he measures Immediately required for
the protection and preservation OF the
salmon industry has already been sub
mtted to the Secretary OF Commerce and
labor for his attention and for the needed
action. ;,
recommend that an appropriation be
made for building lighthouses in Hawaii
and taking possession of those already
built. The Territory should be reim-
bursed for whatever amounts 1t has al
ready expended for lighthouses. The
Governor should be empowered to sus-
nend or re move any official appointed by
him without submitting the matter to
tho legislature
The Philippines and Porto Rico.
~ our jnsular possessions the Philip
mines and Porto Rico it is gratifying to
say that their steady progress has been
such as to make it unnecessary. to spend
much time in discussing them. Yet the
congress should ever keep in mind that
peculiar obligation rests upon us to
further in every way the welfare OF these
communities. The Philippines should be
knit closer to us by tariff arrangements.
II would, OF course, be impossible sud
denly to raise the people of the islands to
he high pitch of industrial prosperity
and of governmental efficiency to which
they will in the end by degrees attain:
and the caution and moderation shown
in developing them have been among
the main reasons why this development
has hitherto gone on so smoothly. Scru-
puoas care has been taken in the choice
Of governmental agents and the entire
elimination of partisan politics from the
public service. The condition of the
islanders is in material things far better
than ever before. while their govern
mental Intellectual and moral advance
has kept pace with their mater al ad-
vance. No one people ever benefited an
other people more than we have bene-
fitted the Fiipinos by taking possession
of the islands.
Receipts of General Land Office.
The cash receipts of the General Land
Office for the last fiscal year were $ll.
GA, 743.6 5 an increase of 81, 1872 S1d.i1 over
the preceding year OF this sum- approx
imately, S. ,493 will go to the credi
of the fund for the reclamat ton of aric
land, making the total of this fund, VI
TO the S0th of June, 1903, approximately
slG 1885.
gratifying disposition ha beer
eviaced by those having unlawful in
closures OF public land to remdve tnei
fences. Nearly two million acres so in
closed have been thrown open on oe
mand. In but comparatively few case
has it been necessary to go into cour
to accomplish this purpose. This work vii
be vigorously prosecuted until all unlaw
full Enclosures have been removed.
Experience has shown that in the west
ern states themselves, well as in tn
rest of the country. there is widespread
conviction that certain of the ppblc-lan'
laws and the resulting mihistrativ
practice longer meet the prcsen
needs. The character and uses of tn
remaining public lands differ widel
from those of the public lands whc
Congress mad especially in viRw whe
these laws were passed. The rapidly In
creasing rate of disposal of the publ
lands is not followed by correspondin
Increase in the home building. There
tendency to mass in large holdings pub
lie lands, especially timber ami gram
lands, and thereby to retard settlement
renew and emphasize my recbmmenda
ton of last year that so far as they ar
available for agriculture in its broades
sense and to whatever extent they ma
be reclaimed under the material irriga
ton law the remaining public land
should be held rigidly for the HON
builder. The attention of the Congress
especially directed to the timber an
stone law the desert-land law and tn
Communication clause of the homestea
law. which in their operation have i
many respects conflicted with wise pull
iceland policy The discussions in tn
Congress and elsewhere have made
evident that there is wide divergeno
OF opinions between those holding oppt
site views on these subjects: and tina
the opposing sides have strong and cor
Vmced representatives of weight bot
within and without the Congress-; I'll
differences being not only as to matter
OF opinion but as to matters pr fact. !
order that definite information may
nave appointed a commission compose
OF w. A. Richards, Commissioner of II
General Land Office; Clifford Pincho
Shlef of the Bureau of Forestry of II
department of Agriculture. and +,
newell, Chief photographer Of the Ge'
logical Survey, to report at the carries
practicable moment upon the conditio
operation and effect of the present lar
laws and on the use, condition, dispose
ana settlement of the public lands. II
commission will report especially WIFI
changes in organization, laws. regul
uohs, and practice affecting the publ
lands are needed to effect the large
practicable disposition of the public lane
10 actual settlers who will build pc
niahent homes upon them, ard to secu
IN permanence the fullest and most e
iectlVe use of the resources of the pu
nc lands: and it will make such other
ports and recommendations rs it's stut
Vi these questions may suggest. III
commission is to report Immediately u
oh those points concerning which
Judgment is clear; on any point upt
which it has doubt it will take the tin
necessary to make investigation al
a In