The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1903-03-20
FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 1908.
LAND LAWS.

CHANGING LAND LAWS.
According to information from
Washington the prospects for a change
in the national land laws at the next
session of congress are brighter than
they have been at any time since the
agitation for amendments began.
Almost Immediately following his
seating as a member of that body
Senator Gibson took up the matter of
changing the laws and after a hard
fight in the committee on public lands
had the satisfaction of being authoriz-
ed to make a report favorable to a bill
i repeating the timber and stone acts,
the desert land act and the commute
ton clause of the homestead law.
The purpose of the bill is the correc.
ton of the many abuses that have
grown up under those laws and which
have been the subjects of innumerable
reports and recommendations by diff
ferent secretaries of the interior and
commissioners of the general land Of
fee. 1t is true that the bill was re-
i, ported nea the closing hours of the
Fifty-seventh congress and too late to
be acted upon, but in the opinion of
those who are competent to judge hav-
ing the benefit of a favorable report in
one, congress will give the measure
much prestage in the next m
The report of the committee was
prepared by Mr.. Gibson and goes deep
ly Unto the subject with which it deals
and shows with much detail the
abuses that have been >practiced under
the laws as they now exist. Statistics
are given showing the n in
which the public domain is being &C
quired by spectators and corpora
tions who are violating the laws in
their dishonest greed for possession
OF lands, to the manifest detri1hent OF
the nation and the injury of the hon
est settlers who may desire to make
their homes on the land that the gov
eminent has been reserving for theil
use and benefit. During the ninety
days preceding it's submission the re
port says 6,1O9, 900 acres of govern
ment lands were filed on and if the
same ratio were continued no fewer
than 25. 10000 to 10000, 900 acre:
would be taken up before the end O.
the present fiscal year. If the presen
system of land acts is continued the
report says that within five years no
for settlement will remain for thu
benefit of the people who may wisf
to settle upon it.
Instances are taken from the repor
Of the secretary OF the interior which
show how the timber land law is TAX
en- advantage of by wealthy men ant
companies who want to secure IT'LL
to large and valuable tracts, while thu
desert land law is made the subjec
OF special treatment by Mr.. Gibson
and he shows why it should be repeal
ed. He says the law was not passed
for the benefit of farmers wishing tt
build homes in the far west, "but wa!
placed on the statute books, in the
first instance, to enable a few wealthy
men to acquire vast bodies of lane
in California. The facilities it gave
to rich men to obtain lands on an ex
tensive scale resulted in making thu
act applicable to all our arid anG
semi-arid states"
Powerful interests are arrayet
against the repeal of the laws named
in the committees report and it is ex
pected that should the bill or another
similar come up in the senate at the
next session a desperate effort will
be made to defeat it. The Wyoming
senator's and Hansbrough of NORTH
Dakota are apparently the spokesmer
for the opposition, which seemingly
comes the most from the large cat
tlemen, who, naturally, do not wan
the laws repealed.