The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-12-16

liz AAolIICSICGIu Scllu desert land laws.
Ills proposal was not accepted by
either the repealers or the nonrepeal-
erS. Ii 1t had been department Off
clals DeleVe the recent timber scan
daIs In the mountain states would
have been avoided.
Senator Hansbrough's compromise
proposals will take up much of the
time of the winters session, and the
controversy over them in the press
turnout the country has grown quite
heated. He has also introduced bill
seeking to cure specific defects in the
desert land act.
When the irrigation bill became
law enthusiasts foresaw the reclama-
ton OF almost every arid acre in the
west. Some of the speakers at the ir-
rlgat1on congress in Ogden, honest and
Intelligent men, but deriving much of
their irrigation knowledge from the
text books, made myriads Of grass
blades grow where one had grown be-
fore. The whole region west Of the
Tooth parallel, according to their
view, would be one perennial field,
"blossoming as the rose.'' Several
state congresses-One of them was
held In North Dakota-sent commit
tees to Washington, bent upon secur-
ing portions of the reclamation fund.
In their enthusiasm the promoters
OF the irrigation meetings overlooked
the item of water. Of land there is
no limit. But it is found that not
more than 8 per cent Of the total
arid and semiarid area Of the country
can be subdued thru irrigation, be-
cause water is not available.
The vast expanse Of land which can
not be reclaimed by irrigation raises
question with which thoughtful
legislators must deal. The radical
advocates of land law reform say:
preserve the public domain for the
hN1 brill
except the final homestead law"
Communication Law Necessary.
When that vast army composing
Horace Greeley's young men, who
moved towards the new west to Sc
cure their growth, had reached the
plains of the Platte and the prairies of
the upper Missouri, the old homestead
law was found to be not wholly
adapted to human needs. Hence the
COMPUTED homestead law was passed,
enabling an entryman, after six (once
changedto fourteen) months residence
and cultivation, to make final proof on
paying S1.25 per acre for the land
This enabled him to mortgage his
claim and borrow from $500 to $500.
With this small working capital bet
ter houses were built, stock was pur-
chased, provisions were obtained, and
doctors bills were paid. The COM
muted lands became taxable immedi-
ately upon proof being made, and out
Of these taxes schools and roads were
built.
AS settlement advanced into the arid
and semi-arid regions irrigation was
found indispensable to successful stock
raising, and there was a demand for
law adapted to local needs. The,
desert land act was the result. =, This
law allowed a qualified person to pay
rs cents per acre at the time of entry,
and pay the government 81 per acre
at the time Of proof after making i'm
provements to the extent of 81 per
acre each year for three years.
| One would suppose, from reading
the general charges of fraud and cor
ruption that the whole public domain
| had been, or was being, gobbled up.
under the communication and desert
| land acts; whereas, in twenty-five
years, from 1881 to 1908, according to
official figures, out of 1S5, 100000 acres
of government land disposed Of under
the various laws, only 2O,575,795
acres have passed from the govern
ment into private hands under these
| two laws or a little more than 9 per
cent of the whole area disposed of.
| During the same twenty-five years,
to railroads, 100000 acres have
been taken under the original, or five
year, homestead law, and 100000
acres under the timber and stone act.
Syndicates are CuIpable,
Undoubtedly all the homestead laws,
as we'll as the timber and stone and
the desert land acts have been used to
q considerable extent in an illegitimate
/ way by cattlemen and timber syndi-
Gates. The application OF fine term
fraud in connection with the opera
ton of the law relative to timber is not
wholly warranted. The. supreme
court has decided that unless the gov
eminent proves a prior agreement be-
| tween the entryman and some second
vidual may file upon $50 acres Of tim
Der land, and at the time of proof
sixty days after entry, and within
ninety days thereafter, he may pay
/ $3.50 per acre and dispose of the land
without being open to a charge of
fraud. SO the fault lies in the laxity
of the law itself. The Hansbrough
bill, now pending, would change the
governments timber policy by provid-
| ing for the sale of the right to cut
and dispose Of the matured timber,
retaining the fee to the land. This
would have a direct tendency towards
demonstration.
am told it should not be accepted
as a fact that Irregularities do not oc-
cur under the original, Or five-year,
| homestead law, which the advocates
of repeal are in favor Of retaining. The
final homesteads exceed the committed
homesteads more than four to one,
and the desert entries almost twenty to
one. The homestead commuter must
pay the government 5000 at the date
!, of proof, while the desert entryman
pays the government $1.25 per acre for
his 800 acres and is required to make
improvements to the extent of $500.
/ The final HON esteader makes no pay
ments whatever, and altho he must re-
side on the land five years as against
fourteen months residence for the
commuter, his compliance or noncom-
piance with the law depends greatly
upon his local surroundings.
Homesteader Must Be Honest.
In the isolated arid sections of Mon
tana, and in one or two other states
where the land is fit only for grazing
purposes, and where there is no water
for irrigation, the final homesteader
has no fear Of a contest against his
claim, for the land is not sought for
agricultural purposes. His neighbors,
who are few, are for the most part
EJ-n Ii al l.