The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-03-10

posed of more than five hundred million
acres of valuable timber land, receiving
| therefore about $50, 10000.
| Individuals without funds of their own
] have been employed to make entries for
| others with large capital, who have paid
| the expenses, and some wealthy specuIa-
| tors have made enormous fortunes.
Considering the forests simply as prop
| erty whose only use is to be converted
| into lumber and other materials of COM
| numerical value. the government has dis
posed of them at an actual loss of consid
| erably more than s100,e9o,0oO.
| In other words through the operations
| of this law the public property worth
more than s130. 100000 has been disposed
of for about $4,000, coo
The fact that SO large part of the ma
| TONS resources has gone into the con-
| troll of a few individuals or companies is
not the most serious effect of the law.
The principal injury consists in the loss
| of control of millions Of acres OF timber
land to which future generations of
American citizens must look not only
for their supply of timber and timber
pIOuUClS, buI ICI 10 IHe supply
of water. upon which will depend the
fertile and most of the agricultural lands
| of the West.
The Desert Land act was placed upon
the statute books in the first instance to
| enable a few wealthy men to acquire vast
bodies of land in California. The facili-
ties it gave to rich men to obtain land on
| on an extensive scale resulted in making
the act applicable to all of our arid and
semi-arid States.
In a great majority Of cases its pro-
visions have been Elegantly violated. Men
and women have in numerous instances
been employed TO take up land in con-
| tinuous bodies. from 5000 acres even to
800. 600 acres and to turn them over to
| land proprietors, to be used chiefly for
grazing purposes.
For more than twenty years this act
has been looked upon with disfavor by
succeeding Presidents and by all of the
men who have been placed at the head
of the Interior aetrpetaoinetaoi netnin
Of the Interior Department and the Land
Office, and they have -persistenly urged
its repeal.
The repeal of the homestead communal
ton provision is demanded because of
the speculative character it gives to that
act. Instead of requiring the settler TO
live five years upon his land before re
ceiving title it allows him TO prove up at
the end of fourteen mmonths by paying
minimum price for the land
The presumption law, which allowed this
form of land purchase, was repealed be-
cause of the notorious abuse, and the
Communication clause of the homestead
act is merely a presumption law in another
form. Twenty-Five years ago Senator
Teller.then secretary of the Interior,
said;-"1t is my opinion that the time
has fully arrived when the wastefulness
in the disposal of public lands should
cease and that the portion stin remaining
should be economical for the use of set
tiers only
Special agents of the Interior Depart
ment have filed scores of reports, and all
of these reports are record of such
fragrant violations of the law that in
any other branch of the government they
would have resulted in immediate agita-
ton and subsequent remedial legislation.
A report just made by the Secretary of
the Interior, in response to a request for
information on the part of the Senate
committee, condemns these three purposes
to repeal, and thoroughly demonstrates
by statistics the remarkable fact that
no adequate measures are now beinb en-
ployed by the government to discoved
frauds in acquiring public lands.
This is illustrated by the fact that of
SO 26S homesteads committed in the ten
years prior to 1902, only 21O were inves-
tigated. OF the 1885 desert land proofs
made during the same term of ten years,
only 14S We're investigated The percent
age of fraud found in the course of these
limited investigations was such as to lead
TO the conclusion that a thorough ex-
animation Of all the land transactions be-
tween the government and alleged set
tiers would lead to startling disclosures.
In Wyoming alone eighty-five per cent
of the desert land claims investigated were
found to be fraudulent.
1t is evident from the small number of
Investigations of lands taken up under
the Timber and Stone act, the Desert
Land act and the Communication clause
of the Homestead act during the last ten
years that the necessity of securing the
public lands against fraudulent entries
and final proofs is now considered of less
Importance than is was formerly.
An official statement made by Secretary
Lamar stands out in sharp contrast. for
it appears that fraudulent land entries
covering four hundred thousand acres
were cancelled in the two years prior to
1857. It is not necessary to state that
fraudulent land entries are being made
as frequently now as at any previous
time. for there never has been in the life
of this nation a time when public lands
have been taken as rapidly as now with
such a small corresponding increase in
the population.
Intimately connected with this public
land question Is the fight for a leasing
bill, which has been carried on intermit-
tently in Washington for several years.
The cattlemen find it expensive 10 hire
persons 10 take up homesteads for them
even at the apparently low price for
which these services can be obtained, as
shown by the investigations made by
Colonel Mos5y in Nebraska during the
last few months
If the cattemen could secure the pass
age of 4 new law allowing the Secretary
Of the Interior 70 make long term leases
Of large tracts Of grazing land at mini
mum prices per acre. they are willing to
take their chances Of controlling the re-
manning public land TO the practical ex-
clusion Of all prospective settlers.
Omcers OF the government. and others
who are in favor of preserving these pub
lie lands for settlers. have had the power
ful combined cattle and sheep interests