The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-03-17
Would Stop Land Grabbing and
Save. $780, 900 Annually.
SyndicateslDefraud Government
Under Existing Laws.
PLANS FOR COLONIES.
Would Aid Poor to Farm Re-
claimed Arid Lands.
Proposes That Uncle Sam Lend
Funds to CoIonists.

Washington, March 16.-Representa-
tive Reeder has introduced into the
house of representatives a BILL which
if it becomes a law, will be what he
terms the second STEP in a gigantic
plan TO provide homes for the deserving
poor of the United States. Mr.. Reeder
terms the national irrigation act the
first STEP in this direction. The bill
provides for the repeal of the timber
and stone acts and the repeal of the
communication clause in the homestead
act, by means of which Mr.. Reeder
says the government is being robbed of
hundreds of millions of dollars in the
sale of timber lands for comparatively
nothing. The purpose of Mr.. Reeder's
bill introduced on Saturday is to stop
this practice. and retain the lands to
the United States for the purpose OF
carrying out the third step" in his
great plan for the relief of the deserv-
ing poor citizens Of the United States
who have no homes. This third STEP
is as yet far in the future, and provides
for colonization, backed by the govern-
ment. BY means of his third STEP IL
is proposed to have the government
loan money to poor people who have
farming implements and horses, and
sell them land on deferred payments.
In other words the government is to set
them up in the farming business, and
they are to repay the loan as they are
able by the work of their hands. Mr..
Reeded has much data on the subject
of colonization. and is cons stantly c01s
llecting more of ii. He SAYS that tho
plan is now in successful operation -
New Zealand. where the governments
has embarked in the colonization bus
mess. He says it is being successfully
operated in this country by the Saliva
tion Army who have colonies in Colo
lrado, California and Ohio. He has talk
ed with Comma nder Booth-Tucker. of
the Salvation Army, who approves OF
his scheme.
The last step in Mr.. Reeder's great
colonization scheme is as yet only vague
land indefinite even in the mind OF Its
sponsor. He realizes that difficulties in
| the way of the practical application OF
8 his theories, but thinks they are none
the less feasible for all that. It Will
take long time to work them out, but
he believes that in the end 1t can be
accomplished. He realizes, too, the So
cialistic tendencies of his theories and
the prejudice against them, but believes
this prejudice can be overcome. The
most formidable obstacle in the way,
Mr.. Reeder says, lies in the difficulty
there would be in selecting men who are
deserving of the help of the government
and who are entitled to confidence and
| CONSIDERATION.
cause of the fact that it conducts its
operations among the poor people of the
United States, is familiar with condi-
tions and is able to discriminate between
the men who are worthy and those who
are not. The government would not
enjoy any such advantage, and for this
reason the task would be one beset
with many problems. But that they
could be solved in the long run Mr..
Reeder is confident.
The bill introduced by Mr.. Feeder on
Saturday. however. is a measure to
be considered entirely apart from it's
bearing on any colonization scheme, he
says Its primary purpose is to save
to the government something like
twenty million dollars a year, which is
now going into the pockets of the land
grabbers, who form corporations and
| syndicates and under the timber and
stone acts and the communication clause
of the homestead acts, which are re-
pealed by the terms OF Mr.. Reeder9
BILL are able to buy timber lands for
81. so acre which are worth much
more-in some cases thirty or forty
times as much. Mr.. Reeder's particular
interest in this plunder of the public
treasury is due to the fact that by
means of the national irrigation act
the money for the sale of these lands
is a part of the reclamation fund. In
! this way the reclamation fund is being
| defrauded out of millions of dollars
that ought to be pouring into it. And
when Mr.. Reeder's irrigation sympa-
|
| he is touched in a vulnerable spot.
By means of the bill introduced by
Mr.. Reeder, if it becomes a law. it Is
proposed to offer for sale only the tim
| Der from the land affected. He has
| figured it out that the proceeds from
, the sale of the timber alone ought to
amount to four or five times as much
as the sale of the land and the timber
: combined now do In other words, un-
! der the operation of the Reeder bill.
the government would sell the timber
retain the land itself, which later. by
the application of his colonization
scheme, could be sold to the poor peo-
pie who are to be benefciaries under it.
In the meantime, the title to the land
} still being vested in the government. it
} could be used in furthering the plan for
the irrigation of arid lands under the
law PASSED by the last congress. BY the
terms of Mr.. Reeder's bill one-fifth of the
timber on all lands is to be reserved. to
be converted into forest reserves for the
prevention of floods and the conservation
2 of the flood waters.
Mr. Reeder anticipates that his bill Will
| meet with much opposition from members
of congress representing states affected
by 1t. These states are California. Ore
gOn and Nevada and Washington terri
tory. The land grabbers' are constitu-
entS of these members, and they would
be expected to endeayor to protect their
| interests. But he believes the operation
of the present land laws are so obviously
! disadvantag geous to the government that
the measure will command sufficient sup
port when the facts are known to result
2 in its passage. . The general scheme en-
: the approval of the commissioner of the
general land office and the secretary OF
1.-THE interior LESLIE WALLACE.