The Teton peak. [volume] (St. Anthony, Idaho) 1899-1904, 1904-04-21

their scrip upon the land and ac-
quire its ownership i'll large blocks.
And the people must stand off and
be denied any part OF right, because
someone has said they are guilty
of fraud.
IF these laws cannot be adj
ministered with the present depart
mental force, let us provide for this
detect. But for a fault that is not
the peoples; for a fraud that now
and then may occur, let us not re-
peal our laws that have built up
our country and made the staes OF
the middlewest great and prosper
Gus.
1T is also urged that the COM
mutation clause of the homestead
law should be repealed. Fraud,
fraud, fraud, that is the charge. But
where? They do not say. By
whom? They do not tell, only
many people III many places COM
mitt fraud. Again, ! say, their
charges should be more explicit.
II fraud exists III the great magni-
tude it is alleged, certainly it can
be found.
mot more than il out of every
fifteen or twenty homesteaders
desires the privilege Of the COM
mutation clause. One settler com
mutes because he wants 10 borrow
a little money to improve his place.
Another settler commutes i'll order
} that his family may live III some
nearby town and his children attend
a better school than the that
home affords. Still another COM
: mutes because, maybe, the an
) certainty OF life makes him DESTROYS
| of giving his family a homie that
is really theirs, or because threat
! OF sickness makes it necessary that
he or his family move away to
another country with another
climate. The Communication clause
: is not generally invoked, but when
t it IS, for the most part III the in
t terest Of the home builder, the
: settler, whose rights should be
| preserved. 1t is a good law and
ii should not be repealed.
. "Much has been said in regard
5 to the repeal of the desert land act,
e and a bill has been considered by
: the Committee Oh Irrigation for
+. DAYS. looking TO that end. The
| principal reason advanced is fraud
: and vet the Public Lands Commits
sion says just the opposite, and
that by careful administration all
f fraud may be avoided. The pro-
+ visions Of the law are such that
). whether or not they have been com
II piled with may be easily asoer-
l. tanned. 1t is safeguarded by reason
+ of its hard provisions beyond any
: other land Law, and there is no law
i anywhere upon our statute books,
0 under which fraud can with
|, 50 great difficulty. Today i'll all
this great arid region where this
law alone applies, only about one
d fourth OF one-fiIth Of all the entries
IA that are made are followed up by
final proof, and why? Because O
arduous requirements Of the law
y That is the reason why.
h ''Repeal this law and YOU checl
( home building just that much il
5 all the arid states where this Law
y applies. Retain it upon your STATUTE
5. books, and you retain the mean
whereby another farm may b
opened up; another orchard planted
IT another field plowed, anothe
garden grown.
lie 600 out to the West today am
i'll ride through the valleys of Idaho
hit Wyoming and Utah, and all tn
II other states where irrigation ha
I'd been carried on. Behold the vieN
so on every hand. 1.-THE geographic
ip of fifty years ago it was marke
5. out as The Great American Deser'
at Today it is almost an Ede1
a. Splendid orchards, beautitu
he gardens and abundant fields hav
he taken the place of cactus and sag
k brush and juniper trees. Home
u of frugal industry and happ
of laughter have succeeded the la
DIS of the wild beast. Schools al
Is, churches, the hand-naidens Of pre-
il. gress and civilization everywhel
By dot our vast expanse, and in it a
'er we see the splendid working Of OIL
Ito general land laws
81