Arizona republican., 1904-03-13
Official Approval of the Land Laws.

pecially outside of Italy.
 l -
 Official Approval of the Land Laws. | We note with considerable satisfac-
 tion that the commission appointed by
 President Roosevelt to investigate the general land laws with view to re- commenting necessary changes to con gress has reported that the laws are very satisfactory as they are,
 The Republican has been almost
 alone among leading western papers
 in declining to be stampeded for re-
 peal of the desert land act, repeal os
 the stone and timber act, repeal of the communication clause of the homestead law, and so forth. We have taken the
 position that while frauds undoubtedly
 have been committed under the lan4 laws, tEere has been a great deal of exaggerltiOn in estimating the extent and importance of the frauds. And tho abuses complained of have occurred through mistakes in administration. here and there. rather than through the existence of the laws themselves. The vigorous manner in which the ser- retary of the interior nas been pur- suing the boodlers warrants the ex- pectation that further frauds in the land service will be difficult to accom- plish.
 Some of our highly esteemed friends have insisted hn should be repealed and nothing left in their place but stringent hone stead law. and on the face of it as welt as after investigation, this policy has is to benefit to the fullest from the operation of the national reclamation act there should be no legislation which would restrict the inflow of rev revenue now amounts to several million dollars a year, and much of it comes from the filings under the desert ilrd act and the operation of the other laws which our friends complain of The Arizona delegation to the, last irriga- ton congress voted almost unanimously for the repeal of these laws, and we are convinced that this action was talk en without properly considering the depicting effects upon the reclamation fund should the laws be repealed
 The commission appointed by Pres ident Roosevelt was composed of the best talent. and of course the recon mendations are altogether unselfsh The commission, consisting of Clifford Pinchot United States forester. former Governor Richards, commissioner Of the general land office and Frederick Haynes Newell, chief engineer of the geological survey, took up the lnvesti- eation in the belief that the laws should be repealed. After investigating these laws, however, both in the land office and in the west, the commission has arrived al a totally different ccnc.u- sion.
 The commission Goes not belive that the laws should be repealed, but re- comments that tne stone and timber itl bt SO dititnuEu LS to I)TONllG TOT the sale of timber on government lands. It declares against the repeal of the communication clause of the home .tead act, which it says has worked 70 the advantage of legitimate settlers and the government alike, and recommends only minor changes in the desert iand act. The commission reports that most of the alleged irregularities in connec- tion with the land entries grow out of the necessity of holding land for forest reservations, and suggesting some ex-. cellent changes in connection with the lieu land selection act.
 The recommendations of the commits sion, in so far as they apply to the stone and timber act, have already been practically embodied in a bill intro duced in the senate by Senator Hans brough, chairman of the committee on public lands.