The daily silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1903-1907, 1905-01-21
CONSPIRACY TO
STEAL LANDS
Wholesale Raid to be Made on
= Remaining Public Domain
Menace to Homes

Guy II. MITCHELL, cdfelui SluutHt anu
writer on irrigation problems, says of
pending legislation in regard to the pub
lie domain:
wholesale raid is in evidence at
Washington designed upon the remaining
western public lands. Already this ses-
sion two bills have been introduced by
Representatives Martin and Brooks al
lowing a man to take up square mile
of government land In South Dakota and
in Colorado respectively, and permitting
those who may have already made a 16O-
acre homestead entry to make an addi-
tional entry OF $50 acres.
The claim has been persstently made
by western land meh that man can
anywhere in the west. and so this square
mie-home plan is brought forward as
means OF getting the public domain into
private ownership as rapidly as possible.
The question is. even assuming that GAO
acres is not too large a farm Tor the gov
ernment 10 give citizen. 20 whom will
this land go?
The bills above mentioned are modelled
after the kinkaid law. which applies tho
64O-acre unit to western Nebraska and
was slipped through Congress al the tail
end OF last session. Yet it was not thirty
this law the Nebraska cattlemen had Sc
cured about all they wanted In Nebraska.
The kinkaid law and the above bills pro-
vide that where a man has l60-acre en-
try. or a mere fling on 100 acres, he
shall have the preference right to enter
an adjoining 4S0 acres and in Nebraska
NSe cattlemen are alleged TO have "en-
tered" through their employees, their
choice of the lands, so that as soon as
the law passed they simply had to apply
in each case for the contiguous 4S0 acres
1t takes but a few such entries-they can
long-to control a vast territory of coun-
try.
1t was foreseen that similar bills to the
kinkaid Nebraska law would be imme-
diately introduced at this session and 1t is
understood that a number more such
measures will follow to include other
States. IL Congress is to act further in
this matter the issue must be met
sauarely and frankly. the present home
stead law overturned and square mile
made the homestead unit for the entire
country. instead of the present 16o acres.
Apparent safeguards are provided in
these bills. authorizing the Secretary of
the Interior to Immediately withdraw any
such lands as he may deem fit for irri-
cation under the national irrigation law.
Some such lands have, of course, been
constantly being withdrawn. under the
irrigation law itself. from speculative en-
try by use of the desert land law and the
Communication clause of the homestead
law. These Withdrawals are being made
from time to time, but only after investi-
cation and survey to determine which
may be irrigable lands. Active as the
theological Survey has been in it's weste-
q Investigations. II is more criminal
than absurd TO assume that the govern
ment is I'm possession of sufncient accu-
rate information regarding the billion or
so acres composing the entire western
half of the United States which would
enable II to intelligently withdraw what
may later prove to be irrigabe lands
With the utmost activity and the most
energetic surveys 1t must be ten If not
fifteen years before the government can
possibly know what are all its irrigable
lands.
In the meantime, under tne proposed
plan every acre will have been taken up
In these $40 acre tracts, and as provided in
The Brooks bill for Colorado, commuted,
NAfter the farce of a fourteen months
residence has been gone through with,
and then transferred to syndicates or cor