The San Angelo press. (San Angelo, Tex.) 1897-1907, 1905-08-31
CATTLEMEN LOSE LEASES a
State Sale Win Reduce Acreage Held
Under System. VIII be
No Land Rush.

AS the time draws near when
the state of Texas is to place APP
proximately 100000 acres of
public school land on the market,
much interest 10 felt in the result
from the fact that it is the first
time in the history of Texas that
any portion of her public domain
has ever been offered for sale IN
this manner. When the state of
Texas was admitted into the
union aud became an integral
part of this great republic, it was
a part OF the contract entered
into between the republic OF
Texas and the United States gov
eminent that the new state
should retain control and owner
ship of all her public lands, and
every other section of this land
was Immediately set aside and re-
served as an endowment for the
public school fund of the state,
constituting the largest public
school endowment of any state in
the Union.
The arrangement by which
Texas entered the American
Union left the state in possession
of immense bodies of land, and
with comparatively little else
There were no railroads and but
little development of any kind i'll
the new empire thus added to the
American Union. The great land
interests of the state, however,
suggested the plan of encouraging
the building of railways, and "A
policy was adopted presenting
sixteen sections of land to the
mile for every mile of railway
constructed in the state. The
only stipulation was that the
land should be selected in alter
nate sections, and as the railway
companies located their section
they should also establish the
lines of the intervening sections,
each of which comprised $40
acres, for the benefit of the pub
lie school fund. This policy was
discontinued more than thirty
years ago, but not until consider
able railway mileage had been ac-
quired and millions of acres of the
public domain given away. More
: than 1900, 900 acres of this same
, public domain were exchanged
for the present magnificent state
capital building, much was given
for homesteads and the promo
! ton of irrigation in the arid dis
tricts, millions of acres have been
sold at from 81 to 81 per acre on
!. thirty and forty years time,
various state eleemosynary insti-
buttons have been richly en-
!. dowed, and still Texas has more
F. than Is, 900, 900 acres of this orig
inal public domain now belong
ing to the public school system,
, within her possession.
Various methods have been
adopted from time to time for the
disposition of this land, but the
: methods acquiring it in the past
have proved so satisfactory that
1 the last legislature passed a law
authorizing the sale of about
800, 900 acres to the highest bid
! der. The bulk of this land lies
\ in what may be termed the arid
] district of the state, although
1 small portions of it may be found
in almost every section of the
] state. The minimum price of
this land is fixed by the state and
! is embraced in the description
sent out from the state land
office at Austin. The maximum
price is to be fixed by the bidder,
who has the privilege of letting
! the principal of his bid run fol
! the period Of forty years, upon
4 the payment of one.fortieth OF
! the amount down, and the annual
payment of 3 per cent. interest.
The great bulk of the land has
: been occupied by the cattlemer
! who operate in the western part
! of the state. They have held n
4 under lease from the state fol
4 several wears, at the annual rate
! of 3 cents per acre year. This
! land is located within what was
I known as the absolute lease dis
! trict, where cattlemen were per
7 mitted to lease and use it for 6
. specified time, and it was not
= subject to sale, The rapid settle
e ment and development of the
4 country has caused the wIpinl
= out OF the absolute lease district
D and the lands have now come OF
Z the market for sale to the actua
{ settler upon the terms stated
& The cattlemen still have large
6 scope of the western portion o.
z the state comprising about IL,
3 600, 900 acres, under absolute
& lease, and there is not much dan
& ger of any immediate decadenc,