Omaha daily bee., 1906-11-26

rental after substantially the following
manner.
First-Rererendum when the voters Of
any precinct Cor precinCtsl desire that said
lands come within this proposed act, that
upon petition signed by one-hfth Of the
voters ot said precinct the county COM
missionCrs be required TO submit the ques-
ton Of leasing, az any regular election, a
majority vote being necessary 70 carry.
That upon the returns showing the same
20 have been carried the county canvassing
board certify the same 70 the local land
omcC m which district the land ls iocateu,
which in turn shall certify same TO the
general land office.
second-The general land Office shall re-
quire that the local Office give thirty days
notice TO all who desire to lease five sec
tons (3.2O0 aCresl or less. Provided always
that none but actual homestead entrymen
or owners of real estate or lessees OF state
school lands contiguous shall be eligible to
apply. That upon said day applications
shall be opened and the local land ONCE
shall proceed 10 apportton said lands pc
tween said applicants, giving each as nearly
the amount applied for as conditions viii
permit, always Eeeping in mind conuguity'
CNote-The reason S.2OO acres is named is
because 81 is believed that since the land
cannot be farmed in cereal products and
must necessarily be devoted TO cattle. that
II viii require at least six sections tone
homestead and Eve leased sections 3.So
acres) TO maintain famts 1t requires
about forty acres to Craze an animal, and
SIX sections comprise ninety-siN fOrttes
therefore II would support about that num-
Der Of cattle I'm summer, and part az least
OF 10 must I'm some manner he made to
grow forage OF some kind OF the problem
Of winter food Is al once "a serious question
20 the future settler. Those already in the
country have acquired the hay valleys for
winter forage and need the leased lands
only Tor summer gr0zngD
Larger Lessccs Provided For.
Third-Those requiring 1900 acres or less
having been provided, thirty days notice
should be given to those who desire oft
acres or less, qualifications being same and
land apporuOued I'm same manner as in
former instance. This would enable those
having a little larger herds TO prov dc toi
their requirements In grazing lands.
Fourth-After the two former classes hac
been provided FOR the remaining lands could
be offered and apportioned In same manner
to the owners OF larger herds. II shout
be understood that anyone being appor
toned lands under any one Offering coulo
not in any way. participate at any iutur,
Offering. In this manner the small mai
would be given the preference both as L
location and quality of the lands. IN thls
manner also, every acre would come unoel
lease, without the acrimony and rear 10
the small man lease to highest bidder Woult
certainly engender.
per annum per acre would Yield an annun
revenue of Sl5.OOO. OF this $4,000 1t occurs
to me that an equitable distribution woul'
be about as follows:
one half t. the general government for
reclamaticn fund ...,...,.......'.''''.''F ''Ft'Vy
or the remaining one-half of $I,50O-one
fourth to state fund .................-.; III
One-fourth to the county general fund. 1Sl
And one-half (Or one-fourth of the en-
tire revcnuo) to the support OF schools
with the said leased territory; or
where no schools are maintained, to
the county school fund ............... S,oj
S.5c
If the vacant lands in a single county ca
= at this very low rental be made to yiel
Si5OUO per year. why is IL not logical ths
should do IT? n that small area can b
made to turn that amount into the treas
uries annually, what possibilit : can nc
j. be looked forward to I'm revenue when tn
entire public domain shall have been leaset
say at same figure?
! Millions of Dollars in Revenue.
= Possibly Cherry county contains on'
: fourth of the remaining vacant lands {
5 Nebraska. II so, the entire lease would ag
4 grcgate $4,000 annually, OF which one-ha
e should remain i'm the state to help mair
e tain state county and school government
r According to the report of the Eeneri
9 land ofice for the year ending June 30. $50
there still remain S17,527l67 acres of GOV
I ernment domain, or public land, OF which
is safe to say at least 500,OOOOOO acres j
within the so-called arid or semi-arid di
: trict. That land, at the small price of
< cent per acre per year. would yield an al
% nuaI earning of S5.000O00. Divided by tw
e the general government would receiN
Y So 10000, the estimated cost of the gle;
i Belle Fourche (S d. irrigation unuertakin
o IL one years rental Of these lands will pa
: the entire cost OF that great irrigation pro
. ect in the interim. before these lane
could be taken by homcsteaders Gf eve
the entire government outlay for irrigatio
could be paid for by these rentals ar
y should be. Add to this the S25OO,0OO whiC
, | wonld be added. annually, for stale, count
/ and schools throughout that vast area an
: Il sCemsrto me tndefensible TO longer col
z tinue as at present.
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