Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1907-02-27
THE LEASING OF THE PUBLIC
 DOMAIN.

''N'iihk iH' l'hN' Nl'Hi VT
 the unrescrvcd public domain for graz.
 ing purposes, is meeting with great op-
 position throughout the Rocky Noun.
 tain states and Territories, where the
 bulk of the public lands of the United
 States is now situated. Ever since the
 establishment of this government. the
 unrcscrvcd public lands have been free
 and open range and it looks as if it k
 too late in the day to make n change.
 In addition the policy of the nation has
 been to encourage the settlement and
 the acquisition of the public lands by
 citizens of the country under the home
 stead. the prc.cmption. the desert land,
 the mining and other laws for the lis
 position of the public domain. The
 sooner Uncle Same gets rid of his pub.
 lie domain and the sooner it passes into
 priatc ownership. the better for all con.
 ccrncd. The Journal Miner bclicvr,
 with the President in the policy of cs
 inhlishing forest reserves to save the
 forests of the country. and also that
 the policy of leasing lands containing
 coal. oil nnd minerals would hc better
 than the present method of dspoSiug
 of inc same outright but it does not
 believe that the least impeachment or
 hindrancc should bc put in the way of
 the homestead cntryman. or the man
 who desires to acquire desert land entry. That the leasing of the public domain to cattle owners and sheen
 raiscrs would have some effect m that direction is foo apparent to need dc.
 nial. That great frauds have been pcrpctrntcd under the homestead. ore. cmption. desert land. coal and mining laws of the United States in years gone by, and that some of these still exist. goes without saying, but that does not change the situation, ror ]. it au cN eusc for renting thc public domain for grazing purposes.
 The Denver Republican consider. thc situation iu iho right light cijp5ialy. when it ,ays;
 Indications are that uo legislation covering the leasing of the public lauds will come oui of this session, of Con grcss. The more tho matter q, looked into. ihc more thc rights of the home stcadcr are considered. thc more it be- ]. comes apparent that To lease ibc land, as proposed would bc to defeat the gtr | cral desire of the administration To ! prevent the lands from falling into tac hands of large owners and also rcndcr it next to impossible for them to bc secured by the landless citizen for whom they hayo long been hcld Pres. idont Roosevelt appears from latest reports to bc fully awake to the diff. faculties presented.
 "rhc idea of leasing crew ont of the Tact that under existing conditions some of the lands are being used by 'attlc growers without the government securing any direct return for their use. While io some cy'ort this is true. it isl lot SD great trespass as it would ap )cor The cattle of men owning ranches contiguous to unsettled public lands dol yr'2c on the idle acres, bat under pres. 'nt condi itious no catilcman has greater tight to the range than another Tho ands aS they stand are in no demand. md it is scarcely diguiGcd for thc government to assume a dog in the nangcr attitude,
 "fo give ono cattlcman upcrior lnim to the lands under a lease would 'c io permit him to fence nnd range hem for specified time. During that 'orod his fences of themselves wonld r'ciudc any part uf the leased ground ning homcstcadcd, even though an at empt should be made to grant the pos , iblo settler right to homestead any T ortion of tho land during the term of , be lease. Aside from the fact that
 lease giving that right would be nm. ltisfactory to n lessee, thc very fact o hat II was fenced and leased womb iop tho homcsteader from entering up. q n the land to make himself n home. , leasing would be only n step 'ward the sale of the land1to the eat f 'e eattlemen. Tho vmy thing for f nds had remained open for years and h settlers had come to them would f, used in. lime to excuse their sale to n 'e cattlcmcn. The cry thing for n r '''n 70 t,f' ss ,,.
 .,--- MI n- q. :.