Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-01-22

tbnt "a eo,ny on ut the present time In
homestead filings and desert entries as
well. our whole aim should be 10 MAXI
II as easy as possible for the man Who
wants to establish nome upon ,,c
publlo domain anywhere under NV
Stars and stripes; and ut the same tlihe
guard against the possibility of design
Ing individuals and rich corporations
getting II away from him by the
temntiny ailurements of " few nun
dred dollars profit. And We shouiu
have law that VIII make IL iniposSi
BILE for individuals or corpoIa,lons
obtain title to large areas OF lhhu W
hiring men to make filings and wheh
they obtain patent, deed the land w the
men who hired them. ANY law that does
not tend to the final occupation OIL Al.
this public domnln, wherever the sou
win produce the necessities OF hle,
by families OF Mr.. Roosevelts own
kind does not deserve place among
the statutes of the land.
CHALLENGE TO ROOSEVELT.
'When Mr.. Roosevelt, speaking TO
a representative American audience,
himself the cliefest American of them
ALL says that nearly all OF the three
hundred millions of acres In this great
public domain that lie between the
ninety-seventh meridian and the Pa
present methods and valuable only for
the forage which they supply" We
challenge his declaration. Such n
view as that which Mr.. Roosevelt en-
tertains is also held by many OF the
men In the department OF agriculture,
and in the department of the interior
as well, II the reports published over
the signature OF these men IN official
documents are 10 be accepted us evil
dence of what they think.
"The view that this region which is
the subject of so much constroversy
in connection with the problem Of
the wise administration of the public
domain, Is still the Great American
desert, save where portions of 1t have
been reclaimed by irrigation. is even
now entertained by many of the
statesmen at Washington. Some OF
them are so stubborn IN their conclu-
sions which were derived from the
text books of geography in their school
days, that they are unwilling to ac-
cept such evidence rs we of the west
can place before them to alter their
opinions. When we who are striving
with all the energy we possess to de-
velop this western virgin empire. as
sert THAT n very large share OF the
vast domain referred to In Mr.. Roose-
velt's address is capable OF reclama-
ton without the aid of irrigation, by
culture coupled with careful seed So
lection we are called real estate boom
ers, and given all sorts of other fancy
titles.
"But the cold stubborn facts them
selves in terms of bushels of wheat,
barley, oats. emmer, prose-, millet,
corn and rye, together with tons or
bronze grass. timothy, alfalfa and ma
tive blue-stem hay are all in abundant
evidence. And If those who are in
authority over us will but give us
their car and, IL they can find the
time, will accompany us over tbs
leagues OF what they consider fit only
for grazing lands. we will give them
such evidence that here is one of the
greatest undevsloped agricultural
areas that ever lay dormant under
the sun: that all it needs is the APP
plication OF western energy to convert
1t into 81 veritable garden. that they
win go back TO Washington convinced
that we are onto our job. Nor do we
require any of our we'll educated SUI
periors to recite to us the history of by
gone disasters upon this public do
main, nor to think that they are JUS
tilted in predicting similar disasters in
the future.