Gunnison news-champion., 1909-10-15
s08 noa2 SesN

& tktTn nsss~Gf ep.ee had secg-eG . l.a-
ared % - hoase-;e.ieE. IN tlss vsc4u-
~ Il AansFg-e 81 fraud. .aa were
protesting .bog; lu.ssa acre. III l.nd
Unaer the ;snnel. ~e wondered If
this Eeo-eveli-G4rseid -Pinchas go,
system. tia. RES idea 81 coas.sesi4S
every Insn ~ho ~sas. piece us gov
ernment land ss thief in Gi.Sas-e.
would lOo& - good 10 the .nhsb.,-
ants IT GER sssser community as 1t
did When the happenings we're up IN
the high moantssR. No~s II our
contemporaries down there continue
% swallow 1t whole. bg, We note that
the Olathe CrIterInH cuts J0o~e and
says lea things. We qaote the
article
The United States = Amerioa
has about as much brains as a cove
oyster. The recent action af the
gJFernmeut an taking away from
about one hundred ffiy homestead
ers the tracts on which they fled
shows that there are some asiuine
methods employed IN the Treatment
Of those wbo took UP this land. The
regulations themselves are absurd t.
start with The first requirement is
continuous residence upon the land
There - DO provision made az O.
hog a man with has family shall ex-
list. but be must live on the and
whether he exists or not. The land
Is taken up under the supposltion
that II Is worthless without water.
yet live on 1t yOa must, svel II yoa
starve To death. But, the United
States argues, you knew what kind
Of land 1t was when YOU filed on il.
yoa also knew the regulations, So
why did you do IT? You promised
10 i've on it and have broken vour
contract Yes, but this same Unit
ed States i0rgets that these home
steaders were lead believe through
the government o.Aclals that water
would he ready &c this land Ia 1905.
whereas indie htuns now point to
the fact that 1t viii no, be ready for
delivery before l9l at tine earliest.
Had the government delivered its
water ia due time, the regulations
would not have been unjust, but
since it has defsulted to the extent
OF three years, the requirements on
the bomesieaders should certainly
be moderated. Perhaps the use ui
the residence clause is the only leas-
ible method of preventing fragrant
abuses Of the homestead right, but
since the government has deiaulted
as Aforesaid, the Requirements should
at least be tempered with common
sense and justice. Another fool reg
alztion is that requiring the cultiva-
tion Of land which according TO the
government own hypothesis is use
lees for farming purposes until the
water can be delivered 70 it. But
then. OF course. the men who draft
acquisitions must put In time some
how to hold down their Jobs We
are not trying 10 shield all home
stesders who have been deprived of
their holdings. Many have been
wAntonly negligent and are entitled
to no sympathy, but many we be-
lieve have conscientiously tried to
fulfill the requirements as far as the
extenuating circumstances would
permit. As q general rule those
who have been marked for slaughter
have been quite az diligent in per
forming their duties as those who
we're allowed to retain their holdings.
but were not 90 fortunate in knowing
Just when the inspector would be
around True. most Of the deprived
ones will not hight for their rights.
because they Anow that in q land
case the evidence of q half-baked
cockroach clothed with the authority
of government inspector would have
more weight than that Of ten good
citizens of the country. An Irish
mau once said that under the home
stead Law a man tets the government
SIG that Ire csn live five years on a
certain piece Of land without starv-
ing to death 1t seems that a lot of
people have lost the bet. We don't
like 70 call names. but we aver that
the United States Of America is not
only a chump but knave, and We
will tell him 90 If we ever meet him
face to face