The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1910-09-05
TAFT
MAKES ADDRESS
,contInued from Page one.3

| d.
100000 acres. or this there is left
as purely government property out.
side Of Alaska something like 100000.
900 Of acres. or this the national Tor.
est reserves In the United States prop
er embrace 144,OOO,0Oo acres. The rest
lis largely mountain or arid country,
offering some opportunity for agricul-
turc by dry farming and by reclama-
ton, and containing metals as well as
coal, phosphates, oils, and natural gas:
Then the Government owns many
tracts of land lying along the mar,
gins of streams that have water power,
the use of which is necessary in the
conversion of the power into electric:
ity and its transmission.
! shall divide my discussion under
the heads of ~ agricultural lands;
~ mineral lands-that is, lands con-
tanning metallifefous minerals; (3).
forest lands; t4) coal lands; (5) oil
and gas lands; 5i and ts) phosphate
lands. Z.
l feel that it will conduce to bet.
ter Understanding Of the problems
presented If | take up each class and
describe, even at The risk of tedium,
first, what has been done by the last
administration and the present one in
respect to each kind Of land; second,
what laws at present govern its dis.
position; third, what was done by the
present Congress in this matter; and
fourth, the statutory changes proposed
In the interest OF conservation.
~ Agricultural LANDS.
Our land laws for the entry OF ag-
ricultural lands are now as follows:
The original homestead law, with
the requirements Of residence and cul-
tlvation for five. years, much more
strictly enforced than ever before.
The enlarged homestead act, apply
ing to nonirrlgable lands only, requir-
ing five years residence and continu-
GUS cultivation OF. onc.fourth of the
area.
The desert-land, act, which requires
on the part Of the purchaser the own.
ership OF a water right and thorough
reclamation of the land by irrigation,
and the payment of $1.25 per acre.
The donation or Carey Act, under
which the State selects the land and
provides for its reclamation, and the
title vests in the settler who resides
upon he land and cultivates 1t and pays
the cost of the reclamation. 8E
The national reclamation homestead
law, requiring five years residence
and cultivation by the settler on the
land irrigated by the Government, and
payment by him to the Government
OF the cost of the reclamation. ~
There are other acts, but not of suffi-
Si0hl SeuSt.ai lllpOl ldhGe " COIL lUT
mention unless 1t is the stone and tim
Der act, under which every individual;
once IN his lifetime, may acquire 100
acres OF land, II 1t has valuable tim.
Der on it or valuable stone, by paying
the price OF not less than $3.50 per
acre, fixed after examination of the
stone or timber BY government ap.
rtaiser. In times past great deal Of
fraud has been ,perpetrated in the ac-
QUESTION of lands under this act; but
It is now being much more strictly en-
forced, and the entries made are SO
few in number that itseems to serve
no, useful purpose and ought to be re.
pealed.
The present Congress passed bill
of great importance, severlng the own.
ership of coal by the Government In
the ground from, the surface and per.
hitting homestead entries upon the
surface of the land, which, when per.
fected, give the settler the right to
farm the surface; while the coal be.