Wallowa County chieftain. [volume] (Enterprise, Or.) 1909-1911, 1910-02-17
RADICAL CHANGE IN
HOMESTEAD LAW
CROP PRODUCTION INSTEAD OF
ACTUAL RESIDENCE PROPOSED
AS CONSIDERATION.

ceived from Senator Bourne:
Washington, d. c., Dear Sir: !
am stnding this general fcIm Of let
ter to many newspapers, 6 iIges and
commercial organizations of Oregon
for the purpose of getting before the
people the idea l have embodied i'm a
bill 1 shall introduce in the Senate
that production of crops rather than
residence upon a homestead is the
essential of successful and most ef-
, ficient development of our resources.
| have done this in the hope that the
people of Oregon will favor their del,
cation here in Congress with their
views as 10 the wisdom of the pro-
poseG legislation.
am informed by William Hanley,
an extensive stock raiser in Har~
ney county, that there are 10000
900 acres of vacant land in Eastern
Oregon incapable of irrigation, but
nearly all of it susceptible of culti-
vatiOn under The scientific methods
now in vogue in dry farming" MI
Hdnley's suggestion of substitution of
crop production for actual residence
as the consideration for obtaining
title increasingly impresses my mind
If the biM which l have prepared
should become law, the homestead
er on non-irrigeble land icl what is
known as the arid region need not
live upon his land at all, but must
live within the state. He must cul-
tivate it either personally or by rep
resentative and he must show by an
nual procfs that within a period of
five years the lana has produced
crops of a total value of $500.
Assuming Mr.. Hanleys estimate
of 20,O00,000 acres of vacant land
in Eastern Oregon IS correct and that
same can he brought under cultiva-
ton by adoption of what is known
as dry farming" this area of land,
would furnish opportunities for co.
900 homestead entrymen who, beEore
they could acquire title, would be
obliged TO produce crops of total
value of S90,00O,000. Thus it will
be seen that the nation, state and
community would be benefited in the
development of our natural resources
wealth increased, and, what is more
important, a class of citizens gained
who would be obliged to produce
rather than merely live ON the land
population of workers.
In its present condition and in the
present state af settlement and OF
transportation facilities most of this
land is not suitable for home-making,
though it could be cultivated by men
WHO would make their home else
where, or upon the land during only
part of the year.
My bill is based upon the theory
that if a tract of land is made pro-
ductive 1t will provide some family
with home even though that family
lives in a town near the land rather
than upon the land itself, and that,
therefore, all of the essential OBJ
iects of the homestead law will be
accomplished. The great difficulty
under the present homestead law is
that great many men who settle
upon land under the homestead act
do as little cultivating as the law
will permit and avoid as many as
possible of the Governments require
ments, and their land is not made
productive.
Believing that production is the
real essential, l made that the most
important feature of my bill. Land
suitable for dry farming" is fire.
quently such as man would not
wish to make his home upon for IL
months in the year, butt he present
law permitting an entry ON 800 acr9s
requires artral residence, and, be
liege, wIthoI' accomplishing any de-
s;ra5;e tnd l.. such requirement.
Under the plan proposed by my
bill an entryman under the 320-acre
homestead act could keep his ifami-
ly in any town of Oregon, where his
children could go to school and all
members of his family have the ad-
vantage of attendance at church and
socn functions, and, at the same
time, by complying with the law re-
garding cultivation and production,
he could secure title to the land.
There would be no opportunity for
fraud because the bill requires that
annual proofs must be submitted
showing the amount of land cultivat-
ed and the character, quantity and
value of crops produced.
| believe that the average farmer
ON $40 acres of land subject to entry
under the enlarged homestead act
would be able to produce crops of
much more than $500 in value in
period of five years; but the $500