Eastern Colorado times., 1912-10-04
A Law That Would Help the
Homesteader.

Homesteader.
x-Governor Charles s. Thomas,
candidate for United States Senator,
is in favor of laws that would be of
benefit to the homesteader and outlines
the following plan as one OF especial
interest to the people of eastern Colo
RADIO:
The main object of acquiring and
disposing of the national domain is to
provide homes and land for the people.
Ever since the formation of the gov
ernment, taking up and settling upon
public land has been encouraged, to
the end that our population and taxa
ble wealth might be increased. And rs
our more desirable territory has been
occupied, internal improvements, par
ticularly in the form of national thor
oughfares, have been aided by large
grants of land, for the ultimate pur-
pose of making the remainder more
accessible and therefore more easily
disposed of to the preemptor and
homesteader.
In keeping with this policy congress
has granted millions Of acres of land
to the states for school and institu-
tional purposes. 1t gives to the west
ern states for internal improvements
five per cent of the proceeds of all
public lands sold within their borders
and latterly it has devoted the re-
mainder of these proceeds 70 projects
of reclamation which are repaid with
interest on easy terms by those who
settle upon the lands reclaimed. All
these processes are aids to the scqui-
sition of the public domain by the
actual settler.
Broadly speaking, all desirable ag-
ricultural lands have been covered by
private entries, leaving still available
only the wide reaches of the arid
states, much of which can be cultivat-
ed with profit, although destitute of
such aids to settlement as timber,
water and underground. To occupy
and subdue such lands is therefore q
much more difficult and expensive task
and he who undertakes it must be
equipped for an arduous struggle If
he would benefit by the invitation of
the government to file upon and occu-
py q claim. The invitation is indeed
of no avail to any man who is without
some means of livelihood to carry him
along until the land can be made
somewhat productive. A single man
might take chances with nothing;
family man so situated is practically
helpless.
From this condition the problem is
thus presented: II Uncle Sam can
afford to give railroad companies
millions of acres OF his lands to
encourage them to construct great
public highways, why can't he afford
to loan the needy homesteader, on the
security OF his claim, enough to enable
him to comply with the legal require
ments of the homestead law, anchor
himself to the soil, and become free
holder2 Why should he not conserve
his people ~ we'll as his resources,
and solve part of his land problem
by settling up the rest of his land?
To me the answer seems obvious.
believe congress could do no better
thing than to enact law setting aside
ten per cent of the proceeds of
the sales of public land to
constitute a homestead fund. From
this fund, loans could be made in
reasonable amounts at low rate of
interest to homesteaders having fami-
lies and destitute of the means of sub
sistence while developing their claims.
The loan can be secured by the claim
and improvements, and the borrower
required to spend 1t thereon under
proper supervision, to be repaid In
easy installments, on receipt Of which
patent to be issued to the borrower.
/ think the results of such a policy
would be far reaching in its beneficial
effects upon individuals and commu-
mites, people our waste places and
bear rich harvest of profit to the
state and the nation.
The objection that the plan would
be subject to abuse may be sound
one, but its abuses could be limited by
the vigilance of the Department and
its ,,ewarfls would far. nukvreivh them