Amarillo daily news. [volume] (Amarillo, Tex.) 19??-current, 1913-01-04
THE SALE OF SCHOOL LANDS.

Whether or not the purpose for which the
school lands Of the state have been offered for sale
during the pas, decade that OF inducing worthy
s.ttleYs to become producing citizens OF the state
has been subserved by the competitive method un
der which these lands are sold is a question which
has oeeasioned vide and growing comment dur
ing recent years.
That the system falls short OF the intended pur
pose has been asserted by many but few have Of
fered better plan OF marketing the state s sur
plus acreage The following comment and sug-
gestion is taken from a recent issue OF the San An
tonic Express.
II is announced by the State Land Commission
er that during the first SIX months OF the new year
somc.hing like million and half acres OF school
land will be placed on the market for the benefit
OF actual settlers this land to be sold in tracts OF
from four sections to eight sections, and every
homeseeker will be entitled to apply for purchase.
The feature which is Objectionable in the dis
position Of this land is that which makes its pur
chase subject to bids Instead OF fixing price per
acre according to classification, it is sold to the
highest bidder. This may defeat the purpose OF
the sale which is to settle the vacant lands of the
state with permanent farmers who will improve II
and bring it into state OF cultivation that will
make it valuable to the state, not only for the pro-
duction of wealth but for the collection of taxes
which become due after the land has become the
property of the purchaser.
The logical method would be to have the land
appraised by the state and sold according to the
appraised valuations, the first applicants being en-
titled to the first choice This would be fair to the
applicants as well as to the state Under the pres
ent system of acquiring land by bidding for it, a
great many persons are awarded sections at prices
far beyond their market value. due to ignorance of
prices and eagerness to lands. and when the
conditions imposed of meeting payments, making
necessary Improvements etc, are met with tor
FIXTURES result and lands revert to the state when,
if they had been sold at their actual values they
would become the property OF actual settlers in
stead of being the holdings of SPECTATORS
For illustration. men unacquainted with the
value Of land frequently bid IS an acre for land
that is worth not more than So or s. an acre and
secure purchases which defeat the applications of
men who bid the actual worth and after a few
months OF ownership in which buyers find they
have offered too much, the payments lapse and the
lands forfeited to the state. 1t would be bet
ter if the state would set reasonable price on its
lands and thus permit them to be sold to actual set
tiers, the law contemplates, cutting out specula
tive features and allowing the state school lands to
pass into the possession of persons who would take
them into homesteads which would be permanent
and which would really benefit the state The
competitive system is not in accord with business
methods, and it frequently is destructive Of tn,
policy contemplated by the law which provides fo
the sale of school lands