The Churchill county standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1908-1920, 1916-05-03
.P|TTMAN EXPLAINS STATUS
OF THE LAND GRANT BILL
Proposed Amendments Impractic-
able Bill Cannot Pass without
Competitive Bidding Clause

Carson Appeal, replying TO certain
criticisms of the 100000 acre land
grant bill and suggesting the incor-
poration of other features and
amendments, Senator Key Pittman
makes the following statement:
Mr.. T. d. VanDevort, Editor, Car
son Daily Appeal, Carson City.
Nevada
My dear Mr.. VanDevort:
am in receipt of the Appeal of
April 18th. containing an editorial
entitled Let the bill help highways
too"
You desire to so amend the T.
100000 acre land grant bill as to
appropriate money for public high
ways in Nevada. You also desire to
strike out the proviso for competi-
] tive bidding.
| have already discussed in a
statement to the public the competi-
tive bidding provision. Whether the
provision is advisable or not, the
bill cannot pass either the Senate or
the House without such provision,
and therefore it is useless for us to
discuss the question.
There is no question but that the
building of highways in Nevada is a
worthy cause, but it would be i'm
70 oh in, NJ af
from the federal government for
such purpose.
AT the last session of Congress l
introduced a bill to encourage the
development of subsurface and ar
tosian water, and to facilitate the
settlement OF our public domain.
Certain lands surrounding the
grants under this bill were to be
sold for the benefit of the roads in
Nevada. | passed the bill through
the Senate in such form. When it
reached the House. the Public
Lands Committee of that body posi-
lively refused to report the bill out
if the money went to a road fund.
They stated that Congress was legis-
lating nationally for all of the roads
of the country, and they would not
grant land for such special purpose
in any State. They therefore amend
ed the bill by requiring that the
money go to the irrigation fund.
After this experience, | knew that
any attempted grant of land for the
purposes of roads in Nevada would
be unable to pass the House.
There is a general road bill now
pending in the United States Senate
which provides for the distribution
of twenty-five millions of dollars
between the States for the building
of public highways. This bill will
probably pass, but whether it passes
or not, the fact that it has been in
troduced and is now pending and
applies to all the States, will prevent
any special road legislation. Con-
gress contends that it is taking care
of road legislation by this general
Act.
There are two other characters of
legislation that will undoubtedly be
of benefit to the State, and which
am working upon. One of them is
the building up of the public schools
and the University, the other is the
settlement of the public domain
They are entirely distinct subjects
and the legislation for each must be
entirely distinct and of a different
character.
The purpose of the 100000 acre
grant bill is to raise as large fund
as possible for the support of the
University and the public schools.
The bill that [ have passed
through the Senate to encourage the
settlement of the public lands is
known as Senate Bill 2519. 1t pro-
vides that any citizen may locate
four sections of land. He has six
months in which to commence to
]
prospect for water upon any of the
/ four sections IL within two years
he develops sufficient subsurface or
artesian water to practically irri-
gate twenty acres of land, he is
granted any one of the four sections
as a bonus for such work and de-
velopment. As was stated by Sena-
tor Flanagan, the surface water of
the State has been taken up and dry
farming has not so far proven a
great success in Nevada. 1t is ap-
parent therefore that, without wat
er, homesteading would be practical
ly impossible, and as has been dem
onstrated under the strict construc-
tion of the Department of the Inter-
ior desert-land entries In Nevada
are quite impracticable Under my
bill, residence during the two years
In which to discover sufficient sub
surface or artesian water with
which TO irrigate twenty acres of
land This gives the settler
chance to earn a living somewhere
else while he is prospecting for
water upon a tract of land. II he