Arizona republican., 1917-07-14
By A. Mandi

As we have already seen, the nome stead entry has a wider range or ap- plicability than any other form o1 en- try. At first and until compafatlVely recently there was only one kind or homestead entry and that kind limit ed the area entered or to be entered to not exceeding 160 acres, rgardless where the land was located and what
 it's character was. The spirit Of the homestead laws contemplated glVlns
 the settler a home in all that the
 term implied. It was intended that
 the homesteader should be able to ac- quire enough land to earn reason able living for himself and a family according to our American standards. When the first homestead law was enacted there was plenty of excellent agricultural land open and available for settlement and homestead entry and it was thought that 160 acres Of such land would suffice for the sup
 port of q person and his family, If
 properly cultivated or improved, hence the limitation. Later, after the cholc-
 est lands had been settled on and
 entered and much of the land remaln-
 ing was arid and semi-arid land 160 acres of which was seen to be 1n-
 sufficient to support an American family either by cultivation or other
 wise. which lands could not be lrfl- gated from any known source of wa
 ter supply at a reasonable cost, the
 limitation or acreage enterabie by one
 person was raised to 320 acres. This
 was February 19, 1909. At other times
 other laws had been enacted, effective
 only in certain states permitting the
 entry of certain lands in tracts not
 r.
 tain special requirements on the en-
 tryman or purchaser None of these
 laws ever applied to Arizona. Finally,
 on December 29 1916, the present
 stock grazing homestead law was ap- proved by the president and became
 law. This law allowed entries for not
 exceeding GAO acres of grazing land
 Land to be enterable under this law
 must be most valuable for grazing
 purposes. If the land has agricultural value above the value for grazing II is not subject to entry under the stock grazing law. Furthermore, before land may be entered under either thes
 Enlarged Homestead law of February 19, 1909, or under the Stock Grazing
 INV it must be designated by the sec cetary of the sinterior as land coming
 within the purview of either act. Large numbers of tracts have already
 been designated and made subject to
 entry under the Enlarged Homestead, but I have not heard of any case where an entry has yet been allowed under the stock grazing act. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that be- fore any land has been designated
 under the act it is required that in vestigation be made by the geological survey as to whether or not it is of the character contemplated by the stock grazing act, which investiga- tion must result in an affirmative re- port This all takes time and the land deparament has not yet gotten around
 to any such lands. And while the homestead entry was
 enlarged as shown above, the land department removed the limitations
 as to such lands which forbade a persons acquiring more than 320 acres under the agricultural land laws of the United States Prior to August 90, 1890 there was no limitation or the acreage one might acquire under the agricultural laws, except as the
 special laws limited the area that
 might be acquired under them, but on that date a law was passed limiting the area to a total under all of the agricultural laws of 320 acres. This barrier has since been removed as to the Enlarged Homestead and Stock Grazing laws, and one may now make entry and acquire patent to as much as 500 acres, if GAO acres are of stock
 grazing kind
 Besides increasing the area enter l able under the homestead laws as | shown above, the government also al | lows entries for lands withdrawn for | forest purposes. Of course, the pur- | nose of the forest withdra walls was