El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-04-25
NEW MEXICO WANTS AND CAN USE
REMAINDER OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

TO round out the tracts of state lands that all may
be subjected to local development under the states d.
rection New Mexico needs to have turned it the
lands which are still held N the governments public do
main.
twenty years ago the public domain in New Mexico
COMPRISED 100000 and the total land under
cultivation IN the state more than 100000 acres
At that time engineers speaking from the best knowledge
and experience they had said that the cultivated area
would never exceed $4,000 acres owing scarcity of
ter and the expense Of bringing It upon the land for ga
ton purposes The total value Of agricultural production
at that time did not exceed 100000.
But what experts said impossible became possible
More land constantly put under cultivation, the work
Of homesteaders the public domain Towns sprang into
existence, roads were built Dams constructed.
bitches conveyed the water to barren lands which then be
came farms under the pow Railroads provided trans
portation Of products 10 market
Today than half OF the public domain has passed
into private possession Agricultural production for the
past year exceeded s40,oO0,OO0 IN value.
But the land situation has changed entirely. The
seeker of raw farm lands in the public domain finds
picngs. The government tell returning soldiers and
sailors 90 in and help themselves, but what they
do with what they can get after they get it, The home
steaders long ago picked all the lands that could be cult
waited prOfitsbly under the limited their
mand In one year upward Of $4,000 filings made,
covering about 100000 1t a homesteaders
boom and homeseaders tragedy followed Abandoned
shacs, sheds and fences half down remain mute ev
dences Of wasted money and blasted hopes Where few
with greater powers Of endurance more capital won
through to Of success many others failed
They had known Of the fine made in the middle
west BY hoesteaoers IN bygone years. not reang thaI
the homestead law had failed to yield practical results on
ard lands that had been picked over for three centuries
The forest service and picked out about 100000
Of the finest Of the public lands, timber covered
mountains and valleys. The state selected about "A
100000 Of the best lands that remained Large por
tons segregated to be under big irrigation projects
and the federal government itself laid embargo the
surplus waters Of the Rio Grande and the Pecos.
In such land districts those Of Clayton and Tucum-
car which domain Of relatively level lands with
possibilities Of dry farming and small livestock home
stead practically all the public lands been filed upon
and the filings that being made these latter days
mostly homesteads that have been abandoned The
fees Of the land Office declared longer be equiva
lent to the expense Of operating the offices The very pur
Of the homestead law IS being defeated, for most
the euien remain only long enough to complete
their entry rights and then dispose Of homestead to
the cattemen and sheepmen who add them to their al
ready large holdings il
There is still plenty for growth and develop
ment but It longer from individual efforts
but from the cooperative Of capital together with
state national aid The general land laws the United
States are inadequate to provide for the development of
districts each Of which has its peculiartes pos
sbe for the state by Of special legislation to assist
IN the development Of these lands If the government
give to the state control them Id
New Mexico has done very vel with the lands which
turned to the state through the enabling act
few years ago It has made them revenue producing for
the schools and wealth producing for their holders and
the public at large Their examination for OIL for instance
has been made possible only by leasing policy which is
not practicable under government ownership of the lands
Each acre Of the state lands eventually put to the
use for which It is suited.
Let It be borne n mind that what remains Of the federal
public domain in New Mexico exclusive Of the national for
sst has been picked over and again What remains