THE NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS 315 



I shall divide my discussion under the heads of (1) agricultural 

 lands; (2) mineral lands — that is, lands containing metalliferous min- 

 erals; (3) forest lands; (4) coal lands; (5) oil and gas lands; and (6) 

 phosphate lands. 



I feel that it will conduce to a better understanding of the problems 

 presented if I take up each class and describe, even at the risk of tedium, 

 first, what has been done by the last administration and the present one 

 in respect to each kind of land ; second, what laws at present govern its 

 disposition ; third, what was done by the present congress in this mat- 

 ter; and fourth, the statutory changes proposed in the interest of con- 

 servation. 



Agricultural Lands 



Our land laws for the entry of agricultural lands are now as follows : 



The original homestead law, with the requirements of residence and 

 cultivation for five years, much more strictly enforced than ever before. 



The enlarged homestead act, applying to non-irrigable lands only, 

 requiring five years' residence and continuous cultivation of one fourth 

 of the area. 



The desert-land act, which requires on the part of the purchaser the 

 ownership of a water right and thorough reclamation of the land by 

 irrigation, and the payment of $1.25 per acre. 



The donation or Carey act, under which the state selects the land 

 and provides for its reclamation, and the title vests in the settler who 

 resides upon the land and cultivates it and pays the cost of the reclama- 

 tion. 



The national reclamation homestead law, requiring five years' resi- 

 dence and cultivation by the settler on the land irrigated by the gov- 

 ernment, and payment by him to the government of the cost of reclama- 

 tion. 



There are other acts, but not of sufficient general importance to call 

 for mention unless it is the stone and timber act, under which every 

 individual, once in his lifetime, may acquire 160 acres of land, if it has 

 valuable timber on it or valuable stone, by paying the price of not less 

 than $2.50 per acre fixed after examination of the stone or timber by a 

 government appraiser. In times past a great deal of fraud has been 

 perpetrated in the acquisition of lands under this act; but it is now 

 being much more strictly enforced, and the entries made are so few in 

 number that it seems to serve no useful purpose and ought to be re- 

 pealed. 



The present congress passed a bill of great importance, severing the 

 ownership of coal by the government in the ground from the surface 

 and permitting homestead entries upon the surface of the land which, 

 when perfected, give the settler the right to farm the surface, while the 

 coal beneath the surface is retained in ownership by the government 

 and may be disposed of by it under other laws. 



