90 LAND AND LABOR. 



grazing for use or waste the spirit of monopoly 

 has become uppermost. But the most destructive 

 and indefensible of all steps in this direction have 

 been taken by the general government. 



More than twenty years ago Congress devised and 

 perfected a Public Land System by which the public 

 domain was set apart for the benefit of the people. 

 It was a measure that guaranteed to every child of 

 the'soil a portion of the heritage of our fathers, effec- 

 tually barring monopoly and excluding the nonresi- 

 dent alien and all who had not taken the prescribed 

 steps to become citizens. It was a solemn compact 

 between the government and people. By the provi- 

 sions of that system the lands of the nation, as they 

 were surveyed, became subject to preemption and 

 occupation under conditions which enabled any one, 

 whether man or woman, married or single, being of 

 age and a citizen, or intending to be such, to obtain a 

 portion of the soil of the country. Even those who 

 went upon the lands before they were surveyed, going 

 into absolute occupation and making improvements, 

 were provided for when the surveys were made, being 

 allotted the quarter sections upon which their im- 

 provements might fall. But under no conditions could 

 any one obtain more than a limited amount, by either 

 preemption, purchase or tree culture, or by all three 

 methods combined. The limit was one half section, 

 or three hundred and twenty acres. And in every 

 case the conditions of occupation and improvement 

 were absolute. 



Under this system monopoly was impossible. The 

 lands went into the hands of the people ; homes and 



