204 THE EXSAtiSTlOK OF THE PUBLIC LAIRDS. 



will assuredly be some time out of work. Then your in- 

 stitutions will be fairly brought to the test. . . . Through 

 such seasons the United States will have to pass in the 

 course of the next century, if not of this. I wish you a 

 good deliverance. But my reason and my wishes are at 

 war, and I cannot help foreboding the worst." 



What is the extent of these public lands whose occu- 

 pation means so much? The public domain west of the 

 Mississippi, not including Alaska, is estimated to have 

 been, in 1880, 880,787,746 acres. ^ This includes land ne- 

 cessary to fill railroad grants, estimated at 110,000,000 

 acres, also private land-claims estimated at 80,000,000 

 acres, together with military and Indian reservations es- 

 timated at 157,356,952 acres. Supposing all of the mili- 

 tary and Indian reservations to revert to the public 

 domain save 57,000,000 acres, there remained of the pub- 

 lic lands west of the Mississippi, in 1880, yet to be dis- 

 posed of, about 633,787,746 acres. This seems an almost 

 inexhaustible supply, but we must remember the magni- 

 tude of the demand. The following table shows how 

 much land the Government has disposed of each year 

 since 1880. 



ACRES. 



. .ftft, 10,893,390 



^!:Zl 14,309,166 



. '^o 19,430,032 



.. ^ '::::::::.'.'. 27,531,170 



., ggg 20,995,515 



.. .onfi 22,124,563 



u .0^7 25,858,038 



.. jggg \'''.'.'.^'.'.'.'.'.['.'.'.'.'.'.'. 30,116,684 



Here is a total in eight years, of 171,258,565 acres, a 

 million more than are contained in the state of Texas, or 

 more than twice the area of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 leaving in the hands of the government in 1889, about 

 462,529,181 acres. If the rate since 1880 should be sus- 

 tained, all of the public lands west of the Mississippi 

 would be exhausted in twenty years. It must not be 



1 Spaulding ou Public Lands, pp. 6, 



