THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



235 



the best, is not popular in the United States, and if 

 the irrigation laws of the land are to be enforced in 

 this manner the farmer has anything but a bright pros- 

 pect for the future. 



ATTITUDE TOWARD THE REPEAL OF LAND LAWS. 



While the National Irrigation Association appar- 

 ently indorses the Act of June 17, 1902, and its organs 

 have repeatedly made the statement that a great fund 

 will accumulate from the sale of public lands, to be 

 loaned by the Government in the construction of irri- 

 gation works without interest, yet during the past year 

 or two the same organization has advocated the repeal 

 of the desert land act, the timber and stone acts and 

 the commutation clause of the homestead act. Prom 

 whence will come the funds for the construction of 

 irrigation works after these laws have been repealed? 

 We can not believe that it is the intention of the parent 

 of the National Irrigation Association to bring about 

 the downfall of national irrigation at this time by cut- 

 ting off the source of revenue now provided. It does 

 not seem reasonable that the gentlemen should have 

 any other motive than that which would tend to ad- 

 vance national irrigation under the "compromise bill" 

 as he called it a year ago. There must be some reason, 

 therefore, which makes it advisable for him to advocate 

 the repeal of the land laws. It has been suggested that 

 he desires to cut off the revenue in order that "specific 

 appropriations" may again be asked for. His argu- 

 ments favoring the repeal of the land laws is that the 

 Government is being robbed by land sharks and he 

 charges the people of the West of being "land grabbers" 

 and "land pirates." We believe that any land law can 

 be so administered that steals may be possible imder 

 its operation. We do not believe that more land has 

 been illegally obtained under the timber and stone acts 

 than under the homestead act, even before the com- 

 mutation clause was added. We doubt whether more 

 land has been stolen under the desert land act than 

 under the homestead act. We are confident that fraud 

 is not as common as he seems to believe and that such 

 defects as exist can largely be corrected by a better 

 administration and perhaps some amendments. If the 

 homestead act were to be repealed the recent act of 

 Congress would be null and void as far as its prac- 

 tical application is concerned. If other land laws were 

 to be repealed no funds would revert to the treasury 

 for carrying on construction. Either course, therefore, 

 would lead to a termination of the reclamation work 

 now in progress. 



As before stated, Mr. Maxwell and his association, 

 as controlled by him, do not stand for the people of 

 the West, but for the corporations that have interested 

 themselves in national irrigation. Should the above 

 enumerated land laws be repealed the large area belong- 

 ing to these companies woiild have a ready sale at ad- 

 vanced prices.. Of the 30,000,000 acres or less of 

 public land yet remaining, fully 85 per cent will always 

 be unsuited to irrigation farming. With the land laws 

 repealed this large area must remain an open range. 

 The government rightly prohibits fencing of the pub- 

 lic domain. A sentiment with which Mr. Maxwell sym- 

 pathizes at the present time, antagonizes any leasing 

 system that can be devised. What 3s to be done with 

 this land? It can not be reclaimed and disposed of 

 under the homestead act, it can not be controlled by 

 small or large ranchmen because it can not be fenced, 

 and under existing laws it can not be leased. 



We do not know how far Mr. Maxwell proposes 



to have the repeal of the land laws extend. If the laws 

 of 1866 and 1891 which give the states authority over 

 the water of the streams within their boundaries are 

 to be included in his program, we can see that he is 

 working to secure the same control of water that he 

 now has of construction under the act of last June. 

 If this should take place, the National Irrigation Asso- 

 ciation would then be able to deal with a few men at 

 Washington to control the water of western streams. 

 He can not affect the irrigation administration of many 

 of the western states at the present time, but should 

 the land laws which contain one of the provisions which 

 clothe the states with the responsibility of dividing 

 water among the claimants be repealed, his influence 

 would be greatly widened. 



It may be that the land laws of the country should 

 be modified. If this is true THE AGE wishes to indorse 

 the movement. If they are so obviously defective that 

 all or nearly all should be repealed, we favor that; 

 but we do not believe that the statutes under which 

 the West has thus far been developed can be wholly 

 condemned. When repeal measures are advocated by 

 Mr. Maxwell we deem it necessary that the West take an 

 active interest in detecting his real motives and the logi- 

 cal results of such measures, and also that Congressmen 

 from the arid region be fully prepared to meet the issue. 

 The matter has already been called to the attention 

 of the land committees of both the Senate and the 

 House by the legislatures of a number of the western 

 states. The resolutions of one of these states reads 

 as follows: 



REPEAL OF THE UNITED STATES LAND LAWS. 



Senate Joint Resolution No. . 



A resolution relating to the public land laws : 



Be it Resolved, by the Senate, the House of Repre- 

 sentatives concurring, that a campaign is now being 

 carried on in the eastern and southern states favoring 

 the repeal of all land laws except the homestead act, 

 which, if successful, will interfere with, and greatly re- 

 tard the development of the West; and 



Whereas, This campaign is being conducted by the 

 National Irrigation Association so-called, for the pur- 

 pose of excluding from the market all lands which now 

 compete with the sale of railroad lands ; and 



Whereas, It is believed that where the land laws 

 now on our statutes have been carried out in good faith, 

 they have operated successfully; therefore be it 



Resolved, That it is believed that the land laws 

 under which the settlement of the West has thus far 

 been made possible are suited to the conditions that 

 prevail here and that no changes should be made therein 

 unless a most thorough and exhaustive investigation 

 shall demonstrate that such are advisable; and be it 

 further 



Resolved, That a certified copy of these resolu- 

 tions be forwarded to each delegate in Congress from 

 this State and to Hon. H. C. Hansbrough, chairman of 

 the Committee on Public Lands in the United States 

 Semite, and to Hon. John F. Lacey, chairman of the 

 Committee on Public Lands in the House of Represent- 

 atives. 



The question naturally arises, why does Mr. Max- 

 well secure his indorsements from the East and South 

 rather than from the West? If fraud under these 

 land laws is common the people of the West should be 

 aware of it and we believe that there are enough people 

 in that section of the country besides the "land sharks" 

 who have convictions of right and wrong sufficiently 



