B. AMERICAN 



THE DISPOSITION OF OUR PUBLIC LANDS 



By Albert Bushnell Hart 



(From the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. I, pp. 169-251, January, 1887) 



JANUARY 25, 1785, General George Washington wrote a let- 

 ter in which occurs the following passage : " There being no 

 settlement or appropriations (of land) (except the reservation in 

 favor of the Virginia line of the army), to my knowledge, in all the 

 country northwest of the Ohio." In 1883, according to an official 

 publication of the Public Land Commission, there were "purely 

 arable lands remaining in the West (estimated), five million acres," 

 and " the movement westward in search of free government lands 

 must soon cease." No more timely and interesting service could 

 be perfgrmed than to consider the probable effect of the impend- 

 ing change. For a century our political, economic, and social 

 relations have been sensibly affected by the nearness, accessibility, 

 and cheapness of government land. The population of the coun- 

 try has at last overtaken our unsettled domain. Henceforth our 

 conditions must be more like those of old and crowded countries. 

 The nation has had, enjoyed, and spent a part of its heritage, 

 and can never recover it. 



To speculate upon the future is, however, more difficult and 

 less profitable than to consider the mistakes of the past. The 

 present article is an attempt to show how it comes about that the 

 arable lands of the United States government are on the verge 

 of exhaustion. Three questions will be considered in turn, the 

 acquisition of the lands, their disposition, and the policy of the 

 government. 



. . . The government of the United States acquired territory 

 in three different aspects. As a general government, it exercises 



254 



