1904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



89 



8460. The bill is printed in full in the 

 report, and it specifically carries into 

 effect the recommendations of the Pres- 

 ident, and is approved by the Commis- 

 sioner of the General Land Office and 

 the Secretary of the Interior, and has re- 

 ceived a favorable report from the Com- 

 mittee on Public Lands of the House. 



The passage of this bill will carry 

 into effect the recommendation of this 

 board, and the committee recommends 

 that it earnestly urge upon Congress its 

 immediate passage. 



We submit, as a part of this report, 

 and recommend for adoption by this 

 board, the following resolutions : 



RESOLUTIONS. 



Whereas, the ultimate object to be 

 accomplished in the disposition of the 

 public domain is to secure the actual 

 settlement and cultivation of the largest 

 possible area of such lands to agricult- 

 ural crops, by a class of settlers who will 

 actually live on said lands and till them 

 in comparatively small farms, thus en- 

 larging to the utmost the agricultural 

 production, and consequent general pros- 

 perity of the country ; and 



Whereas, the rapid absorption of these 

 public lands into large holdings, under 

 the Desert Land Act and the commuta- 

 tion clause of the Homestead Act, un- 

 accompanied in the majority of cases by 

 permanent settlement and cultivation, 

 threatens to seriously retard the devel- 

 opment of the West, and the abuses and 

 frauds which have been committed under 

 these laws and under the Timber and 

 Stone Act can only be prevented by a 

 repeal of those laws : be it 



Resolved, That the Timber and Stone 

 Act, the Desert Land Act, and the com- 

 mutation clause of the Homestead Act 

 should be forthwith repealed, and in 

 future all agricultural and irrigable land 

 reserved exclusively for actual settlers 

 under the Homestead Act, and that in 

 future the government should reserve 

 the title to forest lands, selling only the 

 stumpage of matured timber; and also 

 that the forest work of the government 

 should be consolidated in the Bureau of 

 Forestry of the Department of Agri- 

 culture. 



Resolved further, That the great irriga- 



tion works necessary to save from waste 

 and utilize for irrigation the waters of 

 our large western rivers should be built 

 as rapidly as the lands will be taken and 

 utilized by farmers in farms of 160 acres 

 or less in area, and the entire cost of 

 construction repaid to the government 

 through a charge imposed on the lands 

 reclaimed, as provided in the National 

 Irrigation Act. 



Resolved further, That we endorse 

 and approve the selection by the United 

 States Reclamation Service and the Sec- 

 retary of the Interior, for construction 

 under the National Irrigation Act, of 

 the Tonto Basin Reservoir in Arizona, 

 the Truckee-Carson River System in 

 Nevada, and the St. Mary-Milk River 

 Valley System in Montana, and urge 

 that the actual work of construction on 

 all these projects be pushed to comple- 

 tion without delay. 



Resolved further, That we endorse and 

 urge the immediate passage of H. R. 

 8460, being the bill embodied in House 

 of Representatives Report No. 48, Fifty- 

 eighth Congress, second session, the 

 said bill as shown in said report having 

 been approved by the Commissioner of 

 the General Land Office and the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior, and recommended 

 for passage by the Committee on Public 

 Lands of the House of Representatives. 



Resolved further, That we endorse the 

 Quarles bill as recommended for passage 

 in the report of the Senate Committee 

 on Public Lands at the last session of 

 Congress, and reintroduced in this ses- 

 sion, being Senate Bill 932, Fifty-eighth 

 Congress, first session, and urge the im- 

 mediate passage of said bill in this session 

 of Congress, in order that the monstrous 

 abuses and frauds which have been and 

 are now being committed under the acts 

 therein mentioned shall be forthwith 

 stopped ; and that we call the attention 

 of Congress and of the country to the 

 facts set forth in said Senate report, 

 which show the urgent need for the im- 

 mediate repeal of said laws, said report 

 being known as part i of Report 3166, 

 Fifty-seventh Congress, second session. 



Resolved further, That no laws should 

 at any time or under any circumstances 

 be enacted by Congress which would 

 permit any one to acquire title to public 



