126 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



March 



her of the more intricate questions. 



Since the time of making this first 

 report many meetings of the Commis- 

 sion have been held and special topics 

 have been assigned to experts for their 

 detailed investigation. The members 

 of the Commission have individually 

 and collectively studied many of the 

 subjects assigned to it. During the 

 year 1904 each member spent much 

 time upon the public lands, making 

 personal inquiries into existing condi- 

 tions and discussing public-land ques- 

 tions with public men and citizens gen- 

 erally. 



The Commission now respectfully 

 submits to you a further partial report. 



There is in preparation an appendix 

 containing special reports prepared for 

 the Commission, upon which, in part, 

 the conclusions here presented are 

 based. The Commission desires to 

 express to you its high appreciation 

 of the valuable assistance and support 

 it has received from officers of the 

 General Land Office, the United States 

 Geological Survey (especially the Re- 

 clamation Service), and the bureaus of 

 Plant Industry and Forestry of the 

 United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture. 



PROBLEMS PRESENTED. 



The total area of the public lands 

 of the United States, exclusive of 

 Alaska, was 1,441,436,160 acres, of 

 which 473,836,402 acres still remained 

 on June 30, 1904. The latter figure, 

 of nearly half a billion acres, while but 

 a third of the original area, is still 

 enormous. Even to see typical exam- 

 ples of these lands in each of the States 

 or larger political divisions would re- 

 quire months of arduous travel. To 

 obtain a full comprehension of all the 

 physical conditions would require 

 years of research. This fact is em- 

 phasized because it appears in the gen- 

 eral discussion of public-land ques- 

 tions by hundreds or thousands of in- 

 dividuals that as a rule each man sees 

 only certain phases of a group of prob- 

 lems and from his own viewpoint 

 brings argument to bear for or against 

 any one conclusion. Specific cases are 



cited to show that certain land laws 

 should be repealed or revised, or 

 should be allowed to remain, and in- 

 stances are given of the beneficial re- 

 sults of such action. 



A correct decision must be based not 

 upon individual cases but upon the 

 broadest attainable knowledge of pre- 

 vailing tendencies and results. In a 

 hundred cases it may be possible to 

 find 10 excellent illustrations of the 

 beneficial workings of a law, and yet 

 the remaining 90 cases show without 

 doubt that the law on the whole is not 

 good. It is only when large groups 

 of facts are comprehended and ana- 

 lyzed that the real conditions appear. 



ANTIQUATED LAND LAWS. 



Iii our preceding report reference 

 was made to the fact that the present 

 land laws do not fit the conditions of 

 the remaining public lands. Most of 

 these laws and the departmental prac- 

 tices which have grown up under them 

 were framed to suit the lands of the 

 humid region. It is evident that the 

 decisions often contemplate conditions 

 such as prevail in the Mississippi Val- 

 ley and Middle West. Judging cases 

 by arbitrary rules of evidence and con- 

 sidering only such facts as may be pre- 

 sented under these rules, there is much 

 elementary and essential knowledge 

 of which cognizance cannot be taken. 



The changes we recommend in the 

 land laws are required not only be- 

 cause some of the present laws are 

 wholly unsuited to existing conditions, 

 but also in part because some of these 

 laws as originally drawn contemplated 

 certain conditions or practices which 

 have been gradually modified by va- 

 rious rulings or decisions. In short, 

 the precedents established and which 

 now have practically the force of law 

 have so completely modified the ap- 

 parent object of the original statute 

 that the statute and the prevailing 

 conditions appear to be wholly un- 

 connected. The effect of laws passed 

 to promote settlement is now not in- 

 frequently to prevent or retard it. 



LAND CLASSIFICATIONS. 



The agricultural possibilities of the 



