1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



127 



remaining public lands are as yet al- 

 most unknown. Lands which a gen- 

 eration or even a decade ago were sup- 

 posed to be valueless are now produc- 

 ing large crops, either with or without 

 irrigation. This has been brought 

 about in part by the introduction of 

 new grains and other plants and new 

 methods of farming and in part by 

 denser population and improved sys- 

 tems of transportation. It is obvious 

 that the first essential for putting the 

 remaining public lands to their best 

 use is to ascertain what that best use 

 is by a preliminary study and classifi- 

 cation of them, and to determine their 

 probable future development by agri- 

 culture. 



Until it can be definitely ascertained 

 that any given area of the public lands 

 is and in all probability forever will 

 remain unsuited to agricultural devel- 

 opment, the title to that land should 

 remain in the General Government in 

 trust for the future settler. 



For example : The passage of the 

 reclamation act (June 17, 1902) made 

 certain the disposition to actual set- 

 tlers of large areas of land which up 

 to that time had been considered as 

 valueless. Other areas, which are too 

 high and barren to have notable value 

 even for grazing, are now known to 

 have importance in the future develop- 

 ment of the country through their ca- 

 pacity to produce forest growth. The 

 making of wells will give an added 

 value to vast tracts of range lands for 

 which the water supply is now scanty. 

 In short, because of possible develop- 

 ment, through irrigation, through the 

 introduction of new plants and new 

 methods of farming, through forest 

 preservation, and grazing control, the 

 remaining public lands have an impor- 

 tance hitherto but dimly foreseen. 



In view of these facts it is of the 

 first importance to save the remaining 

 public domain for actual home build- 

 ers to the utmost limit of future pos- 

 sibilities and not to mortgage the fu- 

 ture by any disposition of the public 

 lands under which home making will 

 not keep step with disposal. To that 

 end your Commission recommends 



(see p. 12) a method of range control 

 under which present resources may be 

 used to the full without endangering 

 future settlement. 



_After the agricultural possibilities 

 of the public lands have been ascer- 

 tained with reasonable certainty, pro- 

 vision should be made for dividing 

 them into areas sufficiently large to 

 support a family, and no larger, and 

 to permit settlement on such areas. It 

 is obvious that any attempt to accom- 

 plish this end without a careful classi- 

 fication of the public lands must nec- 

 essarily fail. Attempts of this kind 

 are being made from time to time, and 

 legislation of this character is now 

 pending, modeled on the Nebraska 

 6~4O-acre homestead law, which was 

 passed as an experiment to meet a cer- 

 tain restricted local condition. This 

 act (33 Stat., 547) permits the entry 

 of 64O-acre homesteads in the sand- 

 hill region of that State. Whether in 

 practice the operation of this law will 

 result in putting any considerable num- 

 ber of settlers on the land is not yet 

 determined. 



Your Commission is of opinion, af- 

 ter careful consideration, that general 

 provisions of this kind should not be 

 extended until after thorough study of 

 the public lands has been made in each 

 particular case, because to do so con- 

 troverts the fundamental principle of 

 saving the public lands for the home 

 maker. Each locality should be dealt 

 with on its own merits. Even if it 

 should ultimately appear that this law 

 has worked beneficially in Nebraska it 

 would be no means follow that such a 

 law might be safely applied to other 

 regions different in topography, soil, 

 and climate. No arbitrary rule should 

 bo followed, but in each case the area 

 of the homestead should be determined 

 by the acreage which may be necessary 

 to support a family upon the land, 

 either agriculture, or by grazing if ag- 

 riculture is impracticable. Until such 

 acreage is determined for each locality, 

 any new general law providing a meth- 

 od of obtaining title to the public lands 

 would, in the opinion of your Commis- 

 sion, In- decidedly unsafe. 



