1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



135 



the commutation clause of the home- 

 stead act, shows that their tendency 

 far too often is to bring about land 

 monopoly rather than to multiply 

 small holdings by actual settlers. The 

 land laws, decisions, and practices 

 have become so complicated that the 

 settler is at a marked disadvantage in 

 comparison with the shrewd business 

 man who aims to acquire large proper- 

 ties. Not infrequently their effect is 

 to put a premium on perjury and dis- 

 honest methods in the acquisition of 

 land. It is apparent, in consequence, 

 that in very many localities, and per- 

 haps in general, a larger proportion 

 of the public land is passing into the 

 hands of speculators and corporations 

 than into those of actual settlers who 

 are making homes. 



This is not due to the character of 

 the land. In all parts of the United 

 States known to your Commission 

 where such large holdings are being 

 acquired the genuine homesteader is 

 prospering alongside of them under 

 precisely the same conditions. Wher- 

 ever the laws have been so enforced 

 as to give the settler a reasonable 

 chance, he has settled, prospered, built 

 up the country, and brought about 

 more complete development and larger 

 prosperity than where land monoply 

 flourishes. . Nearly everywhere the 

 large landowner has succeeded in mo- 

 nopolizing the best tracts, whether of 

 timber or agricultural land. There 

 has been some outcry against this con- 

 dition. Yet the lack of greater protest 

 is significant. It is to be explained by 

 the energy, shrewdness, and influence 

 of the men to whom the continuation 

 of the present condition is desirable. 



Your Commission has had inquiries 

 made as to how a number of estates, 

 selected haphazard, have been ac- 

 quired. Almost without exception col- 

 lusion or evasion of the letter and 

 spirit of the land laws was involved. 

 It is not necessarily to be inferred that 

 the present owners of these estates 

 were dishonest, but the fact remains 

 that their holdings were acquired or 

 consolidated by practices which can- 

 not be defended. 



The disastrous effect of this system 

 upon the well-being of the nation as a 

 whole requires little comment. Under 

 the present conditions, speaking broad- 

 ly, the large estate usually remains in 

 a low condition of cultivation, whereas 

 under actual settlement by individual 

 home makers the same land would 

 have supported many families in com- 

 fort and would have yielded far great- 

 er returns. Agriculture is a pursuit 

 of which it may be asserted absolutely 

 that it rarely reaches its best develop- 

 ment under any concentrated form of 

 ownership. 



There exists and is spreading in the 

 West a tenant or hired-labor system 

 which not only represents a relatively 

 low industrial development, but whose 

 further extension carries with it a 

 most serious threat. Politically, so- 

 cialy, and economically this system is 

 indefensible. Had the land laws been 

 effective and effectually enforced its 

 growth would have been impossible. 



It is often asserted in defense of 

 large holdings that, through the op- 

 eration of enlightened selfishness, the 

 land so held will eventually be put to 

 its best use. Whatever theoretical con- 

 siderations may support this statement, 

 in practice it is almost universally 

 untrue. Hired labor on the farm can- 

 not compete with the man who owns 

 and works his land, and if it could the 

 owners of large tracts rarely have the 

 capital to develop them effectively. 



Although there is a tendency to sub- 

 divide large holdings in the long run, 

 yet the desire for such holdings js so 

 strong and the belief in their rapid in- 

 crease in value so controlling and so 

 widespread that the speculative motive 

 governs, and men go to extremes be- 

 fore they will subdivide lands which 

 they themselves are not able to utilize. 



The fundamental fact that charac- 

 terizes the present situation is this: 

 That the number of patents issued is 

 increasing out of all proportion to the 

 number of new homes. 



Respectfully submitted. 



W. A. RICHARDS. 

 F. H. NKWELL. 



GlFFORD PlNCHOT. 



