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THE PRESIDENT ON PUBLIC LANDS, 

 IRRIGATION AND FORESTRY 



Gives Marked Attention to These Sub- 







jects in His Last Message to Congress. 



again I call your attention to 

 the condition of the public land 

 laws. Recent developments have given 

 new urgency to the need for such 

 changes as will fit these laws to actual 

 present conditions. The honest dispo- 

 sal and right use of the remaining 

 public lands is of fundamental impor- 

 tance. The iniquitous methods by 

 'which the monopolizing of the public 

 lands is being brought about under the 

 present laws are becoming more gen- 

 erally known, but the existing laws do 

 not furnish effective remedies. The 

 recommendations of the Public Lands 

 Commission upon this subject are wise 

 and should be given effect. 



The creation of small irrigated 

 farms under the Reclamation Act is a 

 powerful offset to the tendency of cer- 

 tain other laws to foster or permit mo- 

 nopoly of land. Under that act the 

 construction of great irrigation works 

 has been proceeding rapidly and suc- 

 cessfu 1 ly, the lands reclaimed are eag- 

 erly taken up, and the prospect that 

 the policy of national irrigation will 

 accomplish all that was expected of it 

 is bright. The act should be extended 

 to include the state of Texas. 



The Reclamation Act derives much 

 of its value from the fact that it tends 

 to secure the greatest possible number 

 of homes on the land, and to create 

 communities of freeholclers^-in part 

 by settlement on public land, in part 

 by forcing the subdivision of large 

 private holdings before they can get 

 water from government irrigation 

 works. The law requires that no right 

 to the use of water for land in private 

 ownership shall be sold for a tract ex- 

 ceeding 1 60 acres to any one land 

 owner. This provision has excited ac- 

 tive ami powerful hostility, but the 



success of the law itself depends on 

 the wise and firm enforcement of it. 

 We cannot afford to substitute ten- 

 ants for freeholders on the public do- 

 main. 



The greater part of the remaining 

 public lands cannot be irrigated. They 

 are at present and will probably al- 

 ways be of greater value for grazing 

 than for any other purpose. This fact 

 has led to the grazing homestead of 

 64.0 acres in Nebraska and to the pro- 

 posed extension of it to other states. 

 It is argued that a family cannot be 

 supported on 160 acres of arid grazing 

 land ; this is obviously true. But 

 neither can a family be supported on 

 640 acres of much of the land to which 

 it is proposed to apply the grazing 

 homestead. To establish universally 

 any such arbitrary limit would be un- 

 wise at the present time. It would 

 probably result on the one hand in en- 

 larging the holdings of some of the 

 great land owners, and on the other in 

 needless suffering and failure on the 

 part of a very considerable portion of 

 the bona fide settlers who give faith to 

 the implied assurance of the govern- 

 ment that such an area is sufficient. 

 The best use of the public grazing 

 lands requires the careful examination 

 and classification of these lands in or- 

 der to give each settler land enough to 

 support his family and no more. While 

 this work is being done, and until the 

 lands are settled, the government 

 should take control of the open range, 

 under reasonable regulations suited to 

 local needs, following the general pol- 

 icy already in successful operation on 

 the forest reserves. It is probable that 

 the present grazing value of the open 

 public range is scarcely more than 

 half what it once was or what it might 



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