NEWS AND NOTES 



719 



Mr. Foote's paper is accompanied by an 

 admirable map of the Great Basin, and is 

 reprinted from the Proceedings of the Amer- 

 ican Society of Civil Engineers. 



A National Land Exposition in Chicago 



From November 20 to December 4 of this 

 year will be held in the Coliseum, under 

 the auspices of The Chicago Tribune, the 

 United States Land and Irrigation Exposi- 

 tion, which will provide authoritative, graphic 

 information about the vast land opportunities 

 now opening up in many states for home- 

 seekers, farmers, and investors. There will 

 be exhibits of the wonderful fruits of virgin 

 soil from all sections of the country. Elab- 

 orate panoramas will show what is being 

 done to irrigate, drain, and cultivate it. Ar- 

 rangements have been made for Government 

 exhibits of great value. 



The National Land Laws 



During its existence as a nation the United 

 States has given or sold to private owners 

 hundreds of millions of acres of public lands 

 which to-day represent in their total a valu- 

 ation expressed in billions of dollars. The 

 policy adopted and pursued in the early days 

 was defensible and even commendable. Set- 

 tlers were wanted in the great West and in- 

 ducements were necessary. Free land or 

 cheap land proved an irresistible attraction 

 and set'.lers swarmed westward. Railroads 

 were needed, and land grants on a gigantic 

 scale made railroads possible. Under this 

 system endless miles of wilderness became 

 one of the world's greatest producing areas 

 and the home of millions of industrious and 

 prosperous people. 



The change in conditions was not attended 

 by change in the laws. There was a con- 

 tinuance of the policy of treating public 

 land as of little or no value, to be given, or 

 at best sold cheaply, to those who applied 

 for it. Under these antiquated laws petty 

 frauds and gigantic swindles came into ex- 

 istence and flourished mightily. All attempts 

 to remedy the evil, to adjust the laws to the 

 new conditions, were fought by the repre- 

 sentatives of those who were making money 

 by processes which were, in fact, the equiva'- 

 lent of robbery of the American people. All 

 efforts to punish offenders were blocked and 

 delayed, in spite of the courage and the 

 fidelity of such men as the late Ethan Allen 

 Hitchcock, until the prosecution of land- 

 fraud cases has come to be almost a farce. 



Last year the General Land Office reported 

 the United States (the American people) as 

 the owner^of 754,895,296 acres of "land areas 

 unappropriated and unreserved." This in- 

 cludes Alaska's 368021,509 unsurveyed acres. 

 Leaving out the Alaskan area and the appro- 

 riated and reserved areas of the country 

 proper, it appears that the United States is 

 6 



now the proprietor of 386,873,787 acres of 

 the least valuable land out of an original 

 possession of 1,441,436,160 acres. Out of this 

 226,690,938 acres are reported as "surveyed" 

 and 160.182,849 acres as "unsurveyed." Very 

 little farming land remains for distribution. 

 Much the larger part of the timber land 

 has been either distributed or included in the 

 National Forests. The mineral resources of 

 the unsurveyed regions are either little known 

 or quite unknown. * * * 



The gift or the bargain sale of highly val- 

 uable forest and mineral lands for the en- 

 richment of the few by the careless liber- 

 ality of the many is now a national folly. 

 Every possible acre of public land should be 

 reserved until by proper survey a fair valua- 

 tion can be determined and a fair price set 

 on the property. About three-quarters_ of 

 the original national holding has passed into 

 private hands. A considerable percentage of 

 the whole has undoubtedly been acquired by 

 processes of doubtful legality, and much has 

 been acquired by glaring fraud. For what re- 

 mains as national property new laws should 

 be devised in the interest of the present 

 owners, the people of the United States. 

 The Sun, New York City. 



Let's Focus on Something for Conservation 



What if every man, woman, and child in 

 the whole country could be convinced of the 

 need for a vigorous conservation program? 

 Would they get it? Not in a thousand years 

 if they didn't organize the fight. 



The Forester has been at work to organize 

 that fight for ten years. _The administration 

 tells us it is doing all it can to the same 

 end now. The Conservation Commission 

 and the American Forestry Association are 

 far from idle. But all these forces together 

 have not gone a great ways. 



James j. Hill has hit the conservation nail 

 on the head. There will never be any prog- 

 ress, thinks that astute empire-builder, until 

 the plan of waterways development is made 

 solely in the light of the greatest good to 

 the whole country. Congress will keep to 

 about its present tire-exploded pace as long 

 as Goose Creek is fighting Sugar Run. So 

 with restrictive legislation as to the cutting 

 of young timber. So with planting for the 

 protection of soils. So with everything else 

 even the tariff. 



A waterways commission was Mr. Hill's 

 plan. It would require Congress to eliminate 

 itself. But the end is so much to be desired 

 that maybe Congress could be persuaded to 

 do so. Then, in the further judgment of 

 this same student, there must be sane finan- 

 cing. * * * 



What ought to be done by the friends of 

 the conservation movement, and done right 

 away, is this: 



The fight should be focused. There ought 

 to be as nearly as possible unanimous de- 

 mand upon Congress for one thing. That 



