100 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



erally ignorant of practical arboriculture, and poor in purse. The 

 law was a fraud on the government, and even sometimes on the settlers, 

 for no doubt some took up land in the belief that it must be good, since 

 the government considered that it would grow trees.^^^ There were 

 some also who purposely used the law for the fraudulent acquisition 

 of land.^^' 



Testimony regarding the act was almost unanimous in pronouncing 

 it a failure and an instrument of fraud, and from 1884 to 1891 there 

 were nearly always from one to a dozen bills before Congress providing 

 for its repeal. Even the repeal of the act in 1891 did not end the diffi- 

 culties, for two years later Congress had to pass a relief act,^^* provid- 

 ing that if trees were planted and cared for in good faith for eight 

 years, final proof might be made without regard to the number of trees 

 that survived ; and thirteen years later the Commissioner of the Land 

 Office announced that nearly all the timber culture entries had been 

 adjusted."'^ 



APPROPRIATIONS TO PREVENT FRAUDULENT ENTRIES 



The repeal of the Preemption Law and the amendment of the Home- 

 stead and Desert Land laws were steps in favor of a wiser disposition 

 of the public lands ; but eight years previously Congress had shown a 

 disposition to suppress fraudulent entries, by appropriating $100,000 

 "for the protection of the public lands from illegal and fraudulent 

 entry."^^^ This was in addition to the regular annual appropriation 

 to prevent timber depredations, and a sum of from $75,000 to 

 $100,000 was provided annually until 1890, when the amount was 

 raised to $120,000.'" Furthermore, the Sundry Civil Act of 1885"' 

 contained an additional item of $20,000 for the expenses of hearings 

 to determine fraudulent entries — an item which appeared regularly 

 thereafter, bearing a sum of from $20,000 to $30,000. 



132 The Nation, Sept. 13, 1883, 220. 



133 Donaldson, "Public Domain," 541, 681, 683, 1088, 1164, 1221: Report, Sec. of 

 Int., 1885, 203: Report, Land Office, 1885, 51. 



134 Stat. 27, 593. 



135 Report, Sec. of Int., 1906, 376. 



136 Stat. 22, 623. 



137 Stat. 26, 389. 



138 Stat. 23, 498. 



