THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



103 



"The Commutation Clause of the Homestead Act," 

 "The Timber and Stone Act," and the "Desert Land 

 Act." 



Perhaps it will interest the reader to know that all 

 of these acts were good in their original plan and are 

 today, if properly enforced. Many abuses have been 

 committed under these laws, as under thousands of 

 other laws on record, but no abuse need have been nec- 

 essary had a proper enforcement of these laws been 

 insisted on by federal officers whose duty it was to look 

 after the matter. The object in circulating this large 

 amount of free matter through the kindness of the 

 country publishers who perchance think that they are 

 getting something for nothing, when in point of fact 

 they are only being made the cat's-paw for a band of 

 scheming grafters who will benefit to the extent of 

 hundreds of millions of dollars if these three laws are 

 repealed. 



To be more explicit, if these three laws are re- 

 pealed the only opportunity left for the home seeker, 

 the toiler and the wage earner, to secure land in the 

 West is by taking it up under what is known as the 

 old or original homestead law, which requires five years' 

 continuous residence on the land to secure title. This 

 law worked very well in the eastern and central States 

 where a man could start in and make a living from 

 the first day of his settlement upon the land. Condi- 

 tions are vastly different, however, in the arid West, 

 where five years' continuous residence on a homestead 

 to perfect title to same is an impossibility, and the 

 men who are working for the repeal of the three laws 

 named are as well aware of this as the writer and many 

 others. They know, moreover, that these laws having 

 been repealed and the old homestead law an impossi- 

 bility, the only other recourse for the homeseeker is to 

 purchase land from the large corporations who have 

 corralled them to the extent of sixty or seventy mil- 

 lions of acres. Moreover, the purchasers of land from 

 these corporations will pay the price asked by the men 

 who now hold the fee. It is also a well known fact 

 that all of the sixty or seventy millions of acres of 

 land would have been gladly disposed of by the owners 

 five or six years ago at for from 50 cents to $1.00 per 

 acre. It is also generally known that if the repeal 

 of these laws is effected, this land will immediately 

 jump in value from two to five dollars per acre. As- 

 suming then, that it only increases in value two dol- 

 lars per acre after the repeal of these laws, it is clearly 

 evident that at least one hundred and twenty million 

 dollars will be lifted from the public pocket by this 

 band of individuals who are paying two hundred and 

 fifty thousand dollars a year in support of the men 

 who are getting out what is known as the Magazine 

 Supplement for country newspapers; in other words, 

 the country publisher holds the bag and distributes 

 this sort of literature for the benefit of a lot of people 



who will eventually win out to the extent of one hun- 

 dred and twenty, perhaps three or four hundred mil- 

 lions of dollars. Is this not a fine condition of affairs? 

 Is it not a pleasant position in which to place the 

 country publisher that of being worked by a gang who 

 will lift out several hundred million dollars through 

 their efforts? The country publisher who would use 

 this class of stuff must perforce have a fine opinion of 

 himself to use his list of subscribers as a means of put- 

 ting millions into the pockets of men of that character. 



We attempt in this manner to explain the situation ; 

 in fact the country publishers should understand it. 

 If they contemplate charging this band something for 

 the use of their circulation the proposition is immedi- 

 ately given a different aspect. If, on the contrary, 

 they are giving everything and receiving nothing, what 

 are we to think of their business methods? 



To reiterate, let the present laws be properly en- 

 forced, they are good enough, and if the same time 

 were spent in seeing that they are honestly enforced 

 which has been spent in efforts to reach into the pockets 

 of the homeseeker, our political and moral conditions 

 would be much better and more harmonious. 



It will, moreover, pay publishers of journals 

 throughout the country to keep posted on a subject of 

 such great importance as the development of the West 

 under irrigation. It will also be well for them to learn 

 about "the darky in the wood pile" as explained in 

 The Boston Commercial of December 9, in part as fol- 

 lows, all of which will be fully treated in future issues 

 of IRRIGATION AGE. We give below part of the article 

 from The Commercial, which is headed "A Gold Brick," 

 the part quoted following an explanation of how free 

 supplements are offered to publishers: 



" 'The darkey in the woodpile' is now making his 

 appearance in the matter inserted in these supplements. 

 It turns out that irrigation of some arid lands in the 

 far West, for the benefit of a few individuals, the cost 

 of irrigating, which is to be paid for by the United 

 States Government, is the object of the supplements. 



"Publishers to whom they are given are expected 

 to issue them with their regular publications in order 

 that public sentiment may be worked up in favor of 

 obtaining from the Government expenditures of mil- 

 lions upon millions of dollars so that these almost 

 worthless lands may be increased in value and sold at 

 enormous profit for those interested. 



"The newspapers are to be made the catspaw for 

 this purpose. The promoters of the scheme can well 

 afford to spend several hundred thousands of dollars, 

 largely contributed by a few railroad companies and 

 interested individuals, for, by so doing, the United 

 States treasury may be tapped for millions, and the 

 people of the East, South and middle West taxed in 

 order that the owners of this arid land may be ben- 

 efited." 



