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THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



sin^ every power in their means to accomplish this 

 end. The mask is being stripped from the hypocrites 

 who pretend to be unselfish in their motives in urging 

 the repeal of the Homestead clause and their utter 

 selfishness and cupidity is plainly exposed. 



Since THE IRRIGATION AGE called attention to the 

 sacreligious hypocrisy of the land-grabbing Octopus in 

 hoisting the sacred cross as its emblem of battle, the 

 managers of that unholy combination have become 

 alarmed and forced the editor of its principal publica- 

 tion to remove the picture of the cross from its title 

 page. The spectacle of this gang of land-grabbers who 

 are trying to force Congress to pass laws to aid them to 

 rob the poor settler hoisting the sacred cross was not 

 only impudent but blasphemous in the extreme. 



President Roosevelt's special land com- 

 Commuta- mission in its preliminary statement 

 tion Clause says : "Much evidence has been sub- 

 Will Stand, mitted tending to show that in the prairie 

 States, where it has been most used, the 

 commutation clause of the Homestead Act has been of 

 advantage to the settler without serious loss to the 

 Government." This paragraph in the report evidently 

 escaped the observation of the censor of the land- 

 grabbing Octopus, because the hired man of that enemy 

 of the public good has persistently declared through his 

 subsidized papers and in public speeches and letters that 

 the commutation clause was doing untold injury to the 

 Government interests and that it was of no benefit to 

 the settler. 



Another clause which the censor evidently skipped 

 in editing the report is : "On the contrary the Govern- 

 ment has been peculiarly benefited by it (the commuta- 

 tion clause), because under this act the land is paid for 

 in cash after fourteen months' residence, while without 

 commutation the entryman will receive a patent after 

 five years' residence without paying for the land." 



This statement is in direct opposition to the claims 

 made by the hired man of the Octopus and his traveling 

 agents. They have constantly waged a bitter war upon 

 the commutation clause of the Homestead Act because, 

 as they asserted, it has been of no practical benefit to 

 the actual settler, but simply provided a convenient 

 avenue of robbery by speculators. As there is no doubt 

 that the report of the commission was known to the 

 managers of the Octopus before it was submitted, their 

 acquiescence in its statements is another evidence of its 

 ingenuity in adapting its plans to meet emergencies. 

 The Octopus fought the National irrigation law with all 

 the bitterness and vindictive fierceness that characterize 

 a religious war, up to the very moment that it became a 

 law. When, however, it discovered that it was unable 

 to defeat the measure, it suddenly changed its tactics, 

 proclaimed it had been instrumental in securing the 

 passage of the bill and has ever since brazenly stood 

 before the public as its godfather. 



The public lands commission appointed 

 Upon What by President Roosevelt to investigate the 

 Evidence. existing land laws and make recommen- 

 dations has filed its preliminary report. 

 This commission consists of Land Commissioner W. A. 

 Richards, Chief Engineer F. H. Newell, of the geolog- 

 ical survey, and Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot. These 

 gentlemen made a three weeks' trip, including the time 

 traveling from Washington to the Pacific coast and 

 back, one week of which' was spent in attending the 

 National Live Stock Association meeting at Portland. 

 With the exception of the time spent at Portland, the 

 committee were riding in sleeping cars most of the 

 time. Their preliminary report comprises less than 

 two thousand words, including quotations from the land 

 laws, supreme court decisions and other documents. 



The committee presents no record of facts obtained 

 during its so-called investigations, but proceeds to make 

 recommendations of great scope and affecting immense 

 areas of public lands and which, if adopted, will have 

 tremendous influence upon hundreds of thousands of 

 settlers. From the character of the report, it is evident 

 that the committee has not based its recommendations 

 upon any real facts secured by it during its rapid flight 

 across the continent and back again, but followed the 

 advice of the managers of the land-grabbing Octopus 

 and made its recommendations to fit public sentiment. 

 The managers of the Octopus have discovered that there 

 is no possible hope of repealing the commutation clause 

 of the Homestead Act and has given orders to its 

 henchmen everywhere to trim their sails accordingly. 



Two members of the public land commission, 

 Messrs. Newell and Pinchot, have always maintained 

 the closest possible relations to the managers of the 

 Octopus and their preliminary report discloses very 

 clearly the influences behind them. It is no doubt a 

 bitter pill to swallow this recommendation to let the 

 commutation clause of the Homestead Act stand and 

 modify the Forest Reserve and Timber and Stone Act 

 in the interest of actual settlers but the managers of 

 the Octopus are a shrewd lot and know when to blow 

 hot and blow cold. There is no doubt that the fight on 

 the commutation clause will be renewed in the next 

 Congress with great vigor, because the Octopus is out 

 for big game, and with this law in the way they will 

 not be able to force settlers to buy the lands which they 

 have obtained from the railroads and the Government. 

 Friends of the measure should not make this mistake of 

 assuming that because the managers of the Octopus 

 have temporarily stopped their fight upon it, thev have 

 abandoned it for good. They are simply bending before 

 the storm of public opinion, but will quickly reassert 

 themselves and continue the fight next year with greater 

 arrogance and intolerance than ever. 



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