THE UTILIZATION OF THE YACAXT PUBLIC LANDS 51 



controlling feature in the disposition of the i)ul)lie lands was not 

 ahandoned, because the sections of land remaining to the gov- 

 ernment within the limits of the grant were douhled in jjriccfor 

 the purpose of reimbursing the government for the land granted. 

 It was not until the agitation of the question of free homes for 

 the people, which resulted in the act of May 2, 18G2, that the 

 general jiolicy of sales for revenue was changed. 



The homestead law provided that any citizen who is the head 

 of a family, or who has arrived at the age of 21 years, may ac- 

 (piire title to 160 acres of land by residing upon, cultivating, and 

 improving the tract for five years immediately preceding his 

 final proof, free from all cost except the land office fees. Since 

 the year 1862, when this law went into effect, U}) to the close of 

 the last fiscal year, 508,930 homestead entries have been allowed, 

 embracing an area of 67,618,451 acres. 



How^ far this beneficent act has demonstrated the wisdom of 

 the measure and fulfilled the expectations of its advocates must 

 be judged by the growth and prosperity of the country since the 

 period of its enactment. It is true that it went into operation 

 at practically the same period that witnessed the extensive grants 

 in aid of the construction of the Pacific railroads and other im- 

 l)ortant works of internal improvement; but this imi)ortant 

 factor, with the aid of the railroads, was mainly instrumental in 

 converting the boundless domain of wild, unsettled Indian coun- 

 try into tiiriving communities and states, adding immenseh' to 

 the material wealtli and prosperity of the nation. Thus the gov- 

 ernment has indirectly derived larger revenues from its bounties 

 than it could have acquired from the cash sales of its lands. 



It is umiecessary to give a detailed statement of the extent to 

 which the public lands have been entered under the several laws 

 b}^ which such disposition has been governed. Suffice it to say 

 that about 247,000,000 acres of land have been sold for cash, in- 

 cluding commuted homestead entries, for which the government 

 has received about $280,000,000, and that this item, with the 

 grants to aid in the construction of railroads and the donations 

 to states for educational purposes and internal improvements, 

 constitute the largest portion of the pul)lie domain that has been 

 dis[)Osed of by the government. 



It is estimated that there now remain, exclusive of Alaska, 

 over which the general land laws have not been extended, 

 about 600,000,000 acres of vacant public land, of which al)out 

 500,000,000 are within a region where the rainfall is not sutfi- 



