TENURE AND USE OF ARID GRAZING LANDS. 43 



crop production may be carried on as subsidiary to stock raising, 

 there are also large areas in which not even this is possible. 



It is also assumed that the basic principle of the existing home^ 

 stead laws should be maintained; L e., that provision should be 

 made for creating opportunities for men of small means to acquire 

 homes substantially free of cost, except incidental fees, by fulfilling 

 certain requirements as to residence, improvement, and use of the 

 lands. To render such a policy practicable, however, the area of 

 land granted must be large enough to constitute an economic holding; 

 i. e., an area sufficient to support a family in reasonable comfort. 

 It is essential to recognize two facts. First, as already stated, 

 the production of crops on such lands can be only incidental to the 

 carrying on of the live-stock industry and can not be the principal 

 use. To attempt to apply a homestead policy to this region on the 

 assumption that crop production will be a basic enterprise simply 

 has the effect of encouraging many men to undertake to improve 

 their condition with certain prospect of failure. At the same time 

 such men displace actual users of the land. Moreover, the present 

 users are by no means all large ranchmen, many of them being small 

 holders now occupying tracts little more than sufficient in size to 

 maintain a family. In other words, a homestead policy that follows 

 the lines established for the crop-producing homesteads of the humid 

 regions or even of the dry farming regions, fails to establish small 

 holders on the lands and at the same time actually dispossesses 

 numerous other small holders who are already adjusted to the con- 

 ditions of the region. The second fact to be recognized is that even 

 a small holding policy in the arid grazing land must contemplate 

 holdings of several sections of land, the amount varying with its 

 productivity. 



Finally, it is assumed that however desirable the ultimate working 

 out of a small holdings policy may be, it is entirely uneconomical 

 and unreasonable to attempt its application in such a manner as to 

 disrupt the established industry of the region. The policy should 

 be gradually developed, so that the total economic cost to the Nation 

 of the process of readjustment will be as small as possible. It is also 

 recognized that other size adjustments may prove more suitable in 

 the long run than such economic holdings, and the way should be 

 left open for such possible adjustments. In no case should sub- 

 division into areas of less size than the economic holding be permitted 

 in an attempt to improve upon the existing adjustment. This 

 principle is illustrated in the Texas leasing system, which recognizes 

 a limit to which the leasehold of a large holder may be reduced by 

 incoming lessees or purchasers. One of the merits of the permit 

 system worked out on the National Forests is that the homesteader 

 is admitted without allowing him seriously* to disturb the existing 



