PUBLIC LANDS COMMISSION. 8 



Senate Document No. 188, Fifty-eighth Congress, second session. 

 In this report reference was made to the magnitude of the problems 

 and to the fact that it was not then practicable to reach definite con- 

 clusions on a number of the more intricate questions. 



Since the time of making this first report many meetings of the 

 Commission have been held and special topics have been assigned 

 to experts for their detailed investigation. The members of the 

 Commission have individually and collectively studied many of the 

 subjects assigned to it. During the year 1904 each member spent 

 much time upon the public lands, making personal inquiries into 

 existing conditions and discussing public-land questions with public 

 men and citizens generally. 

 _ The Commission now respectfully submits to you a further par- 

 tial report. 



There is in preparation an appendix containing special reports pre- 

 I pared for the Commission, upon which, in part, the conclusions here 

 presented are based. The Commission desires to express to you its high 

 appreciation of the valuable assistance and support it has received 

 from officers of the General Land Office, the United States Geological 

 Survey (especially the reclarualion service), and the bureaiis of Plant 

 Industry and Forestry of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture. 



PROBLEMS PRESENTED. 



The total area of the public lands of the United States, exclusive 

 of Alaska, was 1,441,436,160 acres, of which 473,836,402 acres still 

 remained on June 30, 1904. The latter figure, of nearly half a bil- 

 lion acres, while but a third of the original area, is still enormous. 

 Even to see typical examples of these lands in each of the States or 

 larger political divisions would require months of arduous travel. 

 To obtain a full comprehension of all the physical conditions would 

 require years of research. This fact is emphasized because it appears 

 in the general discussion of public-land questions by hundreds or 

 thousands of individuals that as a rule each man sees only certain 

 phases of a group of problems and from his own view point brings 

 argument to bear for or against any one conclusion. Specific cases 

 are cited to show that certain land laws should be repealed or revised, 

 or should be allowed to remain, and instances are given of the bene- 

 ficial results of such action. 



A correct decision must be based not upon individual cases but upon 

 the broadest attainable knowledge of prevailing tendencies and re- 

 sults. In a hundred cases it may be possible to find 10 excellent illus- 

 trations of the beneficial workings of a law, and yet the remaining 

 90 cases show without doubt that the law on the whole is not good. 

 It is only when large groups of facts are comprehended and analyzed 

 that the real conditions appear. 



ANTIQUATED LAND LAWS. 



In our preceding report reference was made to the fact that the 

 present land laws do not fit the conditions of the remaining public 

 lands. Most of these laws and the departmental practices which 

 have grown up under them were framed to suit the lands of the 



