American Poorest Congress 85 



subject to forfeiture, the declaration thereof by pro- 

 cedure in the courts is practically out of the question, 

 except in a few specific cases where the interests of the 

 public or of bona fide enterprises demand action. 



It is important, however, for the proper development 

 of the entire West, that these abandoned rights of way 

 should be cancelled at the earliest possible date, for 

 the reason that as soon as any bona fide enterprise is 

 started, these rights, which are practically dead, are 

 at once revived, and make enormous claims for the 

 rights which they hold and which cannot be set aside 

 without such delay as to seriously jeopardize the pro- 

 posed development. 



Congress should declare the forfeiture of all rights 

 of way now subject to forfeiture, and authorize the 

 Secretary of the Interior to declare the forfeiture of 

 other rights already granted and to be granted in the 

 fviture, upon the expiration of the time allowed for 

 construction by the law. 



This, however, would remedy only one feature of 

 the difficulty. It would be just as easy, as the laws 

 now stand, to tie up these rights, for five years at 

 least, in the future. In order to meet this phase of the 

 situation, it is recommended that a reasonable charge 

 be made for the use of these rights of way upon public 

 lands and forest reserves. This charge should be suf- 

 ficient to deter the application for these rights merely 

 for speculative purposes, and yet not so great as to 

 interfere with future development of railroad, irriga- 

 tion, and electric enterprises. 



The time has now come when the value of these 

 lands to the public is so great that their further disposi- 

 tion should be most carefully scrutinized. The great 

 increase in recent years in the number of these appli- 

 cations shows very impressively the need of such safe- 



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