HISTORY AND LEGAL BASIS. 19 



has required a 'segregation of the lands into classes according with 

 their character. It is apparent, although it has nowhere been ex- 

 pressly stated by Congress, that the fundamental principle guiding 

 that body has been to dispose of each tract of the public domain for 

 the use to which it is best adapted. Thus the laws have provided 

 that agricultural entry should not be made upon valuable mineral 

 lands, that lands containing deposits of coal should be sold only as 

 coal lands, and so on for all other classes of lands. The underlying 

 theory of devoting the public lands to their highest use and the 

 consequent necessity for classification of uses may easily be recognized 

 from a study of the brief outline of the more important existing land 

 laws given on pages 20-32. 



The same recognition by Congress of the necessity for land classifi- 

 cation is shown by numerous acts calling for the classification of 

 specific areas. Nearly every law providing for the opening of an 

 Indian reservation has required the lands to be classified preliminary 

 to their disposition. The act of February 26, 1895 (28 Stat., 683), 

 provides and appropriates for a definite classification of lands within 

 the limits of the Northern Pacific Kailroad grant in portions of 

 Montana and Idaho, and the sundry civil bill of June 25, 1910 (36 

 Stat., 739), makes further appropriation for the same purpose. The 

 act of October 2, 1888 (25 Stat., 526), makes provision for a classifica- 

 tion that was not necessary to the administration of the land laws 

 then in force by appropriating $100,000 to the Geological Survey 

 " for the purpose of investigating the extent to which the arid region 

 of the United States can be redeemed by irrigation and the segrega- 

 tion of the irrigable lands in such arid region and for the selection 

 of sites for reservoirs and other hydraulic works necessary for the 

 storage and utilization of water for irrigation and the prevention of 

 floods and overflows." 



A relatively recent indication of Congressional belief in land 

 classification is afforded by the two acts of June 25, 1910, providing 

 for the withdrawal of lands from entry, the one of public lands, the 

 other of lands in Indian reservations. As withdrawals constitute one 

 step in the process of classifying the public domain, the passage of 

 bills authorizing withdrawals clearly reaffirms the established policy 

 of land classification. One of these acts (36 Stat., 847), in terms 

 sanctions the classification of lands, providing— 



That the President may at any time, in his discretion, temporarily withdraw 

 from settlement, location, sale, or entry any of the public lands of the United 

 States including the District of Alaska, and reserve the same for water-power 

 sites irrigation, classification of lands, or other public purposes to be specified 

 in the orders of withdrawals, and such withdrawals or reservations shall remam 

 in force until revoked by him or by an act of Congress. 



