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; i. 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 illus-trated 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 
