sustained. I would therefore recommend the passage of a law prescribing a severe penalty for the willful, negligent, or careless setting of tires upon the public lands of the United States, principally valuable for the timber thereon, and also providing for the recovery of all damages thereby sustained.
While such measures might be provided for by law without unnecessary delay, I would also suggest that the President be authorized to appoint a commission, composed of qualified persons, to study the laws and practices adopted in other countries for the preservation and cultivation of forests, and to report to Congress a plan for the same object applicable to our circumstances.
I am so deeply impressed with the importance of this subject, that I venture to predict, the Congress making efficient laws for the preservation of our forests will be ranked by future generations in this country among its greatest benefactors.
DESERT LANDS.
A large majority of the lands west of the one hundredth meridian are
unfit for agricultural purposes without artificial irrigation, and the area
on which artificial irrigation appears possible is very small. The
homestead and pre-emption laws are therefore practically inapplicable to lands
of that class, for the simple reason that agricultural settlement on small
subdivisions is impossible. Extensive tracts on the “plains,” however,
can be made useful as pasturage for the raising of cattle; in fact, they
are being used for that purpose on a large scale. The stock-raising
interest on the plains is gaining immense proportions, but it is carried on
upon the public domain without the authority as well as without the
protection of law, and the government derives no benefit from such use
of the public lands. Some system should be devised to make these
lands a source of public revenue, and to put the enterprise of the
citizens engaged in such pursuits upon a legal basis. The government
directors of the Union Pacific Railroad quote, in their annual report to
this department, a letter from a gentleman engaged in cattle-raising
on the plains, of which the following is an extract:
Under existing laws, one man can only attain title to one section of land in a body within the Pacific Railroad limits, i. e., a man can purchase a full section from the railroad company, but it is surrounded on all sides by government land, which is only open to homesteads and pre-emptions. It has been fully demonstrated that lands west of the one hundredth meridian are only fit for grazing purposes, and can only be utilized as grazing-lands when held in large tracts or ranges. The quantity of land required to support an animal by grazing alone is so great that it would be impossible to purchase the lands at the government price, or at any price that would look reasonable. The result is, that no lands are sold, and the stock-raisers occupy the lands without any legal rights, while the government and the railroad company get no compensation. One evil that grows out of this system is, that the stock-grower, having no defensible right to his range, does nothing toward improving or fencing it. His buildings and corrals are of the most temporary nature, and he is prepared at any time to move his herds wherever better ranges or less-crowded pastures offer. * * * *
I think the following plan would entirely counteract all the evils mentioned, and would make a return to government and railroad company from lands that otherwise
