The purpose of the government has been to encourage ACTUAL SETTLEMENT in order to secure the development of the nation's resources, and for this purpose to allow each settler enough land to enable him to support a family in comfort. It was decided that 160 acres of GOOD FARM LAND was enough.
Some portions of the public land, however, are less productive than others. Where the rainfall is slight and where irrigation is impracticable, and yet where crops can be raised by the "dry farming" process, the law allows a settler to take 320 acres.
A settler may also obtain 320 acres in the "desert lands" of some of the western states. These lands may be made productive by irrigation, but the settler must construct his own irrigation system. Originally 640 acres were allowed in such lands, but the amount has been reduced to 320 acres, and the Commissioner of the General Land Office now recommends (1916) that it be further reduced to 160 acres.
In those parts of the desert region which the government has already reclaimed by irrigation, thus making the land extremely fruitful, the amount usually allowed a settler is from 40 to 80 acres.
There are regions where the land is suitable only for stock raising and for forage crops. Here Congress has decided that 640 acres is a fair amount for the support of a family.
Lands that are valuable for their timber and mineral resources are disposed of on different terms, but on somewhat the same principle.
RECLAMATION OF LANDS BY SOLDIERS
At the close of the war in 1918 a plan was proposed by the Secretary of the Interior to secure the occupation of land by returning soldiers. Since the lands suitable for farming in their natural state have practically all been disposed of; the plan contemplates the reclamation of arid and swamp lands, and of land from which the forests have been cut but which are still covered with stumps. It is proposed that returned soldiers shall be employed by the government in the work of reclaiming the land, and that those who desire to become farmers may buy their farms in the reclaimed lands at a reasonable price, and with a period of thirty or forty years in which to pay for them. The Secretary of the Interior said: "This plan does not contemplate anything like charity to the soldier … He is not to be made to feel that he is a dependent. On the contrary, he is to continue in a sense in the service of the Government. Instead of destroying our enemies he is to develop our resources." Much of the land whose reclamation by and for returning soldiers is thus contemplated is not now public land, but is lying idle in the hands of private owners.
LAND SETTLEMENT IN CALIFORNIA
The state of California has recently enacted a law known as the Land Settlement Act, which provides for "a demonstration in planned rural development." "Its first idea is educational, to show what democracy in action can accomplish." Under the terms of this act the state acting through a Land Settlement Board and with the cooperation of experts from the University of California, has purchased several thousand acres of land at Durham, in Butte County, which it sells to settlers on easy terms. It also lends money to settlers for improvement and equipment for the farmers.