Part 29 (1/2)

RESPONSIBILITY FOR LAND FRAUDS

The responsibility for the defects in our methods of administering the public lands rests in part upon our governmental representatives, who have not always dealt wisely with the extremely difficult problem. But it rests also upon each individual citizen. There are those, be it said to our shame, who deliberately seek to defeat the purpose of the laws and to appropriate to their own selfish uses the lands which belong to the nation as a whole. There is one division of the General Land Office in Was.h.i.+ngton known as the Contest Division. Before it come, not only the ordinary disputes that are likely to arise between rival claimants, but also cases of alleged fraud and violation of the land laws. In the year 1916 MORE THAN 12,000 CASES OF ALLEGED FRAUD WERE ACTED UPON, AND NEARLY 12,000 OTHER CASES AWAITED ACTION AT THE END OF THE YEAR! But the responsibility comes much closer home than this. Many of us who would not think of violating the law have failed to appreciate the value of the gifts that nature has given us, and have apparently been ”too busy” to inform ourselves as to whether or not our public lands have been administered solely for the purpose to which Congress devoted them just after the Revolution. This, like every other matter of community interest, requires team work.

The community has certain rights to a citizen's land that are clearly recognized as superior to the citizen's rights. Acting through its government, it may take a part of a citizen's property by taxation (see Chapter XXIII). Taxes are paid in money; but if a citizen does not pay the tax upon his land, the government may sell the land for enough to cover the obligation.

THE RIGHT OF EMINENT DOMAIN

Again, the government may take a citizen's land for public uses, if the interests of the community demand it, by what is called the RIGHT OF EMINENT DOMAIN. For example, if the interests of the community demand that a new road be built, the government will seek to buy the necessary land from the farmers along the line of the proposed highway. Some farmer may say that he does not want the road to run through his farm, or he may try to get a price beyond what his land is worth. The government may then CONDEMN the required land and fix a price despite the farmer's objections. The citizen whose land is taken must, however, be paid for it; the Const.i.tution of the United States protects him by the provision, ”nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation” (Amendment V, last clause).

The right of eminent domain may be exercised to secure a site for a schoolhouse, a post-office, an army post, or courthouse, or for any other public purpose. The government also authorizes corporations that perform a public service to exercise the right, as in the case of railroads which must obtain a right of way for their tracks, and sites for their yards and stations.

THE POLICE POWER OF THE GOVERNMENT

Finally, by the exercise of what is known as the POLICE POWER, the government may control the use to which a citizen may put his land. Occasion for the exercise of the police power arises most frequently in cities, where it is necessary to control the construction of buildings for fire protection, and to regulate the kinds of business that may be conducted. In country districts it does not usually make so much difference what a man does on his own land; but even there the police power may be exercised, as when the state of Idaho pa.s.sed a law forbidding the herding of sheep within a certain distance of towns.

POLITICAL RELATIONS WITH THE LAND

There is another way in which government establishes relations between the people and the land. Citizens of the United States have certain political rights and duties, such as voting, holding office, and paying taxes. These rights may be enjoyed and the duties performed only within certain districts which the government creates for this purpose. Thus, a citizen has a right to vote within the state where he lives, but not in any other state. He must cast his vote within his own county, towns.h.i.+p, and precinct. The boundaries of the states are established by the national government (except the original thirteen states of the Union, whose boundaries were fixed before the national government was organized); but they may not be changed afterward without the consent of the states affected. The states organize their own counties and towns.h.i.+ps [Footnote: In the public land states the political towns.h.i.+p usually, but not always, corresponds with the towns.h.i.+p surveyed by the national government. See pp. 194-196.]

and other districts. Villages and cities are granted definite boundaries by the state, and organize themselves into wards and precincts. There are legislative, congressional, judicial, and revenue districts, the boundaries of which are fixed by state and national governments. Locally, there are school districts. The boundaries which separate one nation from another are determined by agreement, or treaty, between the nations concerned.

Uncertainty or indefiniteness in regard to national boundary lines has been the cause of much international strife, and was an important factor in the European war begun by Germany in 1914.

If you live in a ”public land” state, for what uses have public lands been given to the state? Have the school lands in your state been wisely used?

Is it easy for a young man to acquire a farm in your locality? to keep up improvements on a farm that he owns? Has it been easy for a farmer in your locality to borrow money? (Consult parents and friends.)

Have the farmers of your locality made much use of the Federal Farm Loan Act? Do they think it is a good law?

Have you heard of forced sales of land in your community to pay taxes?

Do you know of cases of the exercise of the right of eminent domain in your community? For what purposes? Was it exercised by local, state, or national government?

In what ways does government control the use to which you may put the land on which you live?

In what towns.h.i.+p do you live? school district? congressional district? state legislative district? revenue district?

READINGS

Annual reports of the Secretary of the Interior.

Annual reports of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, Department of the Interior, Was.h.i.+ngton.

The General Land Office has published a large wall map showing the land surveys, the national forests, and many other important items. It may be secured from the Superintendent of Doc.u.ments, Government Printing Office, Was.h.i.+ngton, for $1.

See the New International Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia Americana on public lands, national forests, and other topics referred to in this chapter.

In LESSONS IN COMMUNITY AND NATIONAL LIFE:

Series A: Lesson 4, What nature has done for a typical city.