The settlement of these matters will remove many embarrassments to
progress in the work of leading the Indians to the adoption of our
institutions and bringing them under the operation, the influence, and
the protection of the universal laws of our country.
The recommendations of the Secretary of the Interior and the
Commissioner of the General Land Office looking to the better protection
of public lands and of the public surveys, the preservation of national
forests, the adjudication of grants to States and corporations and of
private land claims, and the increased efficiency of the public-land
service are commended to the attention of Congress. To secure the widest
distribution of public lands in limited quantities among settlers for
residence and cultivation, and thus make the greatest number of
individual homes, was the primary object of the public-land legislation
in the early days of the Republic. This system was a simple one. It
commenced with an admirable scheme of public surveys, by which the
humblest citizen could identify the tract upon which he wished to
establish his home. The price of lands was placed within the reach of
all the enterprising, industrious, and honest pioneer citizens of the
country. It was soon, however, found that the object of the laws was
perverted, under the system of cash sales, from a distribution of land
among the people to an accumulation of land capital by wealthy and
speculative persons.
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