. Conservation. Forests and forestry. WOODS A>JD WATERS. SOILS ORES Vol. XIV NOVEMBER, igo8 No. II THE FRAUDULENT HOMESTEADER By ALFORD L, THAYER ;KAR EW YOl :iOTANIC UAKDBf PLAY on the heart-strings of a man until you strike the lost chord of his better self: that part of him grown indifferent and callous in the struggle of money making, and he may confess the weakness of his wrongs upon which you attack him. He may tell you the secrets of years, buried within him, and perhaps through tears, may walk entirely out of his old mer- cenary career into a decent, honorable life. In making
. Conservation. Forests and forestry. WOODS A>JD WATERS. SOILS ORES Vol. XIV NOVEMBER, igo8 No. II THE FRAUDULENT HOMESTEADER By ALFORD L, THAYER ;KAR EW YOl :iOTANIC UAKDBf PLAY on the heart-strings of a man until you strike the lost chord of his better self: that part of him grown indifferent and callous in the struggle of money making, and he may confess the weakness of his wrongs upon which you attack him. He may tell you the secrets of years, buried within him, and perhaps through tears, may walk entirely out of his old mer- cenary career into a decent, honorable life. In making investigations of the fraud- ulent homestead and timber claims within the boundaries of the National Forests in the West, I have in almost every district, discovered two distinct types—the person who deliberately sets about to defraud the Government out of i6o acres of land, and the party who has been the victim of a profes- sional locator, working in the interests .ii-of some large corporation. The Gov- "^ ernment has no room on its public lands ^— for a timber thief; Uncle Sam has a great heart that forgives the man who has been betrayed by cunning plans of those higher up who are playing the "big timber ; I recently called on a shingle weaver, living with his wife and five children in a small house just outside of Everett. I asked him whether he was the same party who was attempting to hold a homestead claim in the Cascade moun- tains, forty miles from that city. He said he was, and was very much aston- ished when I explained to him the regu- lations. Of course he had not complied with the requirements of the homestead law, and offered the usual excuse. "Why, hundreds of people in this country have taken up claims back in these mountains, and have never been on the land.'" "; I argued, "because thousands of acres of valuable timber have been illegally acquired in the past, is it a reason for continuing such a plunder- ing
Size: 2178px × 1147px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectforestsandforestry
