Settlers Beat the State to the Best School Lands

The Washington state land commission, consisting of W. F. Forrest, commissioner of public lands, Allen Weir, secretary of state, and T. M. Reed, state auditor, whose duty it is to select, for educational and other purposes, the 660,000 acres of public lands, have issued a circular letter to Senator Squire and the other state representatives at Washington City, asking for a relief bill. The communication states that the commission has found itself greatly hampered in selecting lands, owing to the avidity with which claims are taken by private settlers by squatters' right before the survey of the lands and the filing of township plats. It has been the experience of the commission that the best land included in every plat filed has been taken before their opportunity of selection arrives. Under the decision of the secretary of the interior, it is not permitted to set lands aside which will not be open to public entry to be reserved for selection by the commission. Such a fruitless attempt was made. In the minds of the members of the commission and Governor Ferry, the question has a serious aspect for the state. Having to select what settlers refuse to take when new surveys are made must make, in the end, a difference of several million dollars to the funds for which the lands will eventually be sold. In order to obviate the difficulty a bill is to be introduced into congress at the instance of the commission, authorizing the secretary of the interior to establish reservations from which selections shall be made.