ad been difficult to compel the West to respect national
land laws. The squatter who occupied lands without title had always been
an obstacle to uniform administration. Evasion of the law had rarely
been frowned upon by Western opinion, which had hoped to get the public
lands into private hands by the quickest route. In the region where the
laws had to be enforced, opinion prevented it, while the National
Administration, before the adoption of civil service reform, was
incapable of directing with accuracy and uniform policy any
administrative scheme which must be so highly technical as a land
office. The Preemption, Homestead, and Timber Culture Laws were all
framed in the interest of the small holder, but were all perverted by
fraud and collusion. The United States invited much of the fraud by
making no provision by which those industries which had a valid need for
a large acreage could get it legally.

Among the special abuses that were observed now that it was too late to
remedy them were the violations of the law and the lawless seizures of
the public lands. The cattle companies took and fenced what they needed
and drove out "trespassers" by force. Mail contractors complained of
illegal inclosures which they dare not cross, but which diverted the
United States mail from its lawful course. Yet such was the general land
law that against all but the United States Government the possessors
could maintain their possession. If the Government could not or would
not interfere, there was no redress.

These abuses had been noticed for many years, and were specially
advertised in the early eighties by the enormous holdings of a few
British noblemen. The problem of absentee landlordism was exciting
Ireland in these years. When Cleveland became President his Commissioner
of the General Land Office, Sparks, turned cheerfully and vigorously to
reform, and denounced the discreditable condition the more readily
because it had appeared under Republican administration. He held up the
granting of homestead and preemption titles for the purpose of
examination and inspection, and demanded the repeal of the Preemption
Law. He was successful in recovering some of the lands that had been
offered to the railways to aid in their construction.

The railway land grants were notorious because the railways had rarely
been done on contract time, and had in theory forfeited their grants.
The estimated area offered them was about 214,000,000 acres