The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 55, July 1951 - April, 1952 Page: 426
562 p. : ill. (some col.), ports., maps (some col.) ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
1916. The "reservation" period was entered with the passage of
the Taylor Grazing Act in 1934. Briefly, the story of the public
domain in the twentieth century is one of advocating for the
continuation of the process of settlement and development, as
against the growing concept that the equity of the people in the
valuable resources which remain should not be dissipated.
Broadly, a public domain includes all the land owned by a
government. Originally, the public domain of the United States
was understood to be the large scale territorial acquisitions, land
gained by cession from the original states, by discovery, by treaty
with the occupying Indian tribes, or by treaty and purchase from
foreign governments. Currently, the "public domain" includes
all of the original public domain area which has been continu-
ously in federal ownership and such other areas as Congress has
from time to time declared to be a part of it. A common concept
of public domain, rapidly going out of usage, extends only to
those "vacant, unappropriated, unreserved" public lands-the
lands available for sale, entry, and settlement under the home-
stead laws, or other disposition under the general body of land
laws.
The emphasis of this study is placed upon the "closing" phase
of the open public land. But "closing" in this context does not
mean "ending." Rather, the new policy points to a system of
conservation. This means the use of natural assets for the proper
purpose and at the right time; it also means intelligent and
thoughtful planning for every resource of our continent. To the
casual traveler this includes improved national parks, game and
wildlife preserves, national forests, grazing reserves, military res-
ervations and atomic projects, and reclamation projects.
The author is to be commended for her factual and unbiased
presentation of such controversial subjects as the "cattle wars,"
the conservation movement, the interdepartmental feuds in the
President's cabinet. She draws well-focused pictures of the men
who most influenced this story-Gifford Pinchot, Presidents Theo-
dore and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Secretary Harold L. Ickes, Sena-
tors Taylor and McCarran, and others. No matter how each
pushed, fought, or maneuvered for "the Homesteader," "the cat-
tle baron," the "wise" conservation of forests, deserts, rivers,426
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 55, July 1951 - April, 1952, periodical, 1952; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101139/m1/500/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.