ASSISTANCE TO DESERT-LAND ENTRYMEN MONDAY, JULY 25, 1955 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The committee met at 10 a. m., Hon. Harold D. Cooley (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order. Mr. McLeaish, will you come forward and explain to us S. 1472? (The bill referred to is as follows:) [S. 1472, 84th Cong., 1st sess.] AN ACT To enable the Secretary of Agriculture to extend financial assistance to desertland entrymen to the same extent as such assistance is available to homestead entrymen Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the first sentence of the Act entitled "An Act to enable the Secretary of Agriculture to extend financial assistance to homestead entrymen, and for other purposes", approved October 19, 1949 (63 Stat. 883), is amended (1) by striking out "homestead entry" and inserting in lieu thereof "homestead or desert-land entry"; and (2) by striking out "homestead and" and inserting in lieu thereof "homestead, desert-land, and." Passed the Senate June 17 (legislative day, June 14), 1955. Attest: FELTON M. JOHNSTON, Secretary. STATEMENT OF R. B. McLEAISH, ADMINISTRATOR, FARMERS' HOME ADMINISTRATION; ACCOMPANIED BY HENRY SMITH, ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Mr. McLEAISH. The Department reported favorably on 1472 on May 15, 1955. This bill would amend Public Law 361 of the 81st Congress so as to authorize the making of farm ownership and soil and water conservation loans to persons who are acquiring forms under the desert-land laws. The principal benefit accruing to desert entrymen would be that a valid mortgage on the entered desert-land could be taken to secure the loan. Under existing conditions it is not possible to take a mortgage on the unpatented desert-land. Persons making desert-land entries can secure a patent on the land only after they have spent certain specified sums for land improvement and irrigation works. They often need a loan to make these expenditures. Very few entrymen have sufficient other real estate and chattels to adequately secure a loan. For this reason we have had to deny assistance to most of these applicants. Public Law 361 now applies only to homestead entrymen on public land or to persons contracting for the purchase of other land of the United States in a reclamation project. This authority has been very helpful in assisting homestead entrymen and we favor its application to desert-land entrymen as well. Mr. HOPE. What is a desert-land entryman? The CHAIRMAN. I was going to ask the same question. Mr. SMITH. There is a certain Federal statute known as the desertland entry statute which gives a person certain rights to land in the West providing that they live on the land a certain length of time. I believe it is 2 years providing they make some investments. Mr. HOPE. Providing they do not starve to death? Mr. SMITH. Yes, and they have to make certain investments in the way of improving the unit. Mr. DIXON. You say certain rights. They do not have title to it, do they? Mr. SMITH. They do not have title until the expiration of a certain length of time, and not until they make certain investments such as irrigation improvements and things of that character. They have to do that before they can acquire a patent to the land. Mr. HOPE. How many years residence? Mr. SMITH. Two years is my understanding. Mr. HOPE. How many of these desert-land entrymen are there? There cannot be very many. Mr. SMITH. No, sir. It only pertains to a very small number of people. We have applications or are receiving applications, in Utah and Idaho at the present time from desert-land entrymen. The CHAIRMAN. Explain what happens. A citizen goes out and stakes out a part of the desert-land that he wants; is that the idea? Mr. SMITH. Yes. There are only certain areas in those States that are eligible for desert-land entry. The CHAIRMAN. A man goes out and stakes what he would like to have? Mr. SMITH. That is right, sir. Then he can be given a patent to that land after a lapse of so many years, and after he has made a showing that certain investments have been made in the land for its improvement. Mr. POAGE. I think that you are wrong, Mr. Smith, from a technical standpoint. I do not think that a man can go out and stake out the land that he wants, like they used to do in Texas. Then the man did stake out and did his own surveying. It is my understanding the land has to be surveyed before he goes and gets it. He does not go stake it out. It is already surveyed and he files upon a particular survey. Mr. SMITH. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. If he gets on the land what sort of improvements will he have to put in-irrigation, buildings, or something of that sort? Mr. DIXON. And fencing. Mr. BASS. Just a shack, and perhaps he will have to have a bird dog. Mr. SMITH. The loans that we are making on the applications that we have handled for desert entry have to do with making provision for irrigation. The CHAIRMAN. If I understand it then, a man will go out and say that he would like to have a certain piece of land. It has been properly surveyed. He gets the land for nothing and he comes back to the Government and he wants the Government to lend him some money to put up a building and an irrigation system on it; is that right? Mr. SMITH. That is substantially right. Mr. JOHNSON. Do veterans have a preference on these entries? Mr. SMITH. The veterans would have a preference under the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act. The CHAIRMAN. If a man moves on the land and has nothing but a strong back and a willing mind and he says to you, "I want to borrow so many thousand dollars to put in an irrigation system and so much for my buildings," when he gets through with it he has nothing invested there except his effort. Mr. SMITH. Our Bankhead-Jones farm-tenant loans are 40-year loans. The CHAIRMAN. I understand that. Mr. SMITH. We can make those loans for the erection of buildings and any other land improvements, and for the installation of the necessary irrigation facilities on the units. Mr. JOHNSON. May I say at this point in the record I think there have been quite a few of the loans paid up in my section of Wisconsin. A majority of those farmers have come through very wonderfully through the supervision of the Department. The CHAIRMAN. Desert loans? Mr. JOHNSON. It is the same principle, helping a fellow get started. The Government practically pays for the farm. Mr. SMITH. Under our regulations of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, we do require the men to have some resource, and that his operation appears to be sound and his chances of success good. The CHAIRMAN. That is the reason that you have operated so well. You have actually made a lot of landlords out of worthy people who were formerly tenants? Mr. SMITH. These people have some resources in the way of working capital. Mr. JOHNSON. You would not be making these loans if you thought there was no chance of irrigation. Mr. SMITH. No, sir; we would not. These desert entry loans are practically the same type that we are making on other reclamation projects. The CHAIRMAN. Tell us something about the origin of this bill, where it came from and who introduced it. Do you know? Mr. SMITH. Senator Dworshak. Mr. ANDRESEN. I think that we would be doing these people a great disservice by letting them have money to start something when we have plenty of other land in the country that is going to be idle now. Mr. SMITH. This bill, Congressman, adopts the same principle that was approved for the homestead entrymen when Public Law 361 was enacted in 1949. This bill would provide the same privileges to desert-land entrymen that are now afforded and accorded to homestead entrymen in the West. Mr. HOPE. How much land can he take up? You say 2 years. He must have more than 2 years to prove that land up, is that not so? I do not know anything about it except that in most cases a man has to |