in show the rising demand for Oregon timber lands. The records and maps of the office reveal large areas of them as national domain available for selection as the state's indemnity or lieu lands. It is true, inroads are being made upon these through purchase directly from the national government; but the purchaser is limited to 160 acres and the price is $2.50 an acre. Long lines of greedy speculators coming from afar are thus balked in their desire to accumulate rapidly limitless holdings. What a rush there would be for the state land office on the part of these still unsatisfied purchasers should the state secure these much-desired lands as indemnity lands and offer them for sale on terms more liberal than those of the national government. One should suppose that with this vision of things developing in the state land office it would have occurred to the clerk, or even to members of the board, though they seem not at this time to have an inside view of things taking place in the state's land business, that here was a fine opportunity to be seized in the interest of the school fund. Activity on the part of the state in selecting the lands of wonderful promise and holding them to realize for the public good their full worth would be real public service. Such a suggestion, however, would have been absolutely alien to the thought of a land office official, or for that matter, any other state official of that time. Instead of the idea of the state's getting these lands and of making them yield largest returns for all coming generations of youths of the state, these land office officials did note that it had been more or less the practice of the state to make the intending purchaser of lieu lands furnish the base. And behold, they of the land office — or favorites having access to its records — alone could supply the base which these eager would-be purchasers must have. It is true, citizens of the state with honorable intentions should have been given the necessary information from the records of the office with at most but a nominal charge for the time of the official consumed in the task. If the government should be used for the general welfare and development
