It limited to 1,280 acres the amount of pasture land which one person could purchase.

The first leasing of the public lands took place in January, 1884, and was at the minimum rental of four cents an acre. The land board decided that the competition under whiqh the leasing took place was a farce, because the cattlemen, either by agreement or the force of custom, respected one another's "ranges." The land board, therefore, in February, 1884, advanced the minimum rental to eight cents an acre for unwatered lands and twenty cents an acre for watered lands.1 The refusal to lease at less than eight cents an acre precipitated a struggle with the cattlemen which is notable in Texas history. The cattlemen - described popularly as free-grass barons - defied the land board and refused to pay anything, and on account of sympathetic juries escaped conviction for violation of the law.2 Farmers and other freeholders in the stock country complained of being so enclosed by the barbed wire fences of the ranches that they had no entrance to or egress from their holdings, and there broke out in the latter part of 1883 an epidemic of wire cutting. The offenses committed by the cattlemen and the fence cutters made necessary a special session of the legislature, which met in January, 1884.3 Fence cutting was made an offense punishable by confinement in the penitentiary, the opening of roads through pastures was required, and the unlawful fencing of, or herding upon, the public lands was made a misdemeanor.4 Though the acute stage of the controversy passed and violence ceased, intimidation of those who would settle as farmers upon the ranges continued, as did also unlawful free use of the public grass.5 It was found in 1887 that over three and a half million acres of the public lands were unlawfully fenced or used by the "free-grass barons," so an act was passed which defined more exactly the offence and increased the penalties for the unlawful use of the public lands.1 As late as 1899 the unlawful free use continued, and two agents were appointed to investigate.2 After this the unlawful practice disappeared. In 1887 the maximum term of a lease was made five years, the rental was fixed at four cents an acre, and it was provided that lands classified as grazing could not be sold during the period of lease. These conditions of leasing were more satisfactory to the cattlemen than the former ones. These changes in the system of leasing were only a part of the changes made in 1887 in the land laws. The administration of the lands by the land board worked badly, confusion existed because of the many changes by the board in the methods of selling and leasing, and the provision for the classification of the lands was very imperfect.3 So in 1887 a complete revision of the land laws was made.4 The land board was abolished and control was concentrated in the hands of the commissioner of the general land office, subject to approval by the governor. It was provided that a more careful classification of the lands should be made by state agents. Under former laws the county surveyor was entrusted with the responsibility of classification. The maximum of unwatered pasture land purchasable by one person was reduced from 4,480 acres to 2,560 acres. The maximum of agricultural land purchasable by one person was fixed at 640 acres, the minimum at 160 acres, except in the case of scrap lands. It was required of a purchaser of agricultural land to swear that he "desired to purchase the land for a home," that he was buying for himself and was not acting in collusion with any other person. The purchaser was required to reside upon the land three years before the state would pass title to him, but he could be absent from the land as much as six months a year. The act of 1887 was more specific in these respects than was the act of 1883. This residence provision of the law has been a part of all subsequent legislation and has been the occasion of "untold perjury."1 Sale to a corporation was strictly prohibited. The period allowed for the payment of the principal of the purchase money for agricultural land was extended to forty years, but the rate of interest on the unpaid installments was left at 5%. It was provided also that forfeiture should occur only upon failure to pay the interest by August the first each year. This restored the provision for forfeiture which had been repealed in 1885.

1 Report of the State Land Board, 1885. Land Office Report, 1886. Galveston News, July 5, 1888. This action of the land board in adopting a minimum higher or other than that laid down in the law was declared unconstitutional in Smisson v. State, 71 Tex., 222 (1888).

2 Land Office Report, 1886.

3 Proclamation of Governor Ireland, October 15, 1883. The Galveston News, June 17, 1883, and January 22, 23, 30, February 7, 12, April 10, and June 26, 1884.

4 Laws of 1884, pp. 34 and 68.

5 Laws of 1885, p. 83.

1 The Galveston News, July 5, 1888. Laws of 1887, p. 83. This unlawful free use resulted in an estimated loss of over $567,000 to the school and other special funds.

2 Laws of 1899, p. 176. Land Office Report, 1900-2.

3 Message of Governor Ireland, January 11, 1887. Message of Governor Ross. January 20, 1887.

4 Laws of 1887, p. 83.

Under the provisions and amendments of the acts of 1883 and 1887, 11,837,389 acres of school lands were sold, but 7,684,-503 acres were forfeited, leaving 4,152,886 as the net amount sold. The number of acres leased was 6,505,403, but of this amount only 77,437 acres were university lands. There had been surveyed for the University under the act of 1879, 984,960 acres, and under the act of 1883, 1,087,917 acres.2 The university lands surveyed under these acts were located in Tom Green, Pecos, Crockett, Upton, Irion, Andrews, Ward, Martin, Loving, Winkler, Crane, Ector, Schleicher, Presidio, and El Paso counties.3 The new university lands and the poorer school lands were not well situated with respect to population and were not supplied with water, and these unfavorable conditions called for leasing terms which were different from those which applied to the better school lands. Accordingly in 1889 it was provided that university lands could be leased at three cents an acre and for as long a period as ten years, and that school and asylum lands lying north of the Texas and Pacific Railroad and east of the Pecos could be leased for a period of six years, and those south of the railroad and west of the river for ten years. This was the beginning of the "lease line." The rental of the school and asylum lands was fixed at four cents an acre, and no grazing land under lease was subject to purchase. Purchasers of lands were allowed until the January first following the preceding August first to pay interest past due, but a penalty of 50% on the past due amounts was fixed. This was a method of relief from the forfeiture provisions of the law, and the extension of such relief has been rendered necessary more than once by the protracted drouths from which the western parts of the state have suffered.

1 Land Office Report, 1907-8.

2 Land Office Report, 1901-2. The surveys under the acts of 1839 and 1856 amounted to 216,805 acres. 3Land Office Report, 1901-2, pp. 34-7.