Since President Reagan took office, talk of selling surplus public lands and other real property has been accelerated. Indeed there has been considerable talk of earmarking monies derived from such sales toward reducing the $1 trillionplus national debt. Earlier this year President Reagan initiated a new property program aimed at imiproving management o federal holdings and at expediting the sale of unneeded property, with proceeds to go toward national debt retirement. To implement the program, legislation known as the National Debt Retirement Act has been introduced in Congress by Sen. Charles Percy, R-lll.; Rep. Larrg Winn Jr., R-Kan., an Rep. Ken K mer, R-Colo. Des “te the President’s desire, application of d-sale funds to retirin the debt will never ppen unless the new l islation is enacted, ramer told the House. Back in the mid-1830s, the U ted States governmet became entirely ebt-free for a time p tly because of a land-s e policy under Presid t Andrew Jackson. Toda the government owns 4 million acres of real state, mostly in the W t, representing 32.7 pe ent o the country’s t al land area. It also o s 405,147 buildings, ccording to a Genera Accounting Office re rt. Any ajor sale of the propert would require consid able advance prepar tion. First, Uncle Sam has little idea of the land’s worth at this point. Values are kept on the books at original cost, some dating back tgo the nation’s founding. Washington Report, a U. S. Chamber of Commerce publication, estimated last January it would take 10 to 12 years for a full study of government-owned property and how and whether to dispose of segments of it. Obviously much of the real estate is in remote or moumtainous areas, valuable only for special uses. A great dea of it is in federal use-0-prop erty bought for lood control, parks, forest and wild ife habitats, etc. The task of taking a national inventory of current uses, future needs, marketability and market values should be pursued. Meantime, the idea of earmarking monies from the sale of federal property toward debt retirement makes sense, especially if accompanied by fiscal policies that would reverse the long trend of red-ink spending; The ercy-Winn-Kramer National Debt Retirement Act wouldn’t change current law as to what property can and cannot be sold; it would only redirect where the proceeds should go. The groposal may seem a it far-fetched in view of today’s massive federal deficits. But it could be a significant first step toward doing something about the debt which is so destructive to the nation’s economic health.