Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-08-22
The Genius OF Cur Government.

ness of our Government more strik
ingly exhibited than in its wise pro-
vision for the well being of its citi-
zens. For truly law-abidiDg citi-
zen to be poor, in the popular &C.
ceptation of the term, there is almost
absolutely no excuse. While the
munifcent laws under which we live
literally assure to every citizen a
living, they contemplate at the same
time, that every citizen shall be, like
the Government itself, self-support-
Ing. While Il father assumes the re-
sponsibility Of supporting his child =
rem SO long as they are under age, he
nevertheless requires of them due
obedience and industry. Each one
according to his capacity, is expected
O furnish his quota toward the general
good of the household. SO is it pre-
sumed to lie in every country under
Il republican form of government.
, If the homestead law gives to every
man a farm, it does not undertake
| to build his houses and barns and
perform the labor of cultivating bis
land. Not only is he expected to
make his farm a self-supporting in
stitution, but, by payin. taxes, he
must in turn minister to the power
that set him up in business and gave
him the nucleus OF competency.
No other country on the globe Of
fers such brilliant inducements to
settlers as our own.
We Lave been led to these remarks
by the consideration of few facts
cleaned from official statistics at
Washington. 1t appears that, dur
ing the year ending June 80, 1879,
the number of persons who have
come "west" as bona F1e settlers
is unprecedented. The area of the
public domain which has been
taken up during the year just
mentioned, is considerably greater
than the State of New Jersey and
comprises little more than six mil
lions of acres. According to the
records, about one hundred and
twenty acres, on an average, have
been taken by each settler, and the
present population OF the lands that
have thus been taken cannot be less
than one hundred and fifty thousand.
For some time previous to the
year 1878, there has been marked
decline in homestead entries, and i'll
1877, the entries amounted only to
2,17S, 900 acres. 1t will be seen
from the above showing that the tide
of immigration is now setting in,
westward bound, with a greater de-
gree of volume and activity than at
any time since 1878. There is
new phase in connection with the
present homestead entry business
worthy of remark. 1t is fact al
most unheard of in the previous his
tory of our land office business, that
large numbers of the poorer classes
in Eastern cities are availing them
selves of the advantages offered by
! the homestead system. Having be-
come elated by the reported Freedom
and independence of western rural
life, they are outstanding their scanty
earnings and leaving the turmoil of
city strife to try the experiences of
frontier life. 1t is brave under
taking for many of them who know
nothing of life outside the pale of
the brick and mortar world in which
they have been born and reared. \
great many men who have been, in
early life, in comfortable circum-
stances are taking wise and philo-
sophical view of the matter. Worn
down by the cares of business and
disheartened by the successive fail
ures and losses of years, they see no
better way of providing for their
children and securing rest for their
own declining years than to take a
homestead in the free and untram-
meled valleys of the great West.
! Through lack Of means and, worse
than all else, want of proper expert
ence, many of these people will suf-
fer hardships for term of years.
But deter mination and energy will
bring them out, safe and sound to
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