Morris tribune., 1883-09-15
NORRIS.
WESTERN MINNESOTA'S ADVAN.
TAGES.

For quite number of years the
greater portion of immigrants have
passed directly through the fertile
fields of Minnesota to become citizens
of the great territory of Dakota.
Knowing that many parts of Mime
sofa offer superior advantages to these
new corners we think this fact
strange one. We have often Won
dereti why people would press on to
the frontier to settle upon some piece
ofwild land isolate themselves for
time from society impose upon them
selves the laborious work old eveloping
n new and untried soil !; bear the
burden of making roads, forming
school districts and building
school houses tax themselves to the
utmost to create and sustain necessary
local institutions and governments
intlict upon themselves the privations
of pioneer life and make it necessary
for untold sacrifices to be made by
their families when the result sought
the establishment of a home-could
be attained without all these disadvan-
tages. By excess i've advertising and
the push and enterprise of the pioneers
of Dakota the stream of immigration
has been so great that values have
been crowded beyond their natural
limit and now poor man can only
obtain home in one of two ways ::
by paying an eNtravagant price or else
by going to the far west where all the
hardships, briefly outlined above
must be endured. That he should do
either when neither is necessary is
certainly a subject of wonder. Here in
Minnesota are lands richer than any
ofwhich Dakota can boast and which
can be bought for prices
which are so ridiculously low that peo-
pie who do not stop to consider the
cause for such low figures, naturally
conclude the land to be worthless.
Here too farmers are nearer~t the mar
kets of the world and have access to a
greater number of competing COM
mercial centers. They are thus able
to buy needed supplies cheaper and
sell all productions for higher price
than is possible for their fellow work
ers farther west Here too roads are
built, schools and churches are estab-
lished, local governments are perfected
and paid for and all the advantages of
society may be enjoyed. That land
richer and more productive than that
farther West lpon which settlers can
enjoy all the advantages of the East
can be obtained even more cheaply
than that upon the frontier is strange
but true.
The causes which have produced
temporary low prices for Minnesota
farming lands can be readily I'M
derstood by any one who will give
the subject moments thought. In
all new countries many of the first
settlers are unsuccessful. They are
perhaps men who have made failure
of farming in the older portions ofthe
country, broken down tradesmen, OF
men of Indifferent habits who would
never succeed anywhere in anything.
Minnesota has had her full share OF
this worthless class. They have taken
claims and have in some way eked out
an existence until final proof could be
made when to purchase horses, ma
chinery or perhaps to settle debts al
ready contracted, they mortgage their
farms to raise the money. After this
has been accomplished some desert
their places without further exertiOn
and move on to live the same expert
ence over again farther west. Others
by slovely methods of work and by
lazily neglecting the very essentials
Unsuccessful farming fail to meet their
obligations and the loss of their farms
by mortgage foreclosure is the inevi-
table result. This again results in
placing these farms upon the market
at a price but little if any in advance
of the amount of the mortgages. Just
such results as this are being accom-
plished in all parts of western Mime
sofa today. Az the mortgages.are given
many of them for but $3.50 to 200 per
acre and none of them for more then
$500 per acre person can see at a
glance that it is possible to buy farms
for sums so low as to be almost incred-
IDLE. This condition of things can in
no way be made to reflect discredit
upon the country. The crop of wheat
of % to 50 bushels per acre which is
now being threshed refutes indisput-
ably any charge fworthlessness. All
over these fertile prairies, too, may be
seen the homes of thrifty industrious
farmers who have finely developed
farms, with substantial houses and
barns, who are free from debt and
whose places can not be purchased at
any price. Where such successes can
be attained the country must be all
that can be desired, and because right
beside one of these successful men can
be found one who would be glad to
abandon his farm for the most paltry
consideration to any one who will
pay the mortgage can in no way re-
fleet unfavorably upon the farms. 1t
simply means that men are now hold
ing farms who lack the disposition or
ability to operate them successfully,
who will never accomplish anything
and who soon must be succeeded by a
more thrifty class. 1t shows also that
in succeeding one of these unsuccess-
full ones person will gain most valu-
able farms for but little capital. Be-
side these lands thus for ced upon the
market, other cheap lands are obtain
able. There are many state lands
q