The Osceola times., 1883-07-21
FARM MONOPOLY.
HOW THE MIDDLE WESTERN FARM
ERS ARE BEING RUINED.
The Evils OF Bonanza Tarins and the
Corruption Existing IT, Our Public Land

the Eastern States, has long since ceased
to be a paying investment. The farmers
of Maryland, Pennsylvania and even
those of Ohio, declare that there is a
general depreciation of all agricultural
pursuits except the perishables that are
consumed in the home market, but one
instance need be cited to prove the as
sertion; the reduction of the visible
supply of wheat for the Atlantic Coast
State, is about one hundred per cent.
The production foI the year ending
March 20, 1880, was 1854 ,337 and for
the year ending March is, 1852, it was
only l34l5,92l. Many are cndeavoring
to explain the cause of this depression.
A journal of no less importance than the
New York Tribune said at must be ac-
knowledged that Eastern farms are de-
generating, that there is not apparent
the thrift and energy of earlier days,
that farm buildings through lack ofpaint-
ing, indicate reduced incomes, and that
farm mortgages have increased in size
and numbers" Now all this degeneracy
the writer in the Tribune attributes to
the tardiness of Eastern farmers in adop-
ting needed reforms in methods, but the
real cause is best learned by studying
the Bonanza farms of the West their
rise, development and future.
1t is clear in many minds that the
causes that procured this depression in
the Eastern States is already showing
itself in that fertile region known as the
Middle Western Section. This whole
evil is due to bad Public Land System
which will sooner or later produce in
this country cry of agricultural dis
tricts not unlike that now heard in the
British Isles.
Through all the vicissitudes of Ameri-
can politics from the close of the Revo-
lutionary conflict to the present time,
the public land question has been Vi
tai issue. The first grant of land ever
ternal improvement was in the year 1927
to aid the construction of this work the
last of which was for 100000 acres. But
the land grant system as we have recent
" known it, was not fully launched until
1850 when grants were made in aid of
the Illinois Central Railway.
FEEDING THE RAILROADS.
Under this loose way of giving away
the public domain, Congress has 200,000,-
900 acres to individuals but mostly to
corporations, this area is about equal to
the thirteen original states. The origin
al Northern Pacific Railroad bill alone
granted AZ 100000 acres, whicd was af-
terward increased to S5S,000,000.
All these enormous grants were made
under the plea of fastening the consuc-
ton of riilroads in the public land
States and Territories.
The premiums offered to railroad
builders for making the country accessi-
bic in all parts, together with the pre-
miums offered to settlers is the cause
that has placed the monopolists in vio-
lent competition with the Middle Wes-
| tern farmer.
II is demanded by many that the pre-
emption feature of the public land sys-
| TEN he abolished.
CHEAP FARMS.
Under this policy gigantic wheat farms
| in Dakota have been formed. The own
ers of these acquired them in positive
w corrupt way. They first bought alter
nate sections of land from the railroad
company and then placed their own
| hired men upon the government sections
to pre-empt, purchase and transfer them
| This is easily accomplished, six months
residence in a shanty is all that is requir-
ed to perfect the claim. The claimant
then gets his patent by paying $3.50 an
acre if within the limits of railraod
grant, or Sl.25 if not after he is fixed
along comes a bonanza farmer, and he
sells out to him on a good speculation.
Some Of those farms are even ten thou
sand acres in extent. The more extern
sively the Western country is converted
| into such farms the more seriously will
the Eastern and Middle Western inter-
est be affected. In this connection it is
worthy of note that while the number
of more than 200 acres fell between
1860 and 1870 from 5 654 to 3,720, it rose
between 1870 and 1880 from 1920 to 2S,-
57S; this is sufficient to show the ten
dency of the rapid multiplioations of
large farms.
Another consideration which has fav-
ored large acquisitions of land is the
commutation feature of the homestead
law. This allows money payment of
two hundred dollars to be substituted
for'four and half years of the prescrib-
ed five years residence, and renders it
easy for a capitalist 10 acquire numerous
homestead tracts al the nominal price of
sl.25 an acre by hiring men to make a
pretense of settling on them, who, at
the end of six months can take out pat
ents and transfer the titles to their en-
ployer. The pre-emp.ion timber culture
and other settlement laws are success
fully abused for like purpose and there
is in fact a general laxity-partly in the
laws themselves and partly in their ad
ministration-which makes our public
land the easy prey of the monopolists.
| In an official document submitted to
Congress, in February 1880, it was point
cd out that under the existing laws. 4sO
acres of public land may be taken by one
person, and although this may not seem
possible, the process is here defined /;
| 80 as homestead, 100 under the pre-.
cmption law, at Sl.25 an acre, and 100
under the timber culture set for planting