Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-05-30
the HOMESTEAD QUESTION.

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interest as Is now manifested In the
homestead question.
Soldiers who have never before
thought Of availing themselves Of their
right clerks and men on salary who
have toiIed for years and never aehiev-
ed a home; preachers who have moved
about so much that it has never occur
red to them that they would ever create
a home, are now daily appearing at
TIE CHAMPION office, and asking
( questions about the homestead law and
the homestead country as If this was a
| land agency, instead of q newspaper
shop. Many seem to have just now
come to q realizing sense, after so long,
that the United States really has land
to give to people who comply with Ger
tain not unreasonable conditions, and
| pay certain not burdensome fees. They
have seen thousands pass them by 90
| ing to the homestead country and never
thought of joining the possession or
/ even inquiring of the country whittier it
was bound. Some Of them speaking
sadly as Of a lost opportunity, saying,
/ ''Why, when 1 came here, / could have
! taken the very land on which have
since seen towns and cities built -
| Those who talked to Us on the land
| question do not, as 3 rule, speak of tax
! ing up land as a speculate on, of selling
/ it sooner or later, but of holding it for
themselves and their children. The old
cry, you remember, with,.which the Re
publicans carried the homestead act
was Glands for the .landIess and homes
/ for the homeless.n Now the landless
want their lands and the homeless want
/ teeir homes That sentiment which
leads man to wish for a home, where
he may gather ''ths sum Of his posses
| sions and fortunes, - may slumber long,
but it awakens at last in the heart Of
every man, not by nature q Vagabond.
| This feeling Of interest we mentioned
in the beginning of this article, prov es
two things, the demonstrated wisdom
of the homestead act, and the demon
! strated value OF Kansas. Those who
have been long Indifferent aud unre-
gardful, now wonder that they did not
long ago avail themselves OF the act,
and those who once doubted the agricuI-
turaI or even pastoral value Of Kansas,
now say that they would be glad to Sc
ours almost any quarter section within
I the boundaries of the State
| As in most things, s'distance lends
! enchantmentt to the view. - in this home
! stead matter. OF those who have in
| years past gone to the homestead coun-
! try thousands have left their claims on
the first coming Of disaster. others
have bartered their claims for a triae,
! others seemed to have no other pur-
pose IN proving up except to secure
some money on mortgage, and leave
the country. They have abandoned
without a thought the. homes that other
/ men sigh for. The stories of fugi5iyes
from the homestead country have filed
eastern Kansas for years, and have con
Veyed an impression alike % the worth
lesSuess OF the region and the thriftless-
ness eff the stampeders. Its e small
fraction, after all, of those who have
first gone On the public lands in Kansas
who have remained through evil unto
good report and have converted the
dOubtsrs.
/ 1t is not every man who can succeed
in the homestead country There are
men who would fail, no matter what
the surrounding circumstances. But it
is certain that many men in the crowd
ed parts Of the country wOaId do well
to so to the front. Single men, espeo-
tally, who are folding idle hands in cit
les, or working for others rather than
/ for themselves, would do well 20 make
the trial Web Wilder was telling Us
the other day Of mutual friend, who,
finding himself advanced in LIE, out Of
heart and out OF money, went out to the
! homestead country. He has not found
his money, but he has got his heart
back. He lives on q few cents g day,
five or six, we believe. Wilder said !;
IN a shantY he built himself, his only
care being to put on tho siding close
enough to keep the wind from blowing
out the lamp by which he reads at
night, for he is OF the, number Of those,
who, wherever they are, must needs
keep good society through books, con
versing thus with philosophers, sages,
Travellers law giveTs, story tellers,
saints, apostles and comfsssOrs. Thus
ne lives, healthier and happier than be-
/ fore in years, feeling less than before
the loss Of broad acres which once were