The Press., 1889-06-27
{Hartford Post.) EASTERN FARM VALUES.


 It is expected that the next census will show that the public domain is practically exhausted. In the past ten years the set clement of the new lands-of the west has far exceeded that of any previous ten years. The extent of these lands may be measured in the imagination, by the state- ment that if they were all placed in one solid body they would comprise an area larger than France or Germany, and twice as large as Great Britain and Ireland. In the eight years preceding the first of Jan- uary about 124, ,OOO, ,OOO acres were settled under the homestead and timber culture laws, and this year and half of 1890 will doubtless add enough to bring the total up to 15O, ,OOO, ,OOO acres. Here is an en- pire in itself, which in 1880 was almost wholly unproductive. The most of this newly occupied land lies in the great north western states and territories, Dakota showing the largest number of settlers and the greatest area of land taken up. The s'inexhaustibleness'' of our country, how ever, is about at an end, paradoxical as it may seem. Of course, tHere are millions of acres of land in the Rocky Mountains and on the Pacific coast that are still unoc- cupied, and probably will remain unoocu- pied, because they are unproductive and
 
 dian reservations only have 100,000,000 acres in round numbers, and not more than half of these are desirable. A writer on The Philadelphia Press discussing the land situation comes to this very sensible conclusion
 The inevitable result of this exhaustion of the public domain in the far west must be rise of farm values in the east. When lands can be no longer obtained for the mere cost of surveying them, eastern farm CTS will be less eager to sell their holdings for song and emigrate westward, as they have been doing for generation past. It must also result in bringing into the mark ct the large tracts of unoccupied lands still remaining in the elder states. The extent of these is much greater than is generally known. Leaving out the states east of the Alleghany mountains, there Are proba- ply 300, 900, ,OOO acres of available land in the region bounded on the east by those mountains, on the south by the Ohio river, and on the west by the western limit of Minnesota and Nebraska. The southern states have also nearly as much more.
 All of this land that is cultivable will have an increased value when 1t is once known that fertile farms are no longer at- tainable in the trans Mississippi states and l IeffltOrleS. lG Will r0acb aISO upon tue lands already in cultivation. They are nearest the great markets of the east and can be titled to much more profit than the rich prairies of the west, the product of which must be taxed for the cost of the carriage which is to bring it within the reach of the consumer. As the western states and territories become more densely populated they are certain also to demand larger share of their own crops for home consumption and have less to send else where. This will compel the older states I to rely more and more upon crops raised within their own limits. All these causes are certain to result during the next ten years in steady and permanent rise in the value of farm lands in the eastern states.