St. Landry democrat., 1890-02-22
The Gulf Harbor.
IOWA INTERESTED IN THE MATTER.

IOWA INTERESTED IN THE MATTER.
Editor Neacs-The opening of .harbors
on the Gulf capable of allowing the en-
trance and clearance of vessels of the larg-
est draft will open many new questions.
One of them will be the question for the
landless people who are constantly seeking
homes. Where's are they to go2 More
than two years ago every quarter section of
land in the State of Kansas subject to the
tree culture law was taken. That law, it
is hardly necessary to say, only applied to
one quarter in each section, naturally
devoid of timber" In the scramble for
lands these tracts were taken first. because
they did not require settlement. But now
every available quarter section suitable for
farming and much that is not, has been
taken under theehomestead or pre- emption
laws. The same is true of Nebraska.
Where shall the land seekers go? They
must turn their white sheeted wagons to
the far off Northwest in the new State of
Washington, or towards Alaska. l mean
the sturdy young farmers who are growing
up and seeking new homes without money
and without price under the beneficial
laws of the United States.
There is new field to be opened by the
deep water enterprise. Let the government
do Justice to the great Northwest by liberal
it to one, but by saying that the gulf
coast shall have as liberal share of out
| let's to the commerce of the seas as the
| Atlantic coast from New York to Boston,
and that very day the tide of emigration
will be diverted in a great measure along
the lines of railroad leading to these har-
| bors. Where are these lands? Texas, by
| the terms o. annexation, owned her own
vast domain, and she has disposed of near
! " all of it till you reach the staked plains
south of Western Kansas and No Mans
Land; and the results of the failure of
crops in Western Kansas and Eastern
Colorado have turned back the tide
which was casting their eyes to the Pan
Handle of Texas. Along the new contem-
plated routes to the Sabine and the Gales
sieu rivers are still uncounted millions of
as fine lands IS can be found in most parts
of the American union. The railroad
lines from Kansas City Southwark will be
inviting fields for enterprise. speculation
and industry. Strike straight line from
Des Moines, or any portion Of Iowa to the
Gulf of Calcasieu and it cannot miss these
new lands, consisting of prairie which but
needs the pillow to produce cotton, rice,
sweet potatoes and all the necessaries of
subsistence, interspersed with forests
which need but the energetic blows of the
axeman to produce independence for an
incslculable population:
This however is not the strong argument
in favor of Calcasieu or Sabine as the best
barbor for the interests of Iowa. The
strong point is that Calcasieu is the near
est point with the best harbor to the city
of Des MoiDes and the State, and with the
exception of little territory, the best
place and nearest harbor for ali the North
west; but the free lands is a circum-
stance of great importance in reaching that
! country by railroad. On other lines the
lands are monopolyzed in large tracts.
The whole history of settlement attests
the fact that four poor men on section OF
land pay more taxes than one rich man
on the same land but when it comes to
men owning whole townships unimproved
the CONTRAST is intellectually greater. That
they eat more, wear more clothes, and con-
sumo more coal and all other articles fol
the sustenance of human life, is futile te
| say. There is where the freight is; and
he would be ventursome railroad man
) who would invest in road through will
, derness owned by few people. All the
railroads which have gone through unpop
ulated districts have asked subsidies-and
most of them have got them-from the
Burlington and Missouri river road il
1856, till the great arteries of trade, the
< several Union Paciics crossed the prai-
{ ries, the Rockies and the Sierras. The
United States gave them, in the plans
alternate sections of lands for twenty mile;
! in width, and $40 coo a mile, and in The
mountains the same lands and 1000
both of J,onisiar
j and the United States-heve withdraw
j ali these lands except to actual settlers.
4 The committee of engineers appointed
t to decide on the best point for deep waite
S harbor, reported Galveston first, at an esti
mate of Sc SOC, 900, and Sabine and Aran
q sas secondary at an estimate respectivel.
. of ST. 200, 600 and 81, 400,00), On the Al
d of January it was telegraphed that Col
Stewart would on the ensuing Monda,
introduce bill to make these several ap
preparations. That was just-that wa
g reasonable. 1t was respect to the engi
S neers as honorable business men who RAJ
d q great trust in their hands. But l ba
0 not left Kansas until was told that tn
}, power and influence of the Galveston lobb
g bad suuelched that bill. Is this true
:; What has become of it,
It What Iowa wants to do is. not to a. sal
:. any of these ports, but to say firmly tina
y her people denounce the monopoly of on
/ harbor for the whole coast line betwee
= New Orleans and the Mexican border, aut
G that she demands liberal approximation
? for the most practical barDor between Gal
weston and New Orleans. With that sh
/ can run straight south to the Gulf and b
70 on the line of grand trunk routes to Dulut
y and other Northern centres of trade.
It Look at the history Of these conven
o tions on deep water. This little city O
IT Galveston has gone into every convention
a at Fort Worth, at Denver, and at Topeka
o and fought ov-r this question until the
'e have secured promise to submit tn
n question to board of engineers, and al
% their powers of persuasion have been ex
Il hausted in that direction, until they de
% mand a combination against all othe
10 places in Texas. Fortunately in their de
% mands, their fears of other places con
strained them to combine all their efforts
81 What if these efforts have succeeded i
: making combinations whereby no port i
IS Texas IS to be considered They ougE
y to be told that they do not own all tn
s. earth and all the contributions produce
3. by the earth between the Mississippi an
le the Rockies, and the Gulf upward
ID Alaska and that there is place bette
2. than any place in Texas which the Who'll
c. Northwest has righs to demand shall b
IF opened to competition for all that trad
and that place is in Louisiana, at th
g mouth of the Calcssieu river, neare
Ii easier of access to the regions whose rio
v trade they covet, than any port in Texa
., All Iowa has right to demand it as con
he peting point alone on the homely b.
p trite maxim, that competition is the Iii
re- of trade. John Speer, IN Des Holm
g Daily Neaos. ~. .
10 -
le Nilsson remarks that the weight of Il