Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1892-04-14
A TIMELY
Homeseekers Beware OF the IN
ducements of the Canadian Emf
grant Agents.

ducements of the Emu
grant Agents.
A large sum of money has recently been
a~ppropriated by the Canadian Government
for speciaI emigration work in Northern
Minnesota and North Dakota. Agents are
already busy trying to entice our set'iels 10
migrate to Manitoba, Alberta and othei
districts in the far Northland.
The object of the Canadians Is two-ioid,
viz: TO induce as many settlers as possloie
to Leave American territory, and by circu'
latiug reports that farmers are ENGRAVING
from our states into the British Northwest
TO lead outsiders astray as TO the true merits
of what are unquestionably the most houl-
ishing states i'm the Northwest.
Tho unexampled prosperity of Minnesota
and North Dakota is shown by their raPd
increase ia reputation and wealth. Inc mar
Vicious ayr cultural productlYeness ltheINo
states uplift them beyond all comparison. III
wheat alone they lead every other state;
their combined output in 1891 beng aDouS
oue-fourth of the entire crop in the united
States. Not only do they outrank every
other state in the union in the quantity an
nua ~ produced, but the grain Is uneNcell-
ed in quality, and commands the top Price
in the markets Of America and Europe.
1t would indeed be a veritable ~ Dorado
II every individual settler was alike pros
perous. II can be ayerred, however, with
ont iear of contradiction, that as a rule all
settlers in Minnesota and North DAKOTA
who have displayed ordinary intelligence
in selecting land, and in the management
thereof have been successful beyond Their
most ~sauguine anticIpations. A lew nave
undertaken too much without capllat'
Some have selected and cropped land bet
ter adapted for grazing than for TIN; but
comparatively few have failed TO realize a
generous return for their labors, AMI some
who were disappointed, owing 10 suci
-bIunders at the start, succeeded at Last, ana
are among our most prosperous ana
wealthy citizens.
MANY farmers. who acquired their lands
under the free homestead regulations,
tempted by tile prevailing good prices;
have recently sold their improvement ana
stock. and finding themselves possessed oI
considerable ready money, may be attract
ed by the glowing accounts Of cheap Iahds
50 insihiously circulated by the agents oil
John Bull 10 all such these
WORDS OF WARNING
are especially addressed.
Long before Minnesota, or the DakotaS.
were organized even as separate terrltnr!tS
several unsuccessful attempts were made by
Great Britain to establish agricultural set
Elements in the region North OF the United
States boundary line, first styled "RuPerts
land" afterwards THE Selkirk Settle
ment." and IatterIy Manitoba" The early
c~olonists entered the country by way OF
Hudson's Bay. Every such attempt proved
disastrous to the settlers, wliOhad then, as
now, to contend again>t long winters, short
summer and carly rOstS, which destroyed
the grain and other farm products. These
early settlers in the Manitoba country,
faced all the hardshipS OF a rigorous eli.
mate. and for wears manfnlly struggled
...s,.., .Io Natural litHruiting lnl1unSpi
by the climate, which at last they found
were insurmounlable, and abandoning
their homesteads. and bidding farewell Ia
the Bells of st. BOniiace, and leaving the
graves Of DEPARTED dear ones in the dreary
Northland, wended their weary pilgrimage
Southwark to a more congeniai climate;
Some OF these expatriatCd BTitOns settled
in the n]eighborh0Od Of Grand Forks,
North Dakota, and Braiuerd, Minnesota,
forming the nucleus of what be-
came lOurishing settlements. Within the
last eight years history has repeated itself
in this respect on a much larger scale:
thousands OF settlers in Manitoba and the
British Northwe I, having been literally
frozen ont of the country, seeking fresh
fields and pastures pew," and realizing all
they desired on the sunny plains of North
Dakota. and among the Park Openings and
riClr valleys Of Minnesota.
4 reference to the proceedings of the
Canadian parliament and the debates OF
the last few sessions, amply verify these
statements, and show that the British
Northwest is only kept from absolute de-
population by enormous annual outlay,
and an army Of Immigration agents. whose
utmost efforts for the last eight years have
not prevented he population decreasing.
Had the climate OF the British Northwest
been as represented, the statement made by
the Canadian oOmcr and so extensively
published somc years ago, tSee Our North
land" page 1861 that before this year OF
grace 1892 there would be in Manitoba
300 o farmers producing on ln,UOo,Oo0
acres 300. 900 900 bushels OF wheat, world
have been verified, because n much larger
number OF farmers, las shown by theimmi-
grafton statistics in the official department
at Ottawa. Canada have emigrated to
Manitoba within the period named. Ac-
Cording to the statistics referred TO, the
British Northwest should now have a pop
ulatiOn of over $50, 600, without estimating
the natural increase.
A population of considerably less than
200, go. all told-white, black and red, in the
possessions of Her BritaniC Majesty North
of the 49th parallel of latitude, or about
the number OF inhabitants in either one o
the twin cities Of the t!Ourishing state OF
Minnesota, and an annual average ship
ment ofleSs than ten million bushels OF
wheat during the last five years, the bulk
OF it of inferior quality, make a sad COM
mentary on the representations OF British
and Canadian statesmen, and should be a
standing rebuke to certain American otfici-
ais residents within Canadian territory.
whose rOseate a"ntiCipations of the future
productiveness of Manitoba, as embodied
in their official reports, are now shown to
be fallaciousiy ridiculous.
Tie Dominion of Canada, covering an
area as large as that af the entire United
States, increased in population from I,324,-
$40 in 1881 10 4.S23 3I4 il, 1891, a gain of
4gS, S3S, not equal to the increase in the
state of Minnesota dnring the same period
aud less than the Immigration from the
Dominion TO the United States in the last
six years. Of the entire growth of the Do
nlinion in ten years. the city of Toronto
alone monopoliZes one fourth.
The returns from the shipping Offices at
Canadian ports show that $4,000 emigrants
entered the Dominion in the ten years dur
ing which the natural increase should
have been at least DO, 900 more. 1t is not
difficult TO figure out from this that il was
the coming of people from the old word
that saved our Northern neighbor from
absolutely falling behind in population
during the last decade. There is reason
for this. There mus be a good reason why
the first born ofneariy every family has
gone away to seek fortunes in other Sec
tons of the continent. Not that the old
home is not good enough, but because there
are better chances in the American North
west.
In Chicago, in st. Paul and Minneapolis,
in the iorcs,s and fields of Minnesota, in
the fertile valley of the Red River, and on
the productive prairies OF the Dakotas, the
Canadian is making himself felt as an i'm
portant factor and a sharer in the magnifi-
cent Development now in progress.
In defense of our especial territory which
has recently been 50 maliciously attacked,
and so u~njustly slandered by an army OF
miscreants employed and pad to falSi v,
We submit these few facts COR the informa.
ton Of 10 nsnnE oru