The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-08-11

I INDUSTRY appeared, and. overcoming all
! obstacles, bound together the distant
/ states OF the nation and opened uD new
/ lands greater in extent than the origi-
! nal states This was done when the
I great possibilities of the west were
/ only talked of by dreamers: now "AII
J wise men are agreed that beyond the
/ Mississippi lies the great wealth of the
/ days 10 come, and the prophets of to-
day tell US that the great trade to be
[ developed in the lands beyond the Pa
/ clflc viii call for all the grain which
can be raised in the irrigated valleys Of
/ the Pacific coast states.
The men now in control of the great
/ railroad systems VIII certainly provide
I the additional bands of steel and the
iron horses necessary and viii cooper
ate with the business men of the weza
/ in all legitimate efforts to promote the
/ development Of the remaining public
/ lands
/ About 100. GOO acres have been
/ taken up under the homestead law.
In a report to the Fifty-sixth con-
gress on. the free homes bill. the COM
mittee on public lands said:
mo legislative enactment ever placed
upon the statute books of the nation
has been more lauded than the free
homestead law of the United States.
Passed by the untiTing efforts of Ga
luSha A. Grow and his c0mpeers, signed
by the immortal Lincoln. il became a
law on May 2 1862, and it was one of
the greatest factors in the marvellous
progress that the republic has made
since that time-a progress that has
astonished the world.
Under its beneficent provisions the
hardy sons of New England, the thrifty
young men of the middle western states
and the sturdy immigrants of the old
world poured into the fertile, unOccu-
pied regions of the west, and by the
labor of their hands they transformed
the forests into fruitful farms and
changed the almost limitless plains Of
prairie grass into billOwy fields Of wav-
ing grain.
when the nation was in the throes
of civil war, struggling for national eX-
istence. with expenses exceeding its in
come 81 000 600 a day, it gladly donated
its best. richest and most valuable
lands to any citizen who would build up
an American hOme-transfOrm an I'M
productive property into a source Of ma
tiOnal revenue-and become the ma
tons defender in time Of danger; and
now that it has become great, rich,
powerful, it demands a double price for
its poorest lands from its poorest eiti-
zens. Further comment is unneces-
sary.''
These arguments in favor of paying
a few millions of dollars TO Indians IN
order that additional lands in reserva-
tions could be thrown open to nome
stead entry apply with double force in
favor of appropriations by congress TO
assist in the reclamation Of arid lands
further away from the great centers OF
populate in order that hOme-bulldefS
may be given an opportunity TO make
living N the mountain and PACING
coast states. where irrigation IS neceS-
sary as we'll a 5 in the rainfall districts
of the prairie states.
If it is a good policy to buy off In
dams and open the 1000 homestead !
lob NH oh
people are just now struggling. the /
business men of the west may consist
emily urge that it is right to put water /
upon 40. 00G 900 acres of arid lands, upon 4
which 1 O0G. 600 families can raise grain /
and fruit on forty-acre farms, and to !
also nut under some plan OF lease con- |
troll fair to all concerned. 30O.0O0O0O or /
more acres of grazing land upon which I
settlers can raise cattle and sheep ana 4
each have a right to call some spot his /
personal home.
to success?
How Can This be Accomplished?
BY organization and persistent effort
on part of the newspapers and the
business men of the west, and in no
other way.
Conventions have discussed the con-
ditiOns and thousands Of resolutions
have been passed since 1873, when the
met in convention in Denver. and IN
less the merchants and manufacturers
ant heavy taxpayers Of the west real
ize that it is their burden and get be-
hind the efforts OF the national irriga-
ton and other associations working for
improved conditions, many Of us viii
probably be a long time dead before the
western members Of congress win get n
together and secure the strength neces-
sary to push through congress the
needed legislation.
1t viii pay to do it. 1t VIII pay to
have the arid lands reclaimed, the
grazing lands put under control, the
mining lands developed under improved
laws and better colonization methods
Trade follows the flag. but it also fol
lows the irrigation reservoir and ditch
if they carry water at the right time
Sentiment also has it's place ia this
work. Hundreds OF thousands now
homeless want a chance to become in
home owners. There may
be again an army of the unemployed.
Who Do the Best Work TodayP
The Mormon church and the Saliva
ton Army. Should not this great op-
portunity for doing good to humanity
be urged upon the DhilanthTOpists of
the land, the men who build libraries,
colleges and hospitals; upon all of The
great religious denominations and The
leaders of organized labOr2
This congress meeting in the great
est gold camp on earth. in a city whose
is the marvel of the west
ought to form q permanent Organiza- ]
lion, and its first great work should be
10 call upon the business men of each |
western state to organize and 0ush %
2 solution the irrigation and public land I
problems. They can discover the Condi-
tons peculiar to each state and insist
upon such action by. congress and state
egisla lures as win best serve to secure
the Iegisla ton and cooperation neces-
5ary.
FOR talk, surveys for theories, reservoir
building for resolutions and the home
ess from other states are brought into
1ur valleys and given chance to build
lp homes under favorable conditions,
hen we may probably justly claim it (
% be true that the west is the most
American part Of America"