Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-12-04

dred and sixty acres of fairly rich and
well watered soil. or a much smaller
amount of irrigated land, may keep a
family in plenty. whereas no one could
get q living from 160 acres Of dry pasture
land capable of supporting at the out
side only one head of cattle to every ten
acres. In the past great tracts OF the
public domain have been fenced in by
persons having no title thereto, in direct
tenance or construction of any such UNI
lawful Enclosure of public land. For va
rious reasons there has been little inter-
ference with such Enclosures in the past,
the trespassers, and all the resources at
the command of the government will
hereafter be used to put a stop 70 such
trespassing.
Alaska L~egisIation Asked For.
/ especially urge upon the congress the
need of wise legislation for Alaska. 1t
is not to our. credit as a nation that
Alaska, which has been ours for IS years:
should still nave as poor a system OF
laws as is the case. No country has a
more valuable possession-in mineral
wealth, in fisheries. furs, forests. and
also in lane available for certain kinds
of farming and stock growing. 1t is a
territory of great size and varied re-
sources, well fitted to support a large
good land law and such provisions for
homesteads and preemptions as will en-
courage permanent settlement. We
should shape legislation with a view not
" tlO CAPioltiii6 ait dodiibohlI6 VI h
territory, but to the building up of homes
therein. The land laws should be liberal
in type. SO as to hold out inducements
sire to see take possession of the coun-
try. The forests of Alaska should be
protected, and, as a secondary but still
the same time it is imperative that the
settlers, should be allowed to cut tim
be, under proper regulations, for their
own use. Laws should be enacted to
-.~k4a thn i ~ CoIrnnn HChnrino
against the greed which would destroy
them. They should be preserved as a
permanent industry and food supply.
turned over to the commission Of fish
and fisheries. Alaska should have a dele
gate in the congress. 1t would be well
If a congressional committee could visit
Alaska and investigate its needs on the
ground.
The Indians.
In dealing with the indian our aim
should be their ultimate absorption into
cases this absorption must and should
be very slow. In portions of the Indian
territory the mixture of blood has gone
wealth and education. so that there are
plenty of men with varying degrees of
purity of Indian blood who are abso-
1%utjei ! ind and aeanomie IN po abiIit of sq f9om
their white associates. There are other
tribes which have as yet made no per-
ceptible advance toward such equality.
To try. to force such tribes too fast Is to
prevent their going forward at all. More
over, the tribes live under widely differ
ent conditions. Where a tribe has made
farming soil 1t is possible to allot the
members lands in severalty much as Is
the case with the white settlers. There
are other tribes where, such course is not
desirable. On the arid prairie lands the
effort should be to induce the Indians to
lead pastoral rather than agricultural
lives, and to permit them to settle in
villages rather than to force them into
The large INDIAN schools situated remote
from any Indian reservation do a special
But, excellent though these are, an i'm
mense amount of additional work must be
done on the reservations themselves among
the old, and above all among the young,
The first and most important step toward
the absorption Of the Indian Is to teach
him. to earn his living: yet it is not neces-
sarily to be assumed that in each
ity all Indians must become either tillers
Of the soil or stock raisers. Their industries
may properly be diversified, and those who
dustrial or even commercial pursuits
should be encouraged so far as practicable
to follow out each his own bent.
Every effort should be made to develop
the Indian along the lines of natural apti-
tude, and to encourage the existing native
industries peculiar TO certain. tribes, such
as the various kinds Of basket Wee i
work. Above all, the Indian boys and girls
should be given confident command Of col
loquial English, and should ordinarily be
conditions Under which their people live,
rather thar. for immediate absorption into
some more highly developed community:
ment in dealing with the Indians work un-
der hard conditions, and also under condi-
tons which render it easy to DO wrong and
" they should be amply paid on the one
hand, and on the other hand a particularly
high standard of conduct should be de-
manded from them, and where MISCONDUCT
can be proved the punishment should be
exemplary.
Scientific Aid to Farmers.
In no department of governmental work
in recent years has there been greater sue
the farming population, thereby showing
them how most efficiently to help them
selves. There Is no need OF insisting upon
its Importance, for the welfare Of the
farmer is fundamentally necessary to the
welfare of the republic as a whole. In ad-
dition to such work as quarantine against
ring. against then. when here introduced,
much efficient help has been rendered to the
farmer by the introduction of new plants
specially fitted for cultivation under the
portions of the country. New cereals have
been established in the semi-arid west.
For instance, the pr~acticability of ,produc-
ing. the best types of macaroni wheats in
regions of an annual rainfall of only ten
inches or Whereabouts has been conclusive
ly demonstrated. Through the introduce
} the production of rice In this. country has
been made to about equal the home de-
mand. In the southwest the possibility OF
D been demonstrated; in the north many new
, forage crops have been introduced, while
. in the east It has been shown that some Of
|, our choicest fruits can be stored and
shipped In such a way as to find a profitable
, market abroad.
The District of Columbia is the only part
of our territory in which the national gov.
r eminent exercises local or municipal func'
3 tons, and where in consequence the gov.
eminent haO a free hand in reference to
= certain types of social and economic legis.
e lation which must be essentially local OIL
municipal In their character. The govern
: ment should see to it, for instance, that the
: hygienic and sanitary legislation affecting
t evils Of sium dwellings, whether in tn,
s shape of crowded and congested tenement
. house districts or of the back-alley type
washington. The city should E. e0 a mode
in every respect for all the cities Of tn,
country. The charitable and correctiona
systems of the district SHOULD receive con.
8 the end that they may embody the results
]. Of the most advanced thought in these
e fields. Moreover, while Washington is mo-
j trlalism here, and our labor legislation
1 while 1t would not be important In itself
e might be made a model for the rest of tn,
wise empioyer's-iiability act for the Bis
trict of Columbia, and we need such an &C
In our navy-yards. Railroad companies II
n the district ought to be required by law t
block their frogs. y,
r Protection for Railway Employees.
a The safety-appliance law, for the bette
protection Of the lives and limbs of rail
n way employees, which was passed in 1899
d went into full effect on August /, 1901. /
has resulted in averting thousands o
casualties. Experie nee shows, however, tn
necessity of additional legislation to per
l. feet this law. A bill to provide for thi
J. passed the senate at the last session. It
to be hoped that some such measure ma,
now be enacted into law.
"a Gratifying progress has been made dur
y ing tho 1xaar In tho axtancIan af III