Wadsworth semi-weekly dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1899-1904, 1902-04-04
THE WAY 1T LOOKS
IN NEVADA.

EDS. COUNTRY GENTLEMAN-Mr.
Peer makes a spirited and convincing
protest against the general govern
ment's fostering any land policy which
would add to the number Of producers
on the farm, thus increasing the COM
petition which has forced the price of
farm land and all 1t produces to I'M
profitable figures We a all under
stand the temper manifested by Mr..
Peer, and every one who has studied
the question must %sympathize with
him.
We have seer the wheat crop de-
molished since the war by opening up
of the plains of Kansas, the Indian
Territory, the Dakotas and Texas,
the vast fields Of the Saskatchewan
and Manatobia, the Red River Of the
North and the fertile stretches in Min
nesota, Wisconsin and neighboring
States.
California has turned the San
Joaquin and the Sacramento valleys
into graineries and Oregon and Wash
ington are raising wheat for is cents a
bushel.
The sudden addition Of such IN
mense tracts of farming land to that
already in cultivation could have but
one effect, and If the reclamation Of
the arid region should produce a like
result, we could not blame Mr.. Peer
for vigorous opposition.
But It seems to me that whatever
settlement has been made up to the
present time In the inter-mountain
country. has been a great benefit to all
the farming States.
The opening Of mines and Of salt,
sulphur. borax and other deposits has
made such a market for the products
Of eastern factories. and for porcine
and other varieties Of foods and meats.
for machinery. furniture. ETC.. that the
effect has been felt in all branches Of
business.
Every part Of the West has develop
ed industries that, while they have not
competed with the output Of any farm
or factory in the older States. have
drawn on them for supplies Of every
kind. and sometimes very heavily. 1t
is in this way that we may hope to
build up a home market for our crops.
There is no way for a farmer living
heal a city to dispose Of his produce to
so good advantage as to have that city
grow. AS long as Its population is in
~creasing his crops will find a market
and his land increase in value.
If it were possible to increase our
factories and shops to consume every
thing we raise, no foreign market would
be worth looking at. AS long as the
American farmer has a surplus to ship
abroad. he gets the price In the foreign
market with the freight taken off.
When he does not raise quite enough
to supply the demand at home, SO that
ven a little must be shipped in, he
gets the price in the foreign market
with the freight added.
If he has a good home market. he
need not are who gets the foreign
market nor where the competition
comes from that fills it.
The arid states have no hard wood,
and must for ages depend upon the
East for agricultural implements and
mining tools and machinery. 1t takes
generations to build up furniture fac
tories, fine shoe shops, paper mills,
carpet and linen. cotton and WOODEN
mills, so that the West will not be
ready to manufacture its own goods for
many years, If ever; and each mine
opened. each canal dug. each reser-
voir built, will draw upon our neighbor.
al the East for s1nrlies Evaxv III.