River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1902-12-04

amount of irrigated land, may keep a
FAMILY in plenty, whereas no one could
get living from 100 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
persons having no title thereto, in direct
defiance of the law forbdding the main
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 stop to such
treSpaSsing.
Alaska Legislation Asked For.
/ especially urge upon the congress the
need of wise legislation for Alaska. 1t
is not to our credit a nation that
Alaska, which has been ours for 50 years,
should still have 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 land available for certain kinds
of farming and stock growing. 1t is a
sources. well fitted to support a large
permanent population. Alaska needs a
good land law and such provisions for
homesteads and preemptions as will en-
should shape legislation with view not
to the exploiting and abandoning of the
territory, but to the building up of homes
therein. The land laws should be liberal
in type, so as to hold out inducements
to the actual settler whom we most de-
sire to see take possession of the coun-
try. The forests of Alaska should be
protected, and, as secondary but still
important matter, the game also, and at
the same time it is imperative that the
settlers should be allowed to cut tim
be, under proper regulations, for their
protect the Alaskan salmon fisheries
against the greed which would destroy
them. They should be preserved as a
permanent industry and food supply.
Their management and control should be
turned over to the commission of fish
and fisheries. Alaska should have. dele
# a congressional committee could visit
Alaska and investigate it's needs on the
ground.
In dealing with the Indians our aim
should be their ultimate absorption into
the body of our people. But in many
cases this absorption must and should
be very slow. In portions of the Indian
territory the mixture of blood has gone
on at the same time with progress in
wealth and education, so that there are
purity of Indian blood who are abso-
lutely Notwithstanding in point of social
political and economical ability from
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
considerable advance and lives on fertile
farming soil it 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
lives and to permit them to settle in
villages rather than to force them into
isolation.
from any Indian reservation do a special
and peculiar work of great Importance.
But, excellent though these are, an I'M
mense amount of additional work must be
done on the reservations themselves among
the DID, 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 commup-
ity all Indians must become either tillers
of the soil or stock raisers. Their industries
may properly be diversified, and those who
show special desire or adaptability for in
0ustrial or even commercial pursuits
should be encouraged so far as practicable
to follow Aout each his own bent.
Every effort should be made to develop
the Indian along the lines of natural aptl-
tude, and to encourage the existing native
as the various kinds of basket weaving.
canoe building, smith work, ana blanket
work. Above all, the Indian boys and girls
should be given confident command Of COLI
loquial English, and should ordinarily be
prepared for a vigorous struggle with the
conditions unGer which their people live,
rather than, for immediate absorption into
some more highly developed community.
The officials who represent the govern
ment in dealing with the Indians work UNI
der hard conditions, and also under condi-
tons which render it easy to Go wrong ard
very difficult to detect wrong. Consequent
ly they should be amply paid on the one
hand, and on the other hand 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
cess than in that of giving sclentlhc AID to
the farming population, thereby showing
them how most efficiently to help them
selves. There is no need of insisting upon
it's 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
animal and vegetable plaques and. war
ring against them when here introduced,
much efficient help has been rendered to the
farmer by the Introduction of new plants
specially fitted for cultivation unGer the
peculiar conditions existing in different
portions of the country. New cereals have
been established in the semi-arid west
For instance, the practicability of produc-
regions of an annual rainfall of only ten
inches or Whereabouts has beer conclusive
ly demonstrated. Through the introduc-
ton OF new rices in Louisiana and TeXaS
the production of rice in this country has
been made to about equal the home Ge-
mand. In the southwest the possibility Of
regrassing overstocked range lanGs has
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 way as to find profitable
market abroad.
of our territory in which the national gov
eminent exercises local or municipal func-
tons, and where in consequence the gov
eminent has a free hand in reference to
certain types of social and economic legis-
lation which must be essentially local or
municipal in their character. The govern
ment should see to it, for instance, that the
hygienic and sanitary legislation affecting
Washington is of a high character The
evils of slum dwellings, whether in the
shape of crowded and congested tenement
house districts or of the back-alley type,
shouIt never be permitted to grow up in
in every respect for all the cities Of the
country The charitable and correctional
systems of the district should receive con-
slderation at the hands of the congress to
the end that they may embody the results
Of the most advanced thought in these
fields. Moreover, while Washington is not
a great industrial city, there is some indus
triaIism here, and our labor legislation,
while it WOULD not be important in, itself
might be made model for. the rest Of the
nation. We should pass, for instance, a
wise employer STABILITY act for the Dis
trict of Columbia, and we need such an act
in our navy yards. Railroad companies in
the district ought to be required by law to
block their frogs
Protection for Railway Employees.
The safety-appliance law. for the better
protection of the lives and limbs of rail-
way employees, which was passed in 1893
went into full effect on. August /, 1901. 1t
has resulted in averting thousands Of
casualties Experience shows, however, the
necessity of additional legislation to per-
feet this law. A bill to provide for this
passed the senate at the last session. 1t is
to be hoped that some such measure may
now be enacted into law.
Gratifying progress has been made dur
ing the year in the, extension Of the