Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-03-29

proofs. In the present year the state has
manufacturing pants employing nearly
10000 men, the value Of products aggre-
eating $2O,WOO0O. Their wares are mani
fold, calculated for consumption in a
cosmopolitan commonwealth, such as
grows up about the farms. If the mines
were all, these factories would be i'm
possible. And If the mines were all We
certainly should not find the Salt Lake
Basin occupying its present proud posi-
ton as centre for railroad DEVELOPMENT
in every direction, to connect with thu
worlds markets and afford an outlet for
the states surplus Of commodities-for
now. as a fit result of the grim struggle
of early years, Utah has a balance Of
trade strongly in its favor due almost
entirely to the increase of water service
and the extension of irrigation over the
sterile plains. The banks Of the state
are gorged with money; for eight months
of the current year the bank clearings in
Salt Lake have increased nearly fifty per
cent over last year-a greater percentage
OF increase than can be shown by any
other American city, excepting New
York. Nor is the state following the mis-
taken policy of accommodating dollars in
the deSuetude of the bank vault. Every
where, with an unshakable faith in the
future, the people are putting their
money to aCcOun,. Schools and churches
representing all possible shades Of educa-
tional and religious belief are multiply
ing like rabbits. Where the ability to
read was once regarded as an indictaL.e
UISii't- IDIdIltS tit SIpWln8. IKE fulr
flowers rising from the corruption of old
preJudices. The press Of the state is sec
ond to none in liDeraiity of motives and
in devotion to the interests of home The
towns are feeling the wholesome Impetus
from the metropolis to the merest out
post Of the metropolitan idea. good gov
eminent has taken firm hold: municipal
pride has inspired thoughts of the gain to
come through hitherto neglected aV-
enues. Beauty is daring to show it's
head; architecture is being recognized as
having claims to consideration
on the farms themselves one observes
a highly satisfactory state of things The
foible Of the Western farmer in general
has been to amass all the land possible
without much regard to his power to util-
lie it. The prairie farms average nearly
ZcoO acres, and many run into the thou
sands of acres. In the irrigated districts
this condition is as rule reversed
Land under ditch IS high priced-indaed.
in the far Western regions where canals
have been constructed and water rights
secured, the market value of the lands
lar exceeds the value Cf farm propert !
in the middle states. This is not ffcti-
tious scale; year after year an irrigated |
acre in the remote desert will Weld big
ger and better crops than an acre in the
humid valley of the Mississippi or the |
Missouri, where the water supply still |
depends upon the whimS of wind and |
cloud. Then, too, water rates are high |
Thus there Is a double incentive to prIl-
dence. The prevalent practice has been |
TO acquire small tract of land and by |
intensive cultivation to bring it to the |
highest pos ible point of productiveness
1t is a move in the right direction. Real |
thrift, 81 ch as distinguishes the Pennsyl- |
vania DUtchman, has rarely disturbed |
the magnificent notions of the prairie |
lie has been quite content with |
small attainments-with the nlerest |
dawdling along the road to wealth anus |
ing his senses with idle visions of big
ness. Out of his 200 acres orsmore, half |
runs to waste; the other half receives but