Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1903-09-21
Edward Everett Hale One Of the
Earliest Converts to the
Cause in the East.
WHAT APPEALED TO HIM
Great Divine Believed Freedom for
White Men Was an Important
Issue.

national irrigation cause among the
prominent men of the east, was Ed
ward Everett Hale, the famous Bos-
ton author, divine and philanthropist.
To one of the early missionaries OF
the movement DR.. Hale explained that
the first public work he ever engaged
in was the promotion of emigration to
the free and the slave states. He
added: "Now am for this great
movement of yours because l have
come to the conclusion that freedom
for white men is just as important as
freedom 1or blacks.
By that striking remark the great
Bostonian showed that he appreciated
the vast social and economic signifi-
cance of the plan which looks to the
reclamation Of our neglected empire
in the west and the making of homes
for millions of people. Some of the
issues which are rising in connection
with this undertaking do actually in
yolye the problem of giving freedom,
as opposed to servitude, 20 white men.
DR.. Hale saw that this was so after
a very brief consideration of the mat
ter and it would be we'll indeed if all
his countrymen could appreciate the
fact as clearly.
To begin with, there is the question
as to whether the future settlers 0,
the great arid region shall be able to
obtain his heritage-his share OF the
public domain-at the government
price, or whether he will be compelled
to pay tribute to the enterprising.
Under existing laws it is possible for
land to be acquired in large amounts
by those who have no intention what
ever OF making home upon it. Not
only is it possible" but the thing is
being done by wholesale at the pres
ent time The entire assets of many a
land and water scheme in the west, on
which bonds are issued and sold in
the east and abroad, is fertile soil re-
Gently carved out of the public domain
with one of the two instruments which
our national statutes provide = the
Desert Land Law and the commuta-
eion clause of the Homestead Law.
1t is not treating white man exact
Iy right to steal his property (for that
is what it amounts toy and then sell it
back to him at ten times what you
paid ;or it, is it? But that is only one
aspect of the matter.
Much of the land which is being
wrongfully taken by spectators will
be held for the raising of cattle, when
1t is needed for the raising of children
and thus many people will remain
homeless who might otherwise be free
and Independent landed proprietors.
Then, too, much of this ill-gotten soil
will go to form large private estates,
which will be cultivated with servile
labor or rented to tenants who must
share their product with the owner.
Current statistics show that tenant
farmers have increased in the united
States from rs per cent to IS per cent
during the last ten years. Isn't it
about time to start tendency in the
other direction and have the number
of land owning farmers increase in
stead of decrease? The surest way to
do it is to save the lands we now own;
then open them to settlement after
they have been irrigated by national
enterprise.
When these bad land laws are re-
pealed and the statutes made such
that only the genuine homeseeker can
take up land, and he upon the sole
condition that he will build his home
there and raise crops, the thing will
be done chiefly by the influence of the
populous states east of the Mississippi
river. The reason is easy to under
stand
The enterprising citizens of the far
west know the value of this public
property. They are conveniently sit
uated to file upon it under the present
laws. They are inclined to believe
that the pioneers Of a new country are
fairly entitled to enrich themselves
from the great fund of unused natural
wealth which lies about them on every
hand Hence, they are not, to put it
mildly, wildly enthusiastic over the
proposition to change the laws.
In the east and in the south the 9th
er side of the shield is presented to-
view. There live the people who need
the land for homes for themselves and
their children and who, in time, will
desire to claim their share of 1t and
to use it in good faith. The same i'm
pulse of self-interest which makes one
section opposed or indifferent renders
the other sections favorable to reserve
the peoples lands for those to whom
they rightfully belong.
Another feature Of the national ir-
rigation cause which Interested DIR.
Continued on Page s.