The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-04-03

suggestion for his serious meditation. The
United States census for 1900 shows that
the total farm acreage has increased in
the United States the last tWentygyears
more rapidly than the number of farmers,
50 that the average size of farms; have
increased. This condition we would hardly
expect to exist in new state like our own
and. vet the census shows a startling in-
crease in the size of the average farm
during the last decade. In 1890 there were
I'M. South, Dakota 50,158 farms, with an
average of 227 acres; in 1900 there. We're.
81 622 farms, but with an average Of 3622
acres. mother words, while the increase'
i'm the number of farms. in round n umbers.
had been less than $500, the size Of each
farm had nearly doubled. ss IS e i }:%
f.S,s# Cheap Lands Going. " Il
! i This proves that right herein our. own
state, The mer who own the land are
buNiltgs more land, some are selling what
theyrhaye. secured and the many are neg
slectingSthe golden opportunity Of securing
free or cheap lands, an opportunity Whic h
is passing, away, never again to come to-
the inhabitants Of this earth This fact
is still more emphasized by the census
which Shows that in our own state, from
1890 to 1900 the number of farms operated
by owners decreased 515 per cent; those
operated by cash tenants increased 81
per cent; those operated by share tenants
AlCi eaSeo o. per Cellt, anu LIdL pei CSuI
of the farms Of this young state are
operated by tenants In other words, for
every four men who own and operate
their own. farms, there is one man who
operates a farm which he does not own.
This drifting, or, ra ther. rushing toward
a system Of landlordism is certainly an
unfavorable symptom which the student
and statesman should pause and consider.
10 tho fs rm owner it means increasing
farm values. The last great race for free
homesteads has been rum. It is no long
er true that "Uncle Sam is rich enough to.
ei1a us all a farm :, The population
of rur country is increasing at the rate
Of about 100000 each year. u. In four
years from to-day there will be 100000
or more men clamoringe for land Is 1t
strange that men from counties where
land is worth from $500 to $3.50 an acre
are buying our land at $40 an acre? They
realize that cheap lands are forever
thing of the past. = Z. T.
s"t An lowan's tribute. -
A resident Of Iowa was asked what he
would take for certain lands which he held
in South Dakota and wrote in reply: Is
Il do not care to sell my lands in South
Dakota now. I believe there is a grand
future in store for that state. Had we
only held the lands which we at one time
owned in Palo Alto county we would be
worth millions to-day IL, -
Practically the same reply has been re-
ceived from many others living in Iowa,
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. In
stead Of selling they are increasing their
holdings and every year paying more for
the lands they buy in South Dakota. They
are all men who have lived through a
| similar experience in their home states or
| who have studied the history of new coun-
tries. - ~
History is repeating itself in South Da-
kota as it has done i'm other and older
settled states. The farmers and speclla-
! tors of Illinois and other thickly settled
states are selling orftotgti from $50 to 800
an acre and going to Iowa. Nebraska and
! parts Of Minnesota, where they can double
their acreage; and the! people of Iowa and
| the states on the south and seast.las they
sell. are moving into tile Dakotas where
they can find room for themselves anu
their children. - -'.-h oo1 .Hsh =, fnSsE
Value Of Products'Last YEAR
From the most reliable statistics at hare