Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1903-09-28
TWO RIVAL
CLAIMANTS
Time Has Come When Choice
Must Be Made Between
Man and the Steer.
KEYNOTE TO SITUATION
II Is the Desert Land Law Which
Virtually Robs People Of Their
Heritage.

Great Falls, Montana, is one OF the
thriving cities of the West. In the ten
years covered by the latest national
census it grew from about four thou
sand to fifteen thousand, and it is still
flourishing like a green bay tree
This remarkable town is located on
the upper Missouri where wonderful
water power seems to have dictated
the existence of great manufactur-
irg center. That, together with the
tributary mineral wealth which is also
a part of it's boundless resources, has
largely made Great Falls what 1t is.
But the people of this enterprlslng
community set their hearts on bulld-
ing something which shall be more
than a mining and manufacturing cen
fer They wanted it to be the capital
of an agricultural empire, the Mecca
of homeseekers, the seat OF dense
population getting prosperous living
from the soil.
And why not? North of the city lie
great stretches of the most fertile
land. The magnificent river carries
an abundant supply of water for lrri-
cation. While the climate is by no
means tropical but rather that OF the
northern temperate zone, with winters
which bring plenty of honest cold, con-
ditions are favorable for diversified
production and industrious families
make a living on farms no larger than
the average of those in Iowa and Hi
nois. Doubtless they might do so on
smaller farms, for there is an extraor-
dinary compelling power in irrigation
cutie unknown to those who depend
upon the caprice of the clouds
The single serious disappointment
thus far encountered in the develop
ment of Great Falls is the fact that the
fertile agricultural lands have been
converted into big pastures instead OF
into a multitude of small farms. The
battle is on throughout the West be-
tween the man and the steer-betWeen
those who want the public domain re-
served for homeseekers and those VINO
want to devote as much as possible to
the raising OF cattle.
On this subject, public sentiment
is sharply divided. There are plenty
of honest citizens who stand for the
steer against the man. To their minds,
the problem is not humanitarian but
commercial. The raising OF livestock
is a legitimate business. There must
be beef for the people to eat as well
as people to eat beef And in the big,
vacant West there are "oodles of
land" and will be far beyond the needs
of human beings, for generations to
come. why we will show you land
until you can't rest" these champions
of the steer exclaim.
On the other hand, the farmer, the
merchant and the professional man
generally take the opposite view. They
think the time has come In the arid
region, as it did long since in the older
sections of the country, for cattle to
fall back and make room for men.
First the explorer, then the trapper,
then the miner, then the stockman,
and at last the farmer-this has been
the order of the procession as civili-
zation has advanced in its irresistible
march across the continent. Those
who stand for. the man against the
steer think we have now reached the
beginning of the final chapter in the
development of the West, and that the
time has come to reserve every acre
of fertile, irrigable land for the actual
homebuilder.
In the meantime, while the debate
RACES fiercely, the steer is on top-at
least, in the vicinity of Great Falls.
How did it happen? Three words tell
the story-Desert Land Law!
In order to taAe up land under this
statute you do not have to live on it
for month, a week or an hour. You
swear that you have actually visited
the land, that you have made arrange
ments to have a portion of it irrigated
then make your filings at the land of
flee. pay $1.25 an acre, and the title
is yours. Any man or woman over
twenty one years of age can take up
three hundred and twenty acres In
this way-any man or woman. which
includes your hired help, your sisters
cousins and aunts, and any other con
venient dummy who may be In the
neighborhood BY this means, an in
dividual or corporation may take UP
thousands of acres in q day. When the
transaction is completed, the land is
gone irrevocably from the government
and the owner may put 1t to any use
he pleases.
"But it must be irrigated" some one
suggests. Yes. but there is irrigation
and irrigation. There is q kind which
actually moistens the soil so that II