Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1904-10-31
GET AN ACRE AND LIVE ON IT
Advice Given Residents OF the Crowded
Cities By George II. Maxwell Of the
National Irrigation Association.

tjrely different condition, and the lay
ing of that foundation has been begun
as result of the achievements Of
grand old man, Senator Paris Gibson,
whom the people of this city in days
to come will revere and honor as one
of the greatest minds that the west
has ever produced. II
Farm Acre Colonies Being Established.
"The movement is already begun to n
establish farm acre colonies where
men in the east who have little q
money can come out onto an acre OF
land and live there for a year or two
years and be taught how to farm. :
Then they will be colonist farmers
worth having and this will relieve,
too, the congested centers of the east.
There are thousands and hundreds OF
thousands of such men in the east, and
every live community in the west
should plant such farm instruction
colony. The work has been begun In
Arizona and when it's good results
are seen the plan will be adopted by
every western section, for it will ap-
peal to all classes. 1t will appeal to
every western man who desires to see
his country settled by thrifty citizens.
It will appeal to the merchant; it will
appeal to the man who has land to
sell. 1.saEg
''If a. man, intent upon accomplish
ing the most with large tgact of land,
had one million acres, and it were
family on every five acres, would he
divide it into farms of a square mile
or of quarter section? With small
farms come good roads. The dreaded
isolation of the old farm life gives way
to neighbors every few hundred yards.
and all the comforts of modern civili-
zation become possible.
Our Greatest National Resource.
''The lana is the greatest resource
, of a nation. Our public lands should
, be securely held for the real home
makers. There are men in the west
who have acquired, as was never in
tended by congress, great tracts of
thousands of acres of land without set
Element and without the building of
; single home"
These laws are still upon the
, statute books More over the great
y live stock interests and the spectators
are intent upon keeping them there
, and even upon attempting to secure
new land speculative legislation.
Attempts to Graft the National lrriga-
ton Act.
If the National Irrigation Associa-
, ton had not insisted upon eliminating
, the use of the desert land act law, the
, communication clause of the homestead
law and the timber and stone law. un-
: der the national irrigation law, all the
. lands to be reclaimed by the govern
ment would have been seized by specu-
: 1ators and national irrigation would
have become stencil in the nos
, trils of the American people.
: If the people Of Montana desire ma
tjonal irrigation, with all it's magnifi-
cent possibilities for the state, they
| must stand firm for the repeal OF all
: land laws except the homestead law
The faith of the west has been pledged
, tn the east and that faith must be
kent The west must provide homes
f for the many upon the lands to be re-
| claimed else the east will spew out
t national irrigation as graft and
hideous evil.
1--WE would rather have homes for
men than corrals,' he said, "and we
are prouder of the best products OF
Montana, the finest people on earth,
than we are of the latest sheep or the
= latest cattle.
, 'The National Irrigation Association
stands for a rigid land policy that will
halk the gratis of every land grabbing
scheme. It wants the title of all TIM
bered lands to remain with the gov
/ eminent and the stumpage sold, but
the land to remain in the government
, SO that our water sheds shall not be
j. ruthlessly destroyed. 1t asks that
' every man who gets title from the gov.
], eminent must be an actual settler and
: to show his good faith by living upon
j the land Ave years. You can not ex |.
t pect the east to donate millions TO re-
i claim that go into speculative land I'D
) schemes" s