The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1904-11-03
ONE ACRE OF LAND UNDER CUl-
JIvATiON WILL SUPPORT
A FAMILY.
An irrigation Expert Urges the III
Paid laborer to Turn to
Agriculture.

would alltllDfdlt tIe llttiu toildi-
sions of the Iaboring man and see him
established in a home of his own Will
ind some interest and profit in the
campaign and lecture tour which is be-
ing made throughout the west by Geo
H. Maxwell, executive chairman of the
National Irrigation association. Mr.
Maxwell has spoken at the principal
cities in Montana. and his program is
taking him also through Washington,
Colorado New Mexico Arizona, Texas.
North Dakota. besides large eastern
centers.
The lamp of hope. which he held out
10 the west and to the country at large,
ln a speech at Great Falls was that
che idea should be foStered that any
strong man can from one acre of good
ground get a good living for himself
and his family.
Get an acre and live on it" he said.
Get an acre and live on it, | wish |
could burn that thought into the hearts
OF the workingmen in America. In the
west l would say, get an irrigated
acre"
Mr.. Maxwell declared that if every
man who now works eight hours day
in Il factory or a smelter could work
four hours a day in the factory and
four hours a day on his own acre of ir-
rigated land. he would double his in
come and he would insure himself, his
wife and his children against want
when the days wage should stop.
Change Educational System.
But we must have different sys-
fem of national education from the
present one" he said. (which trains
our children away from the land. This
sdea is gaining ground. We have man
ual training and domestic science
Gaught in some of our schools That is
getting back to the true system of ed
ucation where, instead of the old folks
remaining at home to die alone While
rhe boys go to the cities with the idea
of becoming millionaires but to end
as counter jumpers and clerks. the
making and keeping of a home is
taught
One more thing should be coupled
40 the school system. Every child
should be made IA gardener and hor-
1iculturist. The winter term should be
devoted half to books and half to work
ON the benches and a summer term
should be devoted to agriculture. The
boys would learn to build a home and
the girls to care for them as wives
and mothers.
Better Than Prohibition.
The way to close the saloons is to
leach the girls to cook Many a man
has gone wrong because a woman can
not cook. The summer school should
he at the edge of the city where chill
3ren could attend it from the kinder
Earten to the high school They could
be taught to raise everything on five
acres that goes to make a home We
are gradually getting away from the
heresy that money is all in this life
ana that man must raise something
sell it. and buy something back again
before he gets what he wants. God
Intended us to make a living directly
Irom the land
The evil of our life is not that the
rich are getting richer or the poor are
getting poorer. but it is the lack of
cultivation of the soil No man can
Cypress z sturdy race of farmers that
own and till the land
Resources of the Treasure State
There are great resources in Mon
}ana, but if the people want to develop
them on sound and enduring lines they
must be developed in such a way that
the mass Of the people will be rooted
10 the soil. Her mines are wondrous
IN their productiveness, but her
greatest wealth lies in her rich soil.
at Great Falls. the greatest. l believe.
of any state in the Union and YOU
may produce here a second Chicago.
with all its squalor its Slums. its i'm
morality, its crimes. its starvation
when the days wage stops. But YOU
10 not want that. You want to lay
here foundation, broad and deep. for
an entirely different condition. and the
laying of that foundation has been be-
KUN as a result of the achievement OF
i grand cid man. Senator Paris Gibson
Whom the people of this city in davs
10 come will revere and honor as one OF
1he greatest minds that the west ha,
ever produced
Farm Acre Colonies.
The movement is already begun +,
establish farm acre colonies where mer
sn the east who have a little mono,
<an come out onto an acre of land an,