Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1904-08-19

Land Hunger
WHICHEVER may be the disposition OF
The farmers or the east, a serious land
aunger possesses the farmers OF the
west. They have a feeling based on
Ectual knowledge that there is not
much really good land TO be possessed,
that the really agricultural portion or
The Mississippi valley capable of cult
~ration without irrigation has been
quite fully occupied, and that there
fore a piece OF good land is the begin
ming OF a fortune, IL not in the days
pf the present owner then Tor ms
posterity. The opportunity to home
stead or obtain land by purchase at
a low rate afforded by the opening OF
The indian reservations this summer
lhows how intense this land hunger
has become.
We have not cared to urge u read
ers TO risk much on these reserva-
lions. We have rather discouraged 1t.
because we realized that very few
would win prizes. that most of this
land is OF comparatively little value
or otherwise undesirable. n that there
Is bound to be a good deal of vexation
and disappointment and no little loss.
There was a time when homestead
ing land paid largely. 1t was. how
Eh WHICH llOilIC6lGdu alAd0 ~ NhA1
humid district were plenty and a man
could have pick and choice. Even
then, however, 1T is an open question
whether the farmer who worked on
q farm by the month for five years
and saved his wage could not buy
the land outright for which the home
steader had given five of the best years
of his life, and he and his family sub
nitted to p~rivations unknown in q more
Eettled country. In other words, the
man who worked by the month and
saved his money woulc be quite as far
ahead as the homesteader. even IL he
was successful in getting a good piece
of land. and in the meantime would
have had a great deal more enjoyment
put of life.
How, then, can this and hunger be
Eatisfied2 1t is in itself a healthy sign.
The mar who gets hold Of a good
piece of land, improves it wisely and
farms IL we'll has laid the foundation
OF a fortune. He will not be a Million
qire. He will not, possibly, be a very
rich mar from an eastern standpoint.
but he will be in no danger of the
sheriff. He can educate his children
I'm habits of industry, thrift and
economy and sterling honesty. Can
give them a good education TX they are
hit for il, and can have for himself and
wife a maximum of he real comforts
of life and the minimum of it's dis
comforts. Why, then. should not the
ownership of a good piece of land be
highly desirable today
{ There is. in the humid sections a
good deal of land that can be pur-
chased at from ten to twenty dollars
per acre. land which If properly farmed
land by this we mean if 1t is asked
10 grow the crops which its Creator
Intended IL to grow vii make the
farmer comfortable and happy. And
we think the chances for achieving
success are a good deal better on this
kind of and than in ans of the Indian
reservations that are now being
opened either for purchase or home
steading. We advise every mar who
is by nature fitted to be a farmer to
get hold Of a piece of land. IL he can
do so without burdening himself with
debt Until he is able TO pay from
third to one-half down he had bet
ter not buy it.
We must not expect a continuance
OF the prosperity of the last four or
I've years. We don't anticipate any
great disaster, but prices are always
p~roverbially unstable. In the very
OF things adversely follows pros
perity and prosperity follows adyer-
sity. as the waves follow each other
TO the shore. 1t has always been so,
will always be so, and therefore we
don't advise any man to burden him
self with debt which he cannot carry
comfortably in case there should be
or three years of dull times. Many
q man has been ruined by buying high
and and involving himself in
that have compelled him to
go or keep his nose to the grind
for years TO come
We would rather take our chances
now on a small portion of irrigated
land at a high price than on any land
that Is now open to homesteading any
where In the United States. The
great agricultural development in the
next ten or fifteen years will be in
the irrigated sections of the plains and
mountain states, and there, we believe.
In the next generation VIII be found
the highest type of civilization on this
Observation-Disclosures Farmer.