Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1904-10-31
~ Wish CssA Barn That
fhssght lSts he Heart u
Every Wsrkingnan'
LAND THE NATIONS
GREATEST RESOURCE
Chairman Of National lrrigatiOu
Association Would Keep IL
For the Home maker
Special 20 The Optic
GREAT FALLS. Mon Oct. .

Special 20 The Optic
GREAT FALLS. Mon Oct d.
The wage earners o. the country
ara those Who would ameliorate the
hard conditions OF the Iaboring man
and see him established 10 comfort
In . home Of his own viii find some
interest and profit In the campaign
and lecture tour which Ia being made
throughout the west by George H.
maxwell, executive chairman Of the
National Irrigation Association. MI.
MAXWELL has spoken at the principal
cities in Montana and his program
takes him also through Washington,
Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Tex,
as. North Dakoss, beside large east
ern centers-
The lamp OF hope which he held
out TO the west and to the country
81 large. in q speech at Great Falls
vas that the idea should be fostered
that any strong man can from a
acre Of good ground get q good hs-
ing for himself and his family
Get an acre and live on H." he
said. Get an acre and live on H.
wish I could burn that thought into
the heart Of every sn-kingfnsn In
America. In the wsst | world sav.
Get an irrigated acre" Mr.. Maxwell
declared that II every man who now
works eight hours q day In a factory
or d smelter could work four hours
Z dsy In the factory and four hours
. day on his own acre Of irrigated
land. he would double his income
and he would insure himself. bis
wife and his children against -:ns
when the days wage should stop.
Change Our educational System.
But We must have a different sys'
tenn Of national education from the
present one. he said, which trains
our children away from the land
This idea Ii gaining ground. We
have manual training and domes.
tic science taught In some OF our
schools. That Ia getting back TO The
true system of education where, FMS
tead OF the old folks remaining at
home to die alone while The boys so
to the cities with the idea of becom-
Ing ~miliionaires but 10 end as counter
jumpers and clerks. the malsng and
keeping Of a home liz taught.
One nor thing should be coupl'
"a to the school system. Every
child should be made a gardner and O
horticultural. The winter term
@hccIa be devoted half 10 books and
half 20 work ON the benches, and a
summer term should be devoted 70
agriculture. The boys would learn
to build a horne and the girls to care
for them as wives and mothers.
Better Than Prohibition Laws.
THE way TO close the saloons III to
teach the girls to cook. Many a man
has gone wrong because a woman
canno cook. The summer school
should be at the edge OF the city
where children could attend II from
the kindergarten 10 the high school
They could be taught To raise every
thing on five acres that goes TO make
q home. We are gradually getting
away from the hereey that money
Is ali III this life and tha. man must
raise something. sell IL and buy m
thing back again hefore he geta what
he wants. God intended US to make
a living directly from the land.
The evil Of our life is not that the
rich are getting richer OF the poor
are getting poorer. but II ia the lack
Of cultivation Of the soil. No man
can Cypress a sturdy race Of farmers
that WI and TN the land.
Resources Of the Treasure State.
There are great sonro In Mon.
tana. but If the people vont develop
them on sound and enduring lines.
they must be developed in such A
way that the mass " the people Wit
be rooted to the soil. Her mines are
wondrous in their productiyeness. hui
her greatest wealth lies in her rich
soil.
lyon have great water power her
at Great Falls, the greatest, 1 believe
Of any state In the union. ana YOU
may produce here a second Chleaea
with all its squalor. It's slums, its in
morality. its crimes. us ~siaryagies
when the days wage stops BIT yoa
DC not wan that You want 10 las
here a Foundation, broad and doe
for an entirely different conaliio
and the laying Of that foundation h.