Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1904-01-25
HOMES FOR THE ASKING.

probably the largest open territory of
any district in the state and it is pos
sible that it is the largest in the United
States outside the arid regions Of the
southwest But in the fourteen coun-
ties forming the Bismarck district,
there is sufficient land to give home
steads to So, 125 actual families. Count
ing five persons to the family, there
would be in round numbers 265,000
people. This merely gives an idea Of
the wonderful possibilities of the north
west, and especially of North Dakota.
True, some of the land is not available
for either agricultural or grazing pur-
poses but the percentage is actually
less than five, so that this item need
hardly be considered. There are
homes for fifty-three thousand fami-
lies to be had for the asking, and in
the overcrowded east and in the lands
beyond the seas there are hundreds Of
thousands of people who are selling
their very lives into slavery to provide
for wife and children. These people
could not only find homes at the cost
of the labor to construct them. but
could earn a far better living while
living on their claim than they can in
the sweat shops of Europe and >Ameri-
ca. Then, too, every days labor on
the farm would add more than its !
worth to the value Of the farm itself.
and the homesteader would have the
advantage OF providing for his family
and securing competency for his old
age at the same time. These things
being true, it is mystery why the
homesteads of the west were not filed
up years ago. One Of the principal
reasons is the facts about the west,
and the northwest especially are not
known, while all that is reported Is
absolutely false and entirely mislead-
ing. The climate is the great objec-
ton to many. People read Of tenn
perature thirty or forty below zero. and
compare it with the temperature in a
moist climate where zero means freez-
ing to death, and as result think that
living in sucn a climate is mere tor
ture. Could the atmospheric condi-
tons and the moisture Of Pennsyl-
vania winter be taken into considera-
ton in fixing the actual thermal condi-
| tons, thirty or forty below zero in
North Dakota would about equal twen-
ty above in Pennsylvania. 1t will be
necessary to educate the people to this
fact before extensive immigration will
come from these sections. Nor is It
| profitable to send those who have lived
in the west to tell the people in the
east. They are like the antidiluvians
who Knocked the preaching of Noah
concerning the food. They simply de-
nounce the statements as western lies.
Nor do the people believe the. to them,
fabulous tales of the productiveness of
the west. They reason that If the
country is like what it is represented
to be, it should be full to overlooking
with people. They fail to compre-
bend the axiom that nearly everyone
else Is like unto themselves. And that
the same reasons which keep them
away would keep others also. Then
there is that old nonsensical adage
about a rolling stone gathering no
moss. Many a young man has re-
NAMED in the house in which he was
born, rather than be called a rolling
stone and getting out into the world.
They prefer to live the easy life of
Incidence rather than take the advice
Of Horace Greedy. This leaves the
majority of the settlers for the north
west to come from the states Of the
middle west. They are in most In
stances the SONS Of those who came to
those new states as pioneers and who
helped to carve out of q desert the
greatest commonwealth of the Union
/ But there are yet plenty Of opportuni-
| ties in those newer states for their
i young men, and there is but little In.
ducement for them to seek them else.
i where. As consequence, the immi.
/ grafton from those sections is remark.
ably limited. What every land Owner
4 In North Dakota should do Is to be.
I. come 9 perpetual land boomer. Some
particular person should be selected
and the facts should be CONSTANT,
poured into him until he IL convinced
I, Every new man brought into the STATE
4 means an increased value OF every
mans farm, and this will continue
] until land reaches something near ii
actual worth which y far above I'll.
q present prices.