The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-01-20
! TO-day's Chancellor
| the Western Settler,

Glowing descriptions of important
westward movements OF immigration.
statistics OF the increasing population OF
Western states, and the manifest at
IN the past decade. have caused many
to believe that there IL no more room Tor
the setter-that the land Is pracilcally
all taken. and none but the well-to-do,
capable Of purchasing for cash. need ap-
Yet the opportunity for the man with
little means Is probably better to-day IN
the prairie states of the Southwest than
ever before in the history of the nation.
To be sure there Is not the vast open
choice of land for hOmesteads that exist
! ed in the '1Os. The lands then taken up
under the government laws are now pros
porous farms and ranches. Nor ls there
a whole territory. like Oklahoma, aWdlt-
ing the rush OF tens OF lhousanps ol
settlers 10 seize its rich acres Nearly
all the government land Of this sort Was
pre-empted long ago Oklahoma, when
had not a white inhabitant IN 1881, mas
now Gj0OOO progressive people. addlng
to their wealth and improvements az
rate that Is surprising to the most opu-
mistic onlOOkers. That sort Of chance
has passed away and Will not return 10
the people OF this nation.
Another kind of opening lies before the
settler. IN many respects better one
and its promise IS Of exec Nns Dilsii ~,
ness. Its best opportunity Is snoWh ~
the great Southwest. where the trans
formation Of the plains has been going
on and where the conditions OF spil anu
climate make "A perfect surrounding lor
fhe modern effort at home creating.
Warm skies and tempered Winus help
wonderfully In bringing happiness
The settler of carly days had 70 graz
pie with nature unadorned. he WIS
ont in vast plain many miles from
market and with the railway but a dream
OF the future He hauled MS produce
twenty or thirty miles. he went as iar TOT
the household supplies he must buy from
the country store. He was hanpeTtu
by lack Of neighbors and scarclty OF ~,
cial enjoyment His family was lsolaseu
and his wife felt the ionesomeness or a
new country something not TO be over
come by mere prosperity in crop-falslns'
Then too he as unfamiliar win the GU
m1te 1rd with the soil conditions. re
did not know for instance that hot winds
might be expected until he had been
several months in his new nome. rs
was stranger in strange iaHu, VIII
Of winter that sometimes sweep oyer tne
plains leaving death IN their track he
was tsarnger in a strange land, Win
all the lessons to learn IN the conpueihs
The settler OF to-day goes into very
different circumstances. lie rides IN
comfortable railway coach TO the very
locality where he II TO reside lie urlNes
out TO his new home in buggy, instead
OF toiling over the way in prairie
schooner He is close TO market ana 70
well-appointed stores. Perhaps ne mas
free rural delivery of mail as soon as ne
has built his house--anyhow, he - not
fsr from nostofIice. More than that.
he has around him neighbors who nave
tested soil and climate, VINO Know WIlai W..,,,
crops will succeed and what ones VIII
NOT who understand, through years OF ei-
fJrt the variations OF the ed-
son and know when to expect unpleas-
ant days and when the time ot trlal Is
likely 10 be upon them. Best OF al;
they have found out what crops VIII
grow in dry years nearly as Wen as IN
wet years and so nave mastered tile
a. o of
newcomer might have wasted a good
part OF his life In learning what ms
neighbors can tell him in an hour.
4 would be five years ahead II ] mad
known as much about Western farming
when I came here as ! do now, re-
marked "A prosperous dWeller in the high
plains region Of western kahsas; Inc
mistakes | made before learned what
x, 50 meant lots Of hard work and all
the money / had saved up, besides my
expenses in getting settled The people
who come here now have those lessons
Ii Is easy to see how this can be in
country that lends itself to peculiar
agriculture. that receives varied gifts q
climate but once mastered Is like rich
garden IN its productveness.
But, does some one say, the flrst conf
ers needed no money. To be sure. many
Of them were practically destitute and
settled on their homesteads with moth
Ing but their strong bodies and deter
mined will as assets But they lid little
for many years They wasted time. The
settler who goes into the West to-day
with little money can find plenty of as
sistance in borrowing on the land he
proposes TO buy. He can use other peo-
pies money for a moderate rate Of in
terest The farm loan that costs more
than q per cent interest In the Middle
West Is the exception. and Is certainly
not east Of 4 line drawn through central
Dakota. Nebraska Kansas and Okla
homa. When the first comers entered
that territory they paid II per cent at
least and so much more sometimes that
IL ceased to be interest and became high
way robbery.
II the newcomer Of to-day wishes to
combine stock raising with farming, he
can find plenty of places out in the far
ther plains region where unlimited range
lies at his door. 1t may not be govern
ment land. but 1t is partly 50. ana with
the present ruling Of the government IN
force against fencing up such iand as Il
owns, the small cattleman has as good
an opportunity as the cattle king to pas
ture It. In the very heart of some great
ranches are settlers With their comfort
able homes and fertile fields. undis-
turbed BY their wealthy neighbors. so
well are Individual rights observed in
the West In this generation.
1t Is often said that the West is being
filled to the limit. An opinion seems
prevalent that the farms have been d.
Vided to degree that makes 1t imprac
ticable for more dwellers To find homes
in its broad acres AS a matter OF fact
the Western farms average very large.
They are, IN general. larger than a man
can handle with his own efforts-and the
problem Of obtaining help Is becoming
so serious that readjustment Is likely to
follow more swiftly than IT would or
dinarily. The latest census gives the
average size Of farms in the states
named thus:
Colorado ...............3 1886 acres
Kansas ...................... 240 I acres
Minnesota ...................1 1907 acres
Nebraska ...................24 2461 acres
Missouri ....................1 1913 acres
New Mexico ................41 416.S acres
oklahoma .................... 25l.5 acres
Texas .A................. .425.5 acres
Iowa .................. 1912 acres
South Dakota ............. .3ti2.4 acres