Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1905-09-01
!, the sheet anchor Of the nation.
Can Depend on Farmer.

bler1, the sheet anchor of the nation. N
Can Depend on Farmer.
s Whenever the nation wants its sons to go
forth and hold up its hands, the man who
follows the pillow, the man who has his root
in the soil, is the man who can be depended
upon Take it in your own state of North
Dakota. What have you got except soil and
c,imatel Everything that is of value in the
world comes from four sources, the sea !,
and you have none of that, the farm, and
you have your share; the forest, you sihare
none of that; the mine, / might say you
have none of that, but the farm lis the
foundation of your prosperity, of your popsl-
lation, of all your schools, your churches,
every social organization, every commercial
organization, and everything that you have
or ever will have, must rest for its prosperity
and its progress upon the cultivation of the
soil S5& IS. 3. M s,
And I want to advise our farmer friends
and every man in North Dakota-for we all
depend upon the farmer-I want to advise
them to see that every man has a fair oppor-
tunity to do his work IN the most approved
and skillful manner. Nothing short Of the
best will give the results that will surely come
to You if you take advantage of all the oppor-
tunities You have. Now, in the valley there
are times when wet spring brings YOU ten
days or two weeks late in getting your crops
in As said, at an early date it was
matter of surprise that farms could be sue
cessfuly cultivated west of the hills. Today
there is no trouble with the country west of
4 the hills. They get their crop in earlier
than you do, their soil is not SO heavy, but
the land is rolling, the face of the country is
rolling, and they are ten or twelve days
earlier than you are. All this can be remedied,
Drainage ls Needed. &
You can get rid of every drop of the
water by drainage. And let me give YOU
an object lesson: If you will spend So or
even S. an acre-and SIS an acre would be
$4,000 on section, and you can't spend il
in draining tiff you will drain your land
thoroughly you will add s25 to $50, an acre
to the value of every acre of il. 1 remem-
Der when lands were selling at $40 or SIS an
acre-and it doesn't seem to be but a short
time ago. And do You think that every acre
OF 1t was worth $50. Today a few acres,
a few rare pieces may be sold at $50. I SAP
to you that land in the Red river valley is
better worth 500 acre than land that Is
selling readily in Illinois and Iowa at sl6;s
an acre, because you can raise everythia
that they raise, you can raise most OF the
things that they raise in greater pcrfcct;o,
than they can and you can market it from,
a dollar to dollar and half an acre less
because of transportation. Now there is no
reason IN the world why man should give
his land away if he will occupy it, 90 upon
1t, intelligentiy drain. it. On the Minnesota
side few years ago it was so wet they
couldn't occupy the land. We are always
interested In the progress of the country
through which our lines run, because /. *
fundamental principle upon which all OF
the business rests, that unless the farmers
are prosperous we must be poor, and if tuev
are prosperous there is not boy or girl IN
North Dakota that can go south or east to
see his grandma but what he has got to nav
us something, and he can't wear pair OF
shoes or hat, even a chip hat, unless we
get something out of it Now it is pure sell
hshness on our part to back him up, aui
we want to back him up. I never object to
hearing Others criticise how run railaav.
You have been partial to me in NON Da-
kota. i know it. / feel it. hope I will
deserve it, but at the same time while [ an,
glad to have you criticise the manner in which
l run a railroad / want the privilege of talk.
ing back to you little on how you Cultivate
the farm ! may sell out have about three
thousand partners owning the Great Northern
railroad--I might sell out or pass away to,
morrow Anybody who is tired of livlrg in
North Dakota can sell his farm if he can find
customer and he can go to a state shst suits
him better if he finds one, but the lani viii
remain and the railroad viii remain :livi they
viii prosper together or they Will he poor
together. They are partners in business and
you can't tear them asnnder, and any man
who tries to tear them asunder makes very
great mistake, whether it is from the rail.
road point or whether it is from the point
of the public. 1 saw as 1 came up today
field after field with the burrows piowed
straight across the line of drainage; every
furrow was turned over to the extent that
it would hold the water, turn It back and
keep it on the land How much better Il
would be to pillow those burrows in the direc-
tion of the drainage and lei the winter rua
freely 10 the river and let our neighbos
north of the boundary have it and take care
of il there. There IS a great deal that may
be said.
Prince on q Farm.
A good farm of 100 OF sse acres is 4 com.
Portable, happy home A man can be
Prince on such a farm. Now some people are
willing Il they get high price for the land
10 sell il ont. want to ask them to pause
a while and think IL they are not taking
the house from over their childfcn's heads,
When viii they have another home like III
When will they have another homo with sur.
rpandinss where they can go and dig orr
Of The soil good. full mice Hvings They
rob their children Of their heritage sbsss
they sen that home. Keep the boys on the 4