Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1905-09-13
BASELESS ALARMS.

*
E<fS 4I= We are fast reaching the point at
N$SSS EE$AN which, according to European
|I1I -HtSasa$ writer's Of the last century, Amer J
yIFNE&Y ican democratic iinstitHtions will
AkSAfH4 w explode and tho man on horseback
ERN4 will arrive. That is to say, the
public lands, or free lands as they
A%SN are sometimes called, are being
rapidly takes up, and there will soon be no reileI
for the congested economic coaditOns Of the crowd
ed centers Of population
In letter to Che national irrigation congress, Mr.
Hill calls attention to the fact that since 1893, when
S,453 895 acres OF public land was taken up, the
amount rising each year until in 1903 It amounted to
%. $50 928 acres Mr.. Hill declares that most OF
this public domain has been gobbed ap by ''lumDef
kings and cattle baroHs,u who are Aeprivlng bona
de settlers of the land to which they are enCltied-
He says:
..Fxcept in a few secluded spots where the i'm
tuence of the railroad companies as colonizers has
been exercised to secure actual cultivators Is SO
small as scarcely to be reckoned WITH Those who
90 upon government land in day for the purpose
)f making homes are handful"
Commenting on these facts in well written arW-
Gle, the New York Evening Mail says
"a handfnl upon %, $50, 92S acres! It is true
most dismaily true. There must be an end to this
Tt is as much fact now as 1t was IN Gne days OF
Ceasar and of Gracious ia Rome, and as lC was
when Count Rumord saved Bavaria from lts nordes
of sturdy beggars that the only salvation OF slum-
cursed nation is access to the land In one way OF
another, that must be had.
ssThe ring OF land grabbers must be thrOtted, OF
the nation will suffer for it. The lfrlgaMon WORKS,
with their chance for small settlers, are allevla-
tion Of the situation, but only an alleviatlon Ma
tiOnal assistance to irrigation is equivalent 20 say
inc III there ie any land left so arid and desOlate
that the lumber kings and cattle barons DO not want
it we will spend hundreds OF millions 60 make some
of it available for use by the people. But II We
heVe statesmen who are capable OF handling the suO
iect they will regain possession Tor the people o.
the vast domain that has been stolen"
It will be very commendable thing II capaOle
statesmen can devise ways and means OF regainlne
nOesession for the people OF the millions OF acres
which are now held in idleness by great syndlcatet
and land owners although it is difficult to imagine
how IL can be done where these lands have been p0r
chased in due form Of law from the government
But there is not the slightest danger that economic
conditions will become congested by reason OF al
overCrOwded population in this country ior severa
ceneraone to come. The state OF Texas alone c0ulC
comfortably accommodate all the present surplui
population OF the large cities OF the United StaCe
and then have plenty OF room for all the lmmlgra
zion that will land on our shores in the next NIT
wears Aud in calling this ''slum- cursed land.
ire esteemed Mail is probably mistaking New Yorl
far the United States. At any rate, the sum dwell
ers are not the kind Of citizens who take up puDll
lands Most Of them gravitate to tne Sums .:
force Of personal inclination, tastes and naDits wnlc
are totally repugnant to the idea OF the patient tol
and intelligent self reliance Of life on Iarm. IN
cure for the slums is the surgeons knile' not tn
siphOn.