East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-09-04

was a vague grasp upon this truth
when the federal homestead law en-
acted Its faults consisted in fixing
the larm limit too large and in fall
ure to hedge 1t with restrictions as to
alienation and individual or corpor-
ate holdings.
In the stress of commercial activity
the rapid and astounding growth of
transportation lines, the building Of
great factories-which has character
lied this era of stool-there has been
an unnatural and unsymmetrical de-
yelopment in both the old world and
the new. Favoritism in rates, the
long haul and the terminal point
chimera have tended to concentrate
men, money and amchinery into few
great cities where vice triumphs and
men decay, where landlordism and
enormous private wealth wax and in
dependence wanes.
The Drift to the Cities.
This abnormal condition in the
business world. coupled with an as
tigmatic land policy and lax enforce
ment of law likewise ushered in an
era of bonanza farming and a system
of feuydal ranges and imperial tim
Der holdings which, long continued,
can be but a splendid curse and
presage of revolution. The farming
communities of the east, once flour
ishing, have deteriorated because of
the drift of the younger generations ,
to the cities, while those of the west
are closed to men of moderate means
because OF the expanse of territory |
held by vast corporate and private in
terests to await the unearned incre-
ment.
Relief In Irrigation.
The old methods Of relief are gone.
Westward no longer can empire trend,
for the ultimate ocean has now been
reached; northward and southwark
unrest will drive mankind for sea-
son to find new lands and found new
civilizations, but discovery and inven-
ton are filling the earth with untried
conditions summoning the best in
man to meet.
The successes of surgery and medi
cine, the cessation of disastrous and
long continued wars, the intelligent
avoidance of famine and pestilence,
all mean rapid increase of the
worlds population, and new search
for the solution of this problem which
has colored and moulded civilization
of every age and cline, and the only
solution now visible is in the irriga
ton movement which is at once the
protagonist of the home and the an
tagonist OF monopoly, for its history
has demonstrated that under its sway
! ten acres of soil-and every citizen
ought to be entitled to that share OF
the earth's surface-yields abundant
| income for the support of a family,
with n surplus for declining years,
while the cultivation of many acres
| by n single owner is neither profita-
| BILE nor attractive.
Irrigation for the East.
In a generation the notion that ir-
| rigation has place only in the arid
| country will pass away, and in sec
| tions of normal rainfall II will be
| utilized in periods Of drought to dou-
| BILE and treble crop production. That
this is possible has been demonstrated
abundantly by the market gardeners
in proximity to the great cities of the
east. and its truth under compre-
! ltllSlNt campaign VI tuuNdNl'i VIII
change the system of agriculture east
ward to the Atlantic coast, where the
beneficent reclamation act OF the fed
eral government will be acclaimed
as the restoration act, for we'll may 1t
he so extended as to include all the
state. md thus serve to re-populate
abandoned farms and wipe away the
want and suffering of crowded cities,
for the battle cry of the social future
will be, Back to the farm" The
farm unit must be limited by legisla,
tion as experience may direct, and the
use Of water must be hedged by such
laws as will prevent a like landlord
ism and bonanza holding.
If this shall not be the remedy for
the social ills which compass the re-
public none yet have been wise
enough to discover another. Social
ism bears not the solution. Indivd-
ualism has failed. However, some
thing Of both may ultimately be need
ed to accomplish the destiny of the
nation.
The work Of scientists ana students
Is daily enlarging the variety and i'm
proving the quality of food supply,
while physiological research is dem
onstrating the application thereof to
the requirements of health. The eN-
periments of agriculture are disclos'
ing the character and capacity OF
soils, their proper cultivation and their
adaptability to special productions.
The extension of trolley lines, electric
lights and telephones, with cheapen-
ing machinery. are making rural life
attractive and the restoration of farm
prestige in social and industrial life
seems possible. Schools of agricul-
ture and forestry are sending out
young men and women rich In ideas
which will revolutionize methods OF
labor and habits of life while trans
forming with beauty the face of ma
ture.
A Prophecy.
The dawn of the morning of the
reaction against the abuses OF the
past is appearing. The season of CEN
tralization is approaching its end. The
transportation lines will justly be
compelled to accord equitable rates to
interior points and the country village
will be rejuvenated. Small farms will
assure that intimate and free inter-
course which sociological laws demand
and the nation will rest again upon
the normal foundations of its earlier
history.
Prosperity will be general, wealth
fairly distributed, homes established
, and that reverence for law which IL
tgtn x,,ilI 1Nn