Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-05-10
WISCONSIN A GREAT STATE
By Edgar 7. WheeloCk, Secretary
Wisconsin immigration and
Development Association.

UcVelOpment ASSOCIATION.
The conditions that led to the or
ganization, last September. of the
Wisconsin immigration and Develop
ment association were peculiar. Wis
conSin is prosperous state. It's de-
yelOpment along industrial lines has
been uniform and well balanced, the
growth of manufacturing cities and
villages keeping pace with the in
crease in production Of foodStuffs by
the farmers OF the state. No COM
plant has been made, dor could such
a complaint be based on sound argu-
ment, that Wisconsin has not enjoyed
her full share of such prosperity as the
fat years since 1897 have brought to
the country at large.
And yet, in spite of the success
that has attended industrial enter
prises, agricultural as we'll as manu-
featuring, it become known that
thousands of Wisconsin citizens were
seeking homes in other states. The
Canadian northwest territory, the
DakotaS aud the Pacific coast states,
the southwest, south, southeast, and
even the eastern states were drawing
from Wisconsin some Of the best OF
her citizens, men who are looking for
opportunities to begin life anew under
new conditions and on land of their
own, hoping thereby to better their
condition.
The migration of Wisconsin citizens
to other states can only be explained
in two ways: They do not know what
openings are afforded by their own
state, or they are prejudiced against
timber or stump lands, believing that
the returns for their labor on such
land will not prove sufficiently re-
nunerative. In either case, little
investigation on their part would be
all that is required to furnish informa-
tion calculated to remove their doubts.
AS matter Of fact, Wisconsin in
duStrieS are in prosperous condition
and there are abundant opportunities
for development. The resources of
the state have barely been opened;
there has been scratching of the
surface, a little digging here and
there, but the wealth stored in the
soil and in the bowels of the earth has
not even been uncovered, nor will it
be for many generations.
In the first place, but 33 per cent
Of the gross acreage of Wisconsin has
been cultivated. The area of the
state, exclusive Of water surface, is
estimated at 50, $40 square miles, or
| 81, $40, 900 acres. According to the
last federal census returns there were
under cultivation-''improved farm
land"-11, 246,972 acres, and unim-
proved farm lands, S,615, 755. This
accounts for the lands embraced in
all the farms of the state, inclusive
of the cultivated and the unimproved
| fro fc
! IA, 985, 273 acres of as good land as the
sun shines on that is today awaiting
the settler. And yet, Wisconsin citi-
zens are seeking homes in far western
states, on the plains of Western Can
| ada and in states where even the i'm
proved lands are to be had at ridi-
culously cheap price.
| 1t is true that the improved farms
in this state are valued at high figures,
| but that merely goes to indicate that
| farming in Wisconsin has been profit
| able in the past and may be expected
| to yield profit in the future also.
| Wisconsin farmers have enjoyed the
| advantages of home market for
| nearly everything they can raise; they
have had the foresight to engage in
diversified agriculture; they have de-
veloped the dairy and tobacco in
duStrieS; they are now engaged in
| laying the foundation for the sugar
beet industry. But 1877 per cent of all
the farms in Wisconsin in 1899 derived
| their principal income from grain and
hay, and yet those products may be
and are profitably cultivated in this
state. In North Dakota 1874 per cent
and in South Dakota 68.3 per cent of
the farms derived their principal in
come from those two products in the
same year. Yet the official govern
ment reports for the year 1905 show
| that the gross earning of Wisconsin
| hay lands per acre amounted to S14.05;
| the earnings of that same crop per
acre in North DAKOTA were S671, and
in South Dakota, S6.43.
But the home market has as much
to do with the prosperity of the Wis
conSin farmer as the diversity of crops.
OF the Wisconsin farms 81 per cent
| derived their principal income from
| vegetables, 34.8 per cent from live
stock. and 24.5 per cent from miscel-
laEeouS crops. The farmer of the
Canadian plains can not devote his
attention to miscellaneous crops. He
would have no market for products
that cannot be shipped to the manu-
featuring centers. If he would engage
in live stock raising he must prepare
to shelter his stock during the long,
hard winters of that section, and
lumber is luxury on the plains in
these days of high prices and scanty
| supplies. Grain is and must continue
to be the principal source of income
of the northwestern prairie farmer.
The Wisconsin farmers have the
manufacturing cities and villages
within the state as a market for the
many miscellaneous products of their
| far ms and just across the border there
is the metropolis of the middle west,
| the second city on the continent.
| Chicago, with it's 2, 100000 inhabitants.
Milwaukee. Madison, Oshkosh, Eau
| Claire, Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan,
| Manitowoc, Green Bay, Appleton,
| Fond du Lac, Stevens Point. Wausau,
Ashland, Superior, Chippewa, and
many other places Of importance to
the territory from which they draw
their supplies, all contribute to the
prosperity of the Wisconsin farmer.
This being the case, it is not clear
why Wisconsin citizens should leave
their state and seek homes in less
| favored commonwealth. Yet they
are doing that very thing. They are
permitting themselves to be lured to
regions where land is cheap and the
products of the soil cheaper. They
| ignore the fact that there is chea p
wild land in northern Wisconsin, and
they make this mistake because the
information concerning Wisconsin