The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-11-05
T0O MANY ROCKS
 AND SWAMPS Why Should New England Remain in Unim-
 proved State. WORK FOR CONGRESS Paterna1ism That Would Be Appreciated Around
 Here.
WORK FOR CONGRESS

Where are the enterprising promoters of New England Reckless Farm As- soclatfon? Surely an incentive may be
 shown for such an organization in the lofty purpose to secure a government
 appropriation for removing the rocks,
 the considerable presence of which throughout the otherwise fertile acres in this section seriously interferes
 with agricultural operations-so seri-
 ously that the farms are often aban-
 doned to be resolved into vain and profftless millionaire residential estates.
 No one would pretend that the rocks should not be removed No one would
 assert that the individual farmer and his hired man are able, without vast labor and expense, to remove them and keep them removed for it is 6 familiar
 phenomenon that new crop of rocks
 often grows up to replace the bould- CTS that have been harvested and put into stone walls or disposed of to the roadmakers.
 There is no question that New Eng
 land agriculture suffers and has long
 suffered from too many rocks. The is- l sue the rocks set up Is of vast con-
 cern to the prosperity of this section,
 and so it may be submitted to the
 whole country. Why should not a
 benevolent government assist the farm CT, or, indeed, take over the whole bur den of the rock proposition and re-
 claim hundreds of thousands of now
 rocky acres to beautiful and profitable
 cultivation? The average individual
 farmer is poor, and his rocks often pre-
 sent an insurmountable problem to him !, The government at Washington is
 rich and there is no kind of problem
 that can dismay it's abounding au-
 thority. An appropriation to remove
 the rocks and to dig up new rocks as
 fast as they come to the surface is
 seemingly justified in that theory ot
 government which contemplates that
 the concerns of any section of this
 broad land are a national concern.
 Such a purpose as this, of reclaim
 ing the fertile lands now given over to rocks, lacks something of the gran. : deur of certain splendid enterprises ir
 which the government is now engag cd CT is threatened with being ergag q in; but that should not condemn i
 wlttou. hearing. That the purpos'
 is tenable may be discreetly urged, if may also be maintained that the gov ernment should improve the farm lands of the. Mississippi valley b!
 building walls along the river bank ? to keep the land and crops from be ], ing walshed into the river; thereby, a the President expressed it in his vicks burg speech, making of these alluvis bottoms the richest agricultural Ian, on the face of the globe" New Eng land will wager that the alluvial bot toms under such fortunate circum stances will pan out no more potatoe! or larger, to the hill than her ow humble acres, if also the governmen will but remove the rocks.
 Then there are the swamp lands tn plight of whose owners is soon to b pleaded by a national swamp drainag association, in convention assembled preliminary to demand upon congres 1 fl many millions to drain the swamp ! There are estimated to be 77,000,0 1 acres of swampy land in the countr 1 and it can easily be figured in dollai 1 and cents how profitable it would 1 I if the water was taken away. Ninet! ! five per cent. of this swamp country I held in private ownership, as are u { farms of New England and of the Mi | sissippi valley. It will cost a mint ] J money to drain the swamps, but the