Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-03-02

ing editorial:
The state legislature has been
asked for an appropriation to be ex-
pended un3er the direction of the
commissioner of agriculture in adj
svertising the state Without ques-
ton a liberal appropriation should
be made for this purpose. Commis-
sioner Gilbreath has shown good
judgment in his expenditures of this
class in the past, and he has been in
defatigable in making known the
good qualities of the state. While
his work has been performed with en-
thusiasm and energy it has also been
done with conservatism, the kind of
conservatism which conyinces. The
/ literature that has been sent out has
been of character which bore on its
face the stamp of credibility, and in
displays which have been made at
fairs and elsewhere the exhibits have
been such as could be duplicated in
/ definitely at home. The result has
been that the state has not been
placed in the ridiculous attitude of
making claims which could not be
sustained on Investigation There
has been no exaggeration, and there
fore nothing to explain or take back.
The department should be placed in
/ possession of funds sufficient to carry
/ on the work which has been so well
stated.
/ In this connection it might be well
to devote paragraph or two on one
1 or two features connected with the
advertisement of a state or district.
Some years ago people began to move
into northwestern Canada to find
homes. Naturally the movement in
i terfered to some degree with the
business of dealers in American
! lands, and some efforts were under
i taken to counterfeit it. One method
employed for time was the colIec-
i ton of the disastrous experiences of
people who had moved north and re-
turned disguised. The land was pic
tured as one of deadly billiards. in
winter and undrainable fields and
frosted grain in summer. Every
one has seen column after column
/ by the ream and circulated all over
! the land. IL it had any result that
result was not visible, for the move
ment kept on and still continues.
Why? Simply because the state
ments published bore on their face
/. the stamp of falsehood. Literally
many of them may have been a COR
rect recital of individual experien-
ces in particular localities and in in
diVidual cases but they were false in
that they purported to give por-3
trait of the normal experiences Of
settlers in that country People did
/ not believe them for the simple rea-
son that people even those in search
ARE not entirely fools and no mat
ter how skillfully lie may be told,
j the public has always dozen ways
of finding out the truth.
North Dakota has this winter
passed through some strenuous expe-
riences with impossible roads, fuel
i shortage, and lot @of other things.
Some of the facts have been pub
1 lished in the papers. Some of them
/ have not. But the facts which have
been published have. in their travels
l eastward, become twisted and dis
i torted, and eastern readers have been
RECALLED with stories Of snowdrifts
forty feet high, with all the trim
mings. Possibly some Of these wild
j yarns have been credited. Possibly
4 people who believe them have been
4 deferred from moving to North Da-
kota. II SO, all the better. We do
4 not want to make of the state ref
uge for the feeble minded of the ma
ton, and people who would accept
! such manifest exaggerations without
i Investigation should stay among
their friends, where the can be prop
Ierly cared for. n
On the other hand, our own people
will be making grievous mistake il
they undertake to counterfeit the In
i finence Of these exaggerations by 9TH.
I ers equally absurd. Our soil is as
4 good as any in the world Our sum
]. mer climate is such that abundant
4 crops can be produced, and these are
4 the rule. Our winters are, like win
tiers anywhere else in northern lati-
tudes. sometimes mild and open, and
4 sometimes blustery and severe. But
there has never been winter yet in
which. with a reasonable supply Of
fuel and other ordinary necessaries,
our people have not been able to EN-
joy life III more than comfort. The
& experiences Of the past winter have
been due to variety of causes.
There has been an absence OF fore.