The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1907-10-11


Farming in the West-Thinks the
United States Owes Idaho a Big
Sum For School Lands.
Congressman French to-day deliv-
cred strong address on the occasion
of the annual fair of the Twin Falls
country at the city of Twin Falls.
He touched upon many questions Of
much interest to the irrigated dis
tricts of Idaho, such as dry farming,
etc. and showed his Familiarity with
their Importance to the state. The
subjects of his address, however, that
elicted the most enthusiasm we're his
references to the relation between the
forest reserves of Idaho and the pub
lie schools, and the question of Chin
ese and Japanese immigration into
the United States. He advanced the
proposition that the United States
should pay the state of Idaho ten
dollars per acre for the lands en-
braced within the forest reserves be-
loning to the public school system of
the state, The interest on this
amount, he declared, would net an
amount sufficient to literally MAIN
tain the public schools of the whole
state. He said that he intended to
bring this matter before congress
this winter. This is new question
in Idaho, and its disposition will be
watched with much interest. As to
his remarks on the Japanese ques-
ton, the recent Disturbances at Van
couver lend particular interest at
this time. Mr.. French spoke very for
cibly upon this subject. and as he is
a member of the Committee on I'm
migration and Naturalization of the
House of representatives, before
which this question is liable to come,
his remarks have all the more weight.
The following are extracts from his
speech:
He began as follows:
II remeber few years ago of be-
ing one Of several members OF con-
gressional party who were guests of
Hon. w. II. Scott, the able editor of
the Oregonian. 1t was In Washinton
and Mr.. Scott was urging federal aid
for the Lewis and Clark Exposition.
an exposition that did SO much to ad-
vrtise the splendid possibilities of the
At the close of the dinner
Mr.. Scott was pressed to tell some of
the "reminiscences Of early days. AS
you know, he came to the Northwest
more than fifty years ago. He was a
youth then, almost a man. He came
by the way of the old emigrant wag-
on and probably passed within few
miles of where the audience is as
sembled. He told of the sacrifices
and trials of the pioneer. He told Of
the heart burnings and the struggles.
In the neighboring state of Wyoming,
while on the journey, his mother, a
noble woman, fell Ill and passed
away, and there beneath the stars
he said, in the center of that vast
plain, we buried her. No one knows
her resting place. That the savage
might not find and descrate her grave
we made the surface that of the COM
mon plain, and neither the devotion
husband nor the love of child could
find 1t more | was wonderfully i'm
pressed by those words, and probably
more because my early boyhood was
spent In Idaho. | learned then some
thing of the work of the pioneer, and
since that time my soul has gone out
in admiration of those noble men and
women, who have braved the hard
ships and the dangers, the toll and
the discouragements In the building
of the West. Congratulate you all to-
day upon the fruits that thus early
crown your labors upon the vast ex-
panse of land redeemed from barren
waste"
Dry Farming.
Congressman French spoke on the
great work that has been done and is
being done in the building of the west
by means of irrigation. "Yet there Is
a limit to this great work." said Mr..
French, that limit must be reached
when the water supply shall have
been exhausted and when land that
comes below the water line shall have
been reclaimed. We must reclaim the
west In another way. We must devel-
grains, fruits and grasses that will
grow upon the uplands and mature
with the minimum amount Of water.
Asia possesses vast population, and
of acres of her surface re-
ceive annually In rainfall only about
the same amount of water that Is re-