Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-06-06

has come. But there is much we have
to learn yet about roads. The wise
men of the nation are beginning to pay
some attention to the subject, and it
is high time they did, for our laws re-
lating to the highways are very chao-
tic. In some places the expense of
building and maintaining public
thoroughfare is borne by farmers
grouped in districts. Some states have
made it possible for the work to be
done by money tax, instead of by days
work, as in the beginning. Some other
states are assuming part Of the ex-
pense in constructing the highways.
| None of these ways are satisfactory,
and surely the lack of uniformity is
highly undesirable. There is a grow
! ing feeling that our highways are
more than neighborhood lines of travel;
that they are national thoroughfares
and as such should be built and main
| tanned by the general government.
Those who hold this opinion point to
the millions on the back Of millions
which have been spent to improve the
rivers and harbors Of the country. If
the waterways of the United States are
charged upon the public treasury, why
not the great highways that run across
| Tie COuulIS, d highly lelWOIh Luz lllC
country to do it's business over? The
question is a fair one and will have to
be answered soon. Congress has al
| ready studied the problem little and
will think about it still further when
pressed to do it by public sentiment.
! Still another system of travel sweeps
past the farmers window. and this
! &c ha i,p1, hicrl, h
its breath of fire and its noise of thun-
der Following it the eye turns away
to the great Northwest Territory,
where lines are projected to the far
Pacific coast and northward as far as
Hudson's bay. What change the
building of these lines will work for
the farmers not only of Canada but of
the whole world! The farmers of the
United States have been feeling the
impulse of the drift toward the north
west for couple of years. But this
will only be drop in the bucket COM
pared to the exodus which will in all
likelihood take place when these new
lines Of railway have opened up the
great reaches of good farming lands
that lie in the direction traversed by
them. How will that influx of popula-
i
other grains? Will it bring the price
of those crops down? Will our own
vast grainlands in the west be aban-
doned? This question may be answered
in part by the figures sent out by. the
immigration bureau from day to day
| AS long as thousands upon thousands
are hurrying westward in search OF
homes, there is no need for us to wor-
| wv nh n ~
Of the United States.
Sometimes we have been afraid tina
the mighty influx of immigration int
this country would sweep our nation
away from it's moorings. Past tn,
. farmers window in an endless stream
. they go-men from the north of Eu
rope, men from the troubled homes o
Russia, men of dark faces from the no
countries of southern Europe. Wha
, will become of us if this tide keep
up? We ask the question and find n
answer. There can be none until tim
has worked out the problem But j
we keep close watch upon the characte
of the men who come, shutting GU
every one who does not come wit
honest purpose, we need not be dis
q turbed over the result We can TAX
!, care of every man and woman VIII
A really wants to make a home with III
q All thA rest ought to be sent back N,
;, what would be better-they should b
:. kept back on the other side of the Sc;
. This we are trying to do. We are sue
g ceeding more and more.
- The broomcorn harvest of centr
\ Illinois last year produced material fl
- about 1s,000,0O0 brooms. Oklahon
turned out about 25,Oo0,Ooo of coar.
Is err quality and Kansas about 100000
;, The latter state raises nearly all II
n broomcorn used in whisk brooms.