Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-06-18

During the past five years s5l6,501
nave been collected for timber tres
: passes upon the public land, and
other judgments have been collected
on claims compromised, yielding
, s510,6S1.
During the last FIVE years 1872 fraud
ulent land entries have been cancel
, led, restoring to the public domain L.
. 259,S40 acres. From July l, 1902 to
May l, 1908, deeds for 100 acres each
have been granted to 275,333 home
stead settlers on the public domain,
covering 44,053,2So acres.
Since July /, 1906, I'll DAT original
homestead and desert-land entries
have been made, embracing 2S,371, 400
acres, carrying out the ayowed policy
of the president to prevent the monop-
oily of our public lands and place a
family on every 100 acres. 1t is esti-
mated by conservative engineers that
the reclamation act will bring into cul-
tiVation and occupancy quarter mil
lion acres of land now desert and I'M
llnhabitable, to be fashioned into farms
for our people; and this vast area will
be brought into cultivation without. en-
falling the loss of a single dollar to the
national treasury, as the land reclaim
ed is assessed and the owner must re-
turn to the treasury the cost of re-
clamation.
Under this act the government has
constructed 1881 miles Of canals, Sc
tunnels, and Gil miles of wagon roads
into heretofore inaccessible regions,
the expenditures in this work aggre-
eating nearly $1,0O0,0OO per month.
AS a result of the operations of the
Reclamation service eight new towns
have been established, 100 miles uf
branch railroads have been construct
ed, and $4,000 people have already
| taken up their residence in the desert.
The work OF the pension bureau has
been brought up to date. The labor
has increased, but the expense of adj
ministration during the last four years
has decreased nearly 100000 The
force has been reduced from 1000 to
l,4OO and yet the number of certif-
Gates issued during the last twelve
months has been greater than any
previous twelve months since the bu-
reau was established. nearly 100000
having been issued during the past
year.
The act Of June 27, 1890, was the
first disability law in the history of the
world granting a pension to soldiers
and sailors because of their need of
help, without requiring proof of dis
ability incurred in service in the line
of duty, and the act of February 6,
1907, granting pensions to all soldiers
and sailors who served in the civil
war and in the Mexican war, are
measures Of justice and generosity I'M
exampled in the annals of a grateful
people. The total number of pension.
ers on the rolls is now slightly in ex-
cess of $4,000 and the average
amount paid out in pensions in a
month Is nearly $13,006000, and in
1907, $13S.155,4l2 were paid to pen
sioners
April I, 1908 3e,oa7 Rural Routes,
During the past four years the post.
ONCE department has continued It;
beneficent work in the interest of ali
the people, until on the LIST Of April.
1908, tree rural delivery was In opera
ton on 39,037 routes from 5000 post
offices; complete rural service has
been established in 1893 counties, say
ing S9,500,000 in the discontinuance Of
postoft1ces, and in every way carry
ing the blessings of the free delivery
system to our rural population and
thus promoting the happiness and con.
tentment of the people.
1t is to be regretted that a measure
to provide for the carrying of our mails
| to the Orient and the South American
countries in American ship should
have failed, but its passage in the near
future is confidently expected. The
] confession n 10
return from the South American
countries that During the past sum
mer | entered all the great ports OF
the southern continent and saw only
one ship besides the cruiser that car,
r1ed me flying the American flag"
Further saying: "The best way to
travel between the United States and
South America is to go by way of
Europe, corssing the Atlantic twice.
In the year ending June 80, 1905,
there entered the port of Rio de
Janelro steamers and sailing vessels,
l2O flying the flag of Austria Hungary,
l42 of Norway, 165 of Italy, 264 of
Argentina, S49 Of France, 657 of Ger
many, 1,7S5 of Great Britain, and only
two steamers and seven sailing yes
sells from the United States, two of
WHICH, we're III QlSCreSS. NOT one Amerl-
can steamship runs to South Ameri-
can port beyond the Caribbean
Must Re-estabIish Merchant Marine.
Secretary Root concludes "This
woeful deficiency in the means to car
ry on and enlarge our South American
trade is but part of the general de.
cline and feebleness of the American
merchant marine, which has reduced
us from carrying over 80 per cent OF
our export trade in our own ships to
the carriage of 9 per cent of that trade
and dependence upon foreign ship
owners for the carriage of 81 per
cent"
This humiliating condition should
stimulate the American people to re-
newed and determined effort to re-
establish merchant marine, until we
are able to carry American mails and
! American merchandise under the
| American flag to every port OF trade.
The work of reorganizing and pro-
noting the efficiency of the army has
gone steadily forward until we have