Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1908-11-11

population of our state has been
steadily declining. What have In
this world consists. chiefly of tract
! of twenty-five hundred acres of agfi-
cultural land located in Grundy coun-
ty, this state. For forty years this
land has occupied much of my. atten-
ton. For many years tried to cui-
tivate some of it with hired help. Dur
ing that time much Of my; most effi.
cient help was foreign born. The time
came, when, by reason of the scarS-
ty OF competent help could not az
ford to cultivate my own land. a
then divided the tract into teh]
different farms. and for many years
have rented these to tenants. The
situation on these farms at present
does not vary largely from what It
has been for many years There are
now occupied by ten different and
distinct families. OF these, six ar{
foreign born Germans, one of GermaH
descent but born in this country, one
l W. A1A5hol duu OllG H. Il
On these farms there are now enf
ployed, by the season six farm hand{
and one hired girl OF the men, fIya
are foreign born Germans and one
is an American. The girl is a velyy
recent German immigrant To show
something of the situation, soafar as
female help, on the farms is concerne,
let me refer to her experience. since
she reached here as it was relatea
to me. short time since, farmer
living eighteen miles from where the
girl is now employed came to see her
and offered her four dollars week
to go to his home and work for him,
This she declined, because she could
neither speak nor understand his Ian:
guage. A few days later, another,
from ten miles away in different di.
rection, sought her services and Of
Tered her four and half dollars oil
week to go with him. This she de-.
clined for the same reason, and ac-l
cepted service in the family of a!
German farmer at three dollars al
week for the winter and four the re-,
mainder of the season.
1t was my privilege to be present
at the annual picnic of the Iowa So4
ciety in Los Angeles. California, last
winter At that gathering more than
fifteen thousand people from Iowa
registered their names with the coun.
ty from which they came. "A few of,
them. like myself. were tourists who
came back to Iowa in the spring, but
the great bulk of the immense throng
Of sturdy men, women and children
had left Iowa for permanent resi-,
dence there. And this was q single
point in state nearly one thh6nsand
lpifes in length sprfnkledF all over
| with Iowa people who had left our
state never to return to live.
few weeks since, had occasion
to visit sparcely settled district in
western Canada. In the year that
had passed since my last previous
visit, four families from Iowa had
a:oved to that neighborhood, three of
them to become permanent settlers,
and fourth to improve wild land
and rent it and return to this state
Each one of the three permanent set.-
lers was German farmer, with his
wife and children.
Il In INV own opd ~
cities there are four different land
companies, whose business it is to
, purchase large tracts of cheap agri-
cultured lands in Canada and western
states of our own, and then solicit
homeseekers from Iowa and specu-
lators to go with them and settle on
: these cheap lands or buy the same
, and hold them for sale at a higher
!, price. In this business each company
makes semi-annual trips with private
cars filled with Iowa farmers and
Iowa investors in search of homes or
a place to invest their money, and
through this source q constant stream
of Iowa people and Iowa capital is
pouring over the borders of our state
ineyer to return to it again. Is it pos
sible for any thoughtful man, loyal
= to the best interests of our state, to
contemplate the situation as it is
4 without feeling that something is nee
Iessary to stem the fearful tide that
q is depicting her population, scattering
her wealth to the four corners of the
world?
I'll And to accomplish this, what i.
!, needed most? Is this hard prob
y lem to solve? If anyone is in doub
. let him go to her naked fields
!, stripped of the bone and and brawl
), that is necessary to make them bios
10 som like the rose, and fill her gran
= aries with food for a hungry world.
"a 1t is men we need. Men, who's
hands are hard with toll. Men an,
- women who will go to the countr
and stay on the farm.
Where are we to find them? Sto
and think. Is it American boys o
American girls who Will do this! w
know better
There is one source, and one alone
as from which manual laborers in tn
aIhouse and out of it must come to us
II they come at all, and that is TIL
IT. overcrowded districts of the OF
he World. 1t is there we must find tn
er muscle that works our mines, build
rt- and repairs our railroads and drive
nd the plows to till our soil.
In Take away what we now have
q" this and Iowa would become desc
we lin year; her mines would clos
her railroads dwindle to decay, al
he her farms be overgrown with wee'
ich instead of grain.
lis What. then, does prudence sugge