The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1908-12-01
ANOTHER PLAN SUGGESTED.

ANOTHER PLAN SUGGESTED.
The State of Washington has what
is known as the Irreducible School
Fund. 1t is the result of law pushed
through by the late Governor Rogers,
and provides that the principal re-
ceived from the sale of school lands
shall never be lessened. This fund has
been and is constantly increasing. 1t
is invested in bonds of various kinds
at as low a rate as three per cent.
AS was to have been expected, there
has been some little objection to a
practical application of the "Varnum
Idea" of clearing logged-off lands in
our state. 1t is difficult to see wherein
there is ground to oppose the use of this
school fund in fitting the wilderness for
the pillow. The plan might be worked
out somewhat as follows: When Mr..
Jones, the farmer, decides to clear 10
acres, he will contract with some re-
| liable firm to have it cleared at a
certain price If the state regards the
cleared land as worth the cost of clear
| ing, it will then agree to pay for it
as soon as done. AS security the state
should take clear deed from the own
er and give a contract to reconvey,
whenever the principal and, say, per
cent or 5 per cent, was paid In or
der to enable the farmer to easily pay
the cost of clearing from the products
of the soil, it might be well to extend
the time of payment through term
of ten or twenty years on deferred pay
ments. On the twenty-year plan he
would pay, in addition to taxes $50,
plus the interest due on each $1,000
of Indebtedness.
This plan neednot interfere with the
sale of land, since the owner would
merely assign his contract from the
state to reconvey where the cost Of
clearing is paid.
There is another marked advantage
| to this plan in purely financial sense:
1t would rapidly remove the fear now
being felt in some quarters that this
fund may become dominating power
| in the state to be used by political
machine for purposes other than the
public veal.
If the fund is used for clearing small
| tracts and making possible the estab-
| lishment of a system of intensive Gull
| tivation by small farmers, it at once
creates a demand for more and bet
ter schoolhouses, teachers, furniture,
| etc. This will not prevent the steady
growth of the fund; but we may safely
trust an intelligent citizenship to cur
tail the power of any gang of grafters
| to misuse it.
| But it must be remembered that the
success of this or any other plan de-
pends, in the last analysis, on the
intelligent activity of the people them
selves. If the efforts of this paper
to arouse public interest in the logged.
off land problem meets your approval,
get out and talk the various proposed
solutions with your neighbors. Tell
them of our fight and ask them to
help.
II the duty shall be removed from
lumber and we can believe the asser-
tons of the big lumber interests, there
will soon. be plenty of labor going to
waste in the Northwest. The plans
heretofore sketched in these pages af-
ford a ready means to employ it all at
good wages and with immediate adj
vantage to every farmer, workman and
business man. The work stands ready
in limitless quantities. The laborers
are comparatively few. They ought all
to be employed steadily at good wages.
They will be, if we are wise.
The annual meeting of the Logged
Off Land Association reelected it's
corps of officers for the ensuing year.
1t also selected committee on public
ity-Joel Shoemaker, George E. Boos
and F. Edgar Barth. To prepare a
book. contributions of $50 each were
subscribed by ]. ]. Donovan, c. o. FL
wood and G. d. Hillman, to which ]
w. Brown pledged an additional sum-
Mr.. Hillman offered a ten-acre tract
for experimental purposes in Sno-
hOmiSh County Tho rovt ,ooot;n y,