Arizona republican., 1908-03-21

! Side by side with this problem of l the unemployed is the equally serious ! if less immediately pressing problem
 of who shall till the land-a problem which. while it waits for solution, | has within the past few years enhanc- ] ed the price of food products to a
 point so high as seriously to aggra-
 vate the hardships which. in such
 times as these, menace all but the
 comparatively well-to-dO. Yet, of these
 two problems, one is the key to the
 other. All that is needed is an effec-
 tive means of bringing together the
 wOuld-be employers and the unem- ployed.
 The state of Louisiana can furnish
 homes and employment for all the
 idle thousands in New York today"
 said MT. J. L. Knoepfler of New Or leans, secretary of the Louisiana State Board of Immigration a few days ago
 in commenting upon the subject: yet
 only 45 families have removed to our
 state from this city since the financial
 crisis of last october reduced thous- ands to poverty and distress.
 With us there is plenty of room on
 the land for all who will apply for il. 1 The state contains 27,00O,000 acres,
 and only about 6.000.000 are under | cultivation. All the equipment that
 the honest and deserving homeseeker
 needs to bring with him is the strength of his two arms. The land poor own
 CTS of the great plantations will fur
 nish the rest-all the land he can cul-
 tivate. house to live in. seed for the {. first crop. fire wood for the cutting.
 and horses or mules for the heavier
 work, all for a half of the crop For q little larger proportion, the owners will go further and furnish the necessary implements. Even the problem Of 1 transportation need not trouble the
 earnest hOmeseeker overmuch; for, in
 the case of the honest and deserving
 who have not the means, the state will extend the necessary aid.'
 Practically the same conditions Ob-
 tain in nearly every state of the south and southwest. Each state has Its inn migration bureau whose business IL is
 to furnish inform0 ion and safeguard the interests of immigrants from the
 interruptions and designing. Great ! development companies have been formed for the purpose of buying up huge tracts of railroad and other lands at prices unApproachable eX- cept for thousands of acres and upon such terms of payment as would be prohibitive to the individual Cut up 1 into small farms, these lands are of fered on the most favorable terms at prices ranging from s1O to $40 an acre 1 for good land, and every possible aid 1 is extended to deserving homeseekers. | Under these conditions the aver age immigrant of the more thrifty ag- ricultural class, after paying the eX- pense of transportation. buying such l furniture as he may need. and support | ing his family is able to save $200 or | $500 the first year. to apply to the purchase of his land or the necessary stock and tools.
 So great is the desire to promote ! immigration into the south and the southwest, that three days confer ence to consider the subject was held l in this city two years ago. which was attended by representatives of nearly every state railroad and steamship | line in that section or having connec- ton with 1t. and by many cities and | industrial enterprises as well.
 1 The cruX of the situation seems to be
 the question of transportation. The
 railroads and steamship lines have done all they can, or at least all that
 can be reasonably expected of them. | by reducing fares to the lowest possi-
 ble point; the agricultural department and immigration bureaus of the vari-
 ous states have exhausted their ap- i propriation again and again. and de-
 velopment companies have gone as far in aiding the worthy and deserving. Still [ neither of the two inter-dependent problems Is solved. New York and the 1 other large cities of tne country, New York especially. still carry their bur den of caring for and restraining the