Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1909-01-02

would fail even with $4,000. hut that
$4,000 is required to be safe. The ag-
rlcultural experiment station sent II
circulars. asking dry farmers as to the
amount of land required ia make a
living, and the average given was 5oo
acres.
"Ovor most of the territory west OF
the .nincty-niuth meridian there mas
been so per cent of rainfall above th'
normal FOR the last three years. The
soil Is rich. most of it ut least. some
OF il is very easily titled; some of 1t is
of adobe formation. which Is a hard
soil 10 manac and should never be
ulowed at all. The whole country
from the national boundary to ana m
GLIDING the Panhandle Of Texas, mas
been exploited for the last three or
four wears by companies more or less
closely affiliated With the railroads.
who have purchased their land grants
and have proclaimed far and vie she
doctrine that ram lilo the ploW,
that the east is moving west. ana they
are selling these lands pleading that a
homestead can be secured alongside
at from So to $50 an acre. They Sc
chr. about a third payment down,
which is about the original cost of the
land. and take mortgages runnlng at
< ner cent interest for the bal,
IF normal rainfall should return.
"a calamity would strike this whole
nrea from the ninety-ninth meridian
10 the one hundred and third merld-
ian The Who'll length Of the country.
mat would be greater ts,an me calanl-
itv that struck western Kansas ana
Nebraska in the SOS. In ioet, ! ne
lieve that the whole agricultural pop
InIatfon. outside OF the irrigation DIS
ltrfcts. would be driven back two nun
drod miles. bankrupt ana herelcss.
Tho mortgages will be f~orcclosed on
these lands. and they Will be con
vertcd into great r9ncnes and the
grasses allowed to reseed themselves
which they viii do in the course or
probably ton. fifteen or twenty years
II believe that dry farming on these
soils. other than the adobe ana red
clay sections. could be made profit
ahIo hv men of large means n of
the highest skill, by deep ploWlng' SO
to speak. by putting a cistern under
their farms. and by subsoiling To pul
q I'D on it. thus by continuous cultlNa-
ton growing a rop of winter Wheat
every other year. But to send poor
la%nd-hungry people out onto lnvst
lands as homestoodors n to sell tho
adjoining railroad lands at prices
above mentioned is cruelty heartless
Men who have made it a study iof
fen 70 twenty years know u folly OF
undertaking 70 farm where nature
never intended anythir- but the steer
or tho COW to exist. IN thetr Judg-
mcnt. the homestead laws shoutd p'
SO amended as to permit the FARMERS
to homestead a section a. lulei3iee
in the Ktnkaid law In this way they
.icoula dry farm eighty acres or :
quarter. leaving the rest in the grass
to supDort a steer. and by dong Sc
they could make a living.
The commission on country life, o
which Professor Bailey, of corner
university. is chairman, Henry Wal
| lace. of iowa; Kenyon L. Eutleflleid
p president of Maesachu sctts C"lleec Q
= Agriculture. Walter II. Page, OF N"rtl
t Carolina. and other well-knoWn gen
f temen are members, rave inVestigat
G ed this subject thoroughly durin.
their recent journey through the Wcsl
1 and that portion of their report ne
i ferr,np to it win he especially impor
taut. as a warming to the Vcnturcsonl
pioneers Who arc settling UP tl'i
= Larcs ana Penates on the sklfWlls
n limo of tho arabic land in the west
< Whatever the commission may repoI
Will be received With universal altrfl
( ,tion. because their ability, wisdom am
dfsintprcstcdncss are admitted
t There is naturally mnch dtssAtislae
q tion because the commission has nc
! visited certain sections hat have bee
v omitted i'm It's travels, but it's time
Il iro limited and the president is SO ans
y ious to secure a report before he &c
= tiros from the White House. that the
@ could not 20 any farther ana coul
It moi have worked harder in the TINA
allotted them | have heard conSio
= erahlc regret expressed from repre
-entativcs of the timber states Mlch