The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1909-11-19
open LANDS
TO The PEOPLE
Louis w. Hill Talks of benefits
to be secured in the
West
AAAY lIllI0Hs OF ACRES OF VACANT LANDS
Railway President Thinks Taft's trio
Will Mean Much of Interest
to the People.

Railway President Thinks Taft's trlp
Will Mean Much of Interest
/ to the People.
In dispatch from New York to
the. Denver News-Times a special
staff representative Of the paper gives
at length an interview with Presi-
dent Louis w. Hill of the Great Nor
thern railway, who was in New York
last week:
Hill had much to say for the west
and had no hesitation In criticising
the governments present methods in
disposing of the public lands and res
eryations. He thinks President Taft's
recent tour Of the country will bring
boundless good returns and especially
declared that If there was freight
car shortage in some parts of the
country, there is none on the lines Of
the Great Northern.
VALUABLE VACANT LANDS.
/
"We have millions and millions of
acres OF valuable government lands
and Indian reservations in the West, {"
declared Hill enthusiastically, all un-
developed and unoccupied, with mil
lions Of people anxious to develop
them If the government will Just open
up, the land and give them the oppor-
tunity. There is too much red tape
now necessary to enable a hustling
man to procure one of those tracts,
and when a reservation is opened the
undeserving get the allottments.
sit Is not generally known that
great tracts of land in the western
part Of the United States remain un-
surveyed. In Montana alone 16 per
cent, outside Of the forest reservation,
is unsurveyed and 1 think the same
is true even on larger scale in many
OF the other western states.
"Why doesn't the government open
these sections and provide for the in.
dustrious women and men means OF
securing a home for themselves, in
stead Of letting the real estate specu-
lltor grab it up and sell to those who
dol not intend to develop 1t.
SETTLERS ARE NEEDED.
"We want and need men to settle
on these great tracts of land who are
not afraid to work, and get out of the
soil what is waiting for the right man
to make his own.
"The western country is so big, 50
fertile, so beautiful, so attractive,
that to me it seems absurdly foolish
for people to huddle together in box
like rooms in the eastern cities, when
for less physical effort and far less
outlay of money they can go to any Of
these western sections and run a farm
and raise all they need, save money
and have a home all their own. It
would not be living from hand to
mouth, with nowhere to go.
Agriculture alone can support us
without the help Of others, in certain
plenty and genuine dignity. Better
farming must be done, land must be
titled so as to make two blades of
grass grow where now only one thrives.
This is..a phase Of the farming ques.
tion which every tiller Of the soil
must recognize and adopt.
SIN foreign countries all these ideas
are in practical operation, and when
will we ever be able to meet the com.
petition of England, Germany and
France unless we get to work now,
say. Not day can be lost. We are
growing rapidly in numbers, but as
producers Of breadstuffs we are falling
short.
EARN life of the future will be full
OF advantages not enjoyed in the past
4 The isolation of the past, so object
ionable to the women folks, is fast
disappearing because OF multiplied
tion Of small farms, better titled
which-has brought good roads, auto
mobiles, schools, near neighbors
churches, libraries, improved mai
facilities and up-to-date social enyi
ronments.
4 'sThe farm must be considered frs
in shaping all our policies because i
is the keystone Of the national arch O
success. A prosperous agriculture
interest is to nation what goo,
: digestion is to a man. The farm /
surely the basis of all industry.
WEST IS THE PLACE.
"What do l think Of Presfden
Taft's trip and the good it will do
Well, l know he made good AM
} great impression wherever he went
because the people knew he came t
learn: 1t was wise man that con
ceiyed the idea for this sort Of a tou,
He wanted nothing at secondhand
He went to see things for himself an
he saw them. It was not a junke,
but a real tour Of investigation an
study Of the people in all parts Of ii,
i United States.
ut was study, study, all the da
: and night, and nobody worked quit
: as hard as President Taft himsel
ibid. He looked at the east, he sui