Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-09-30

himself, and for his children, but for
his children's children, and many
who may come after them. YOU Of
this rapidly changing western citi-
zenship, where whole empires In ex-3
tent are peopled in a few months
and farms rapidly changing owners,
can hardly believe that awhile ago
! visited a relative in the good old
state of Virginia, and was told that
r was then standing on land which
my grandfather's grandfather &C
quired from the provincial govern
ment more than a hundred and fifty
years ago, and that tract of good
land during every intervening hour
from that day to this has been the
home Of some Of his descendants
Did he select for himself alone, and
did he realize that in making that
selection he was acting for his chill
.dren's great grandchildren, and
others who might come after themf
Necessity of Careful Selection.
Very much more depends upon
your selection than you now realize
Will your selection result in good
water for your family and fertile
soil for your tillage? If the soil IL
fruitful enough, four days labor each
week may yield you bountiful and
sufficient harvest, but If 1t is less re-
sponsive to your efforts, and requires
six days to make it respond, you have
by the poorer selection, added fifty
per cent to your burden of toll, rob-
bed yourself of the days needed for
rest and recreation, and added to the
toll of your children and all who may
come after you. It is important,
then that the selection be wisely
made.
II is the policy of the homestead
laws that these lands shall be put
into the keeping of the men who
actually need homes, men who are
real farmers, and intend to continue
so, by following their own plows and
that they shall not be distributed
among mere spectators, men who
are not and do not intend to become
bona ide tillers of the soil, men who
are only seeking the lands, to sell
their ACCOMPLISHMENTS before actual
residence, or to sell their land as
soon as title has been obtained, or
even to hold them themselves as an
investment with no intent to make a
permanent home on them. There
are, all over this broad land of ours
very many home hungry men, who
long for the privilege of obtaining
lands for their own cultivation. They
are holding the handles of a plow
six days in the week with the full
consciousness that nearly or quite
one-half of the labor, which should
go to make their families more COM
Portable is being performed as tri-
butte to the man who owns the soil
he is tilling.
Full Meaning of American Citizen
ship.
1t is a glorious thing to be. an
American citizen. 1t was once said
that ''to be Roman is greater than
to be king" but we can proudly
and truthfully say that "to be an
American citizen is far greater than
it ever was to be a Roman" and
especially so when one owns 100 acres
of Dakota's fertile, sun-kissed, rain
enriched acres Such a man must
be stupid, dull and unappreciative,
indeed, if he can stand beneath and
gaze aIoft at our triumphantly float
ing flag, and not turn with thank
fulness to contemplation of the
great privileges, and with serious
thoughts as to the duties and the re-
sponsibilities which that citizenship
casts upon him. In this, the only
great government t'of the people, for
the people and by the people, the
duties of an enlightened citizenship
rest with weightier responsibility
than anywhere else on earth. 1t is
with a full sense of that responsible
ity that I now turn to urge you on
to it's performance.
I will not pause to enumerate my
conceptions of my duties imposed
by American citizenship, but I want
to proclaim that prominent among,
if not paramount to all others, is our
duty to so live as to inspire ou1
neighbors to higher sense of theil
obligation to our flag and to their
fellow man, than they have known
before.