The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-11-20
b. JAMEs D. MoRRow.

what must he do to make sterile field
produce good crop?
What are the facts concerning the ex-
odus OF American agriculturists to tho
Canadian Northwest?
is 1t true that farmers are mortgaging
their land 20 buy out their nslghbors. and
are thus threatening the country with
financial panic?
Wil the land-holding class disappear
in this country, ana win all the farms
ultimately be owned by moRopolistic cor
porations and worked by hired men?
Why is milk dear In price. ana is there
any profit IA the business OF raising
chickens?
Are farmers wives getting any relief
from the drudgery and monotony OF their
daily lives?
With such questions ana others in
mind. went to see William Jasper Spill
man. the governments chief expert IN
farm management-born in the country
educated at a university, and q land
owner hfmself-a compact dark haired
and steaming man of forty-seven. who
Knows more about the business side of
agriculture than any one in the United
States. Furthermore, lie IL botanist and
an author.
For 800 years" hC said, "the Enst hes
been producing a surplus OF men" had
asked Mr.. Spillman for the truth about
Manitoba, Assiniboia, Saskatchewan. and
Alberta. And those men," he continued
have been moving westward ever since
First. leaving the fringes Of civilization
along the coast, they settled IN New York
and Pennsylvania. Then came the move
ment across the Allegheny Mountains
frnrh
Mississippi River.
There was not only surplus or men
in the East, which was a good cause
for emigFating, bat there were free lands
in the West and opportunities for every
American 20 obtain a home and & farm
of his own. Going West, therefore, be-
came a national habit OF mind To-day
there are no more free lands and farms
that were prairies thirty years ago and
could be had for the asking are worth
from 500 10 $500 an acre.
Free Lands I'm Canada.
But there are free lands across the
border in Canada and agricultural ex-
plorers and Neutrality-suspicious. In a
word-are following the practice OF their
fathers. Westward hor wrote John
Webster and Thomas Decker IN 1907 an
exhortation that Horace Greeley changed
and localized into Go West. young mani
more than two centuries later.
However tho procession across the
northern frontier Is not composed en-
tirely Of poor men seeking homes and
fortunes. Farmers In Ohio. Michigan,
Indiana. Illinois. and Iowa are selling
their high-priced lands and going 10
Canada and putting their money into
wild prairies as a promising speculation. /
Annually. for the past six years. $4,000
persons. mostly men. have moved from
the United states into the Canadian |
Northwest, and the exodus continues
Meanwhile, others are being influenced :
20 move by easy conditions.
"A farmer for instance. can go 10
Manitoba or any other province and take
up a homestead for himself and each OF
his neighbors. Canadian agents have Of
fees in the principal streets OF st. Louis,
Kansas City, Chicago, Minneapolis, and
Denver, on the windows Of which are
notices in large letters that lands may
be obtained by proxy Thus a dozen
farmers in a community OF this country
can send one of their number 10 Alberta
and he IS there permitted legally 10 enter
land for the whole party
Some of the Americans who went to
Canada are coming back, II Is true, but
the movement Is too small to be i'm
portant. The men who go and stay are of
American blood. Practically all OF them
have money. They make the best kind
of citizens, and a great many Of them,
declaring they Ike Canada because the
laws are enforced and not evaded. re-
nounce the Stars and Stripes and take
the oath Of allegiance 10 the King OF
Great Britain
Northwest Drawbacks.
The drawbacks of the Canadian
Northwest are serious and pertain to
the climate. There are bue three sea
sons In that eountry-July August, and
winter Crops, therefore. have Hmita-
lions. Wheat barley. and oats can be
grown. but corn. of course. is out OF the
question, Last year and the year before
crops were a failure in some sections, the |
rr0st coming before harvest, which oc-
ours during the month of September"
rs Il true ] asked, that the farmers !
Of the West are mortagaging their land
so as to purchase more land at the pres
ent level Of high prices?"
1T is not true generally" Mr. Spill /
man answered, though It Is so repre- |
sented by some OF the Wall street |
writer's. In spots there Is more or less |
speculation IN land. but that has been |
going on for many years, sporadlcally |
Back in 1881 there was a land craze
among the wheat farmers In the new
State Of Washington Men mortgaged |
all they had and bought out their neigh |
bors. often paying Is per cent for money. |
The fall rains OF 1892 came early In Sep
TENDER and the wheat crop was not cut |
In lSSS-a financial panic was then on I'm |
the country-wheat dropped in price to |
IS cents bushel. The following year II |
was 25 cents Nothing had been grown |
hut wheat. The farmers lived out of the |
stores. buying everything they ate but |
vegetable, even their butter and meat. in |
many cases. At the end OF three years |
IN debt 10 merchants and back in their |
interest, the land owners were ruined /
and became tenants or hired men,
NO such conditions now menace any
large part Of the country. Here and there /
farmers are increasing their acreage, but |
they are keeping within the bounds Of |
prudent investments. Lands in the Cen |
tral West are selling at from 800 to 500 |
an acre. Experienced agriculturists I'M /
derstand that wheat and corn and the |
feeding OF cattle are Improbable on lands /
selling at such prices. Undoubtedly there /
is some speculation going on among
farmers, but IL is so limited as to be with
out significance"
rs there any danger Of Capitalization
in the ownership Of farm lands %
4 think so" Mr. Spillman replied 'The
new census Will show that the number OF
farm tenants has increased 90 per cent
I'm ten years. The land conditions Of Eu-
rope viii prevail here, ! believe. in the
end-they do exist in certain regions An
English family, for at least a generation. /
has owned l50.000 acres of land in Illinois. i
IL Is managed by agents. on plans, down
20 the planting OF crops, sent from Eng