The Alaska citizen., 1911-07-17

sound the development of the West
 would have bankrupted the East II
 would have been necessary 10 estah.
 fish line of custom houses ant
 fortresses along the Mississippi To prevent the tillage of the plains be. yond that river from sending the
 Middle West and the Atlantic sea
 board 10 the almshouse Inc agrI-
 present but drop in the buckle;
 compared with those of the immense area that has been transformed from
 fallow lands to fertile fields. from desert to truck patch and orchard. since the beginning of railroad con
 struction in the West. and since ir- rigation began the reclamation of arid areas Regardless of whether
 reciprocity with Canada is establish ed there are still wild lands. swamp lands and arid lands within the | United States that must be brought under cultivation. and the improve ment of the science of agriculture
 must make one acre produce what
 two are producing at the present time. This development of natural greater number of farmers, and not calamity to those now tillng the
 soil
 1 During the last half century. while areas as large as European king
 doms have been brought under the
 blow. farm products have steadily
 increased. At present it behooves the
 family with small income to ac- quire a patch of ground if possible
 to keep COW and raise pigs and
 poultry and a little garden sass"
 10 avoid paying a half dollar for an anaemic spring chicken. to avoid go
 ing without milk and cream; to avoid paying ruinous price for but
 ter and eggs and kings ransom for
 a yearly supply of hog and hominy
 Why, will Mir Nelson please ex
 plain didn't the agricultural East suf
 fer ill consequences from the little ] deal in real estate consummated be
 tween Thomas Jefferson and Ma
 pole on Bonaparte involving the trans fer of the Province of Louisiana. a
 bit of land somewhat larger than the I ,ri,y ytna htVta
 equal to the combined area of the British Isles. France. Germany
 Spain. the Netherlands. Italy and
 Switzerland and it's subsequent
 smiling with harvests in response to
 the tickling of the hoe? About $500 000,O ,O0O worth of farm products con 1 stitute the annual crop of the Louis i jana purchase. yet Illinois and Ken
 lucky corn still finds a market. and
 farming is paying in the Shenan- doah and Mohawk valleys as of yOre.
 1 When Peter Minuit gave s24 for
 Manhattan Island in 1926 there was SODu ueal or tentlal
 ly productive real estate be- tween the Hudson river and the Pacific coast. Most of it has since been developed without mak. i ing Manhattan Island worth less than $24 at any time since il was bought It would sell for somewhat more than the cost price if put un. der the hammer today. And that section has not been protected from others by a tariff wall l VIII Senator Nelson insist that if We should annex Canada tomorrow we would impoverlsh our agricultural population? He can hardly think SO Yet his anti-reciprocity argument is l tantamount to the assertion that if Great Britain were to offer to pre- sent us with Canada We could not | afford to accept the gift because farming would no longer pay in our present territory. This is about all l there is. or can be. to what Sena- tor Nelson has 10 say against the agreement. If President Taft's ambition is to be realized the only fault that will be found with the result will be found by persons who expect too l much of reciprocity as a cheapener of the cost of living It's effect will be good in many respects, and evil in none. but 1t will not create an era of free Irish potatoes It will not cut the price of the fruit of the hen | to such proportions that Americans can afford to emulate the example | of the extravagant young lady from Venice" who used hard boiled eggs to play tennis" - Louisville Courier Journal.
 IA c