Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1911-05-25

country known as the North west wat
known as cattle range with free grasl
from the Missouri to the Pacific and
from Montana to the Rio Gfande. Il
looked as though there were not people
CROUCH in the universe to occupy the
vast areas Of open land in this country
The population today is over 10000, 900,
and the great Northwest is almost as
thickly settled as Indiana and Ohio
were before the war. Every country on
the face of the earth is breeding ground
for this country.
1t has been said that the English
morning drum-beat can be heard around
the world. Certain it is that the free
dom Of our institutions, the prosperity
of our country, the fact that in almost
all of the past there has been a home
for the asking, home that poor man
could call his own and from which he
could not be evlcted. has cansed teem-
ing millio ns from all the civil zed coun'
tr les on the face of the earth to hope for
time when from their meager savings
they would have steerage passage and
enough money to pass the custom house
and come to be part and parcel of this
great LAND of the free and home of the
brave But the day of free land is
past, or practically so, and it is now up
TO the people of the present generation
ID start campaign of conservation,
Government statistics show that with
our Increasing knowledge of the laws
of health and hygiene, the adults will
live longer and the babies will be saved;
therefore the population will increase in
the next fifty to one hundred years at a
greater ratio than it has for the last
fifty. God forbid that the people Of to-
day should so neglect their portunities
to conserve the forces of the earth that
with these teeming millions there should
ever come to this great Nation a wai!ing
cry for bread.
The increase mulhtudes are headed
toward the great West, and nothing
under the sun but pestilence can stop
them. The line OF march to Oregon is
2000 miles long. We hear the echo OF
tn cir footsteps we see them on horse
back, in covered wagons, in immigrant
cars, in parlor cars with bank rolls
coming to occupy this great country.
The farms of today must be built mp
and maintained at high state OF fertil-
ity. The substance OF the soil must be
given back to it by fertilizing and scien-
tific culture methods and by so doing it,
will yield great crops and return healthy,
vigorous animal life to whateve- feeds
upon it. But if this is not done there ls
one result, gradual starvation and pos
tive loss of vitality to the soil and de-
generate citizenship.
The Columbia would soon empty its
food OF waters into the Pacific and be a
mighty canyon, it its tributaries should
cease to flow. War and pestilence may
devastate the country and the cost in
blood and treasure may be far beyond
calculation, but peace will come and
new generations will thrive and prosper
travelling the even tenor OF their way,
almost forgetful of the past, Great
floods may come and for time cover
large areas of the country,
but these waters will recede, and the
lands will produce again. Great cities |
will be burned to ashes, and forests des- |
t royed by consuming flames, but houses
will be builded again with great varity |
of better material and the trees will |
grow and cover the land and shade the
soon to come. Protracted |
drouth will bring temporary disaster to
large sections of the country and high |
prices and suffering will ensne. but the
genial rays of the sun will evapOrate
The waters OF the sea, the t1eecy clouds
will fill again and the shifting winds
will carry the life giving showers to the
thirsty earth. But when by prodlgaity