The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-22
ROBERT HENSON, ,SR.
 BACK FROM ALASKA
Southern Lands Far Supe-
 ri0r to Western
NEED MORE BOOSTING
Says Railroad Advertising Has Done More Than Anything Else to Raise the Prices of West
 ern Land

That the land where the Omnipotent did not think enough of it's usefulness to pro vide water was no place for farmers, and that the land of the south coud produce twice as much sustenance as that of the west was the statement of Robert Jeni.- son, Sr, who returned yesterday from Il trip of eight weeks through the west and Alaska.
 While on his trip Mir Jemison went through the far west, Canada, and male an extensive trip along the Alaskan coast, where the Cunningham claims of congressional fame are of the greatest in- terest.
 While around Denver I spent some time looking into the relative values or farm lands as compared to this state said MT. Jemison "The Colorado lands are quoted at a figure very steep. They make any kind of claims for them, but right here in this state 1 have person- ally known as many crops of alfalfa to be raised in one year as in that country, and on lands quoted at price far below | what is asked out west
 "The. secret of the western land booms | Is simply that they are owned by the great railroads of that country, have been boosted to the skies and are inflated to a vast extent If the south possessed in | terests that would boom the undeveloped lands of this section as they have those | out west there is absolutely no way of | calculating how valuable would be our I untitled acres within a very short time. "There is no sane reason why the farm ,f lxa returns than those out west. The sole reason why they do not is that out west when a farmer takes hold of the land | he must work or starve to death. The | former is much preferable. If the same amount of energy were expended on this southern soil and the same amount of thought and money put into it there Is no way of estimating what would be accom- plished.
 "In the west the irrigated lands are sit uated in such a way that the farmers are always in doubt about water. The irriga- ton scheme is that the first man gets all the water he wants from the irrigation ditch, the second man gets what he can, and the third man is always in doubt as to wether he is to get any water at all. That sort of arrangement makes 1t very perilous for the third party and bad even | for the second.
 "In this state cultivated lands will pro- l duce twice the crop of the lands out west and the farmers of this section will some day realize that as being absolutely true The only thing we are suffering from is the lack of energy displayed in handling the situation I have been through this state and the finest part of the west, but Alabama has the whole west beaten as far as agricultural worth Is concerned. We lack only the boosting
 In talking of Alaska, MT. Jemison said
 "The topic of conversation along the upper coast Is the reservation of the Cum ningham claims, of which so much has been said by the President and the con gressional committee. The general opin- ion is that some development must be done in order to get the country on the proper swing. The general public Is not | just so the developments go ahead and everyone Is given a great deal of work. The people out there place great deal of blame upon the authorities over the way these coal lands have been handled.
 The Alaskan country has only a few miles of railroad and is In a state of crudeness that will eventually be done away with by modern progressive plans. It Is a great country and will eventually come Into it's own. It may be slow, how ever."