Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1912-02-24
People VIII Move.

There have been great movements
of population in all ages, resultant from
forces of one kind or another which i'm
pei man to change his habitation. 1t is
recorded that the Romans conquered and
colonized the then known world; the
Spaniards sailed away to search for gold
and for the conquest Of new countries;
the Puritans left England to seek land
in which they could develop their own
theories of life without interference.
Many from the Atlantic coast pushed
out to the fertile valleys of the Ohio in
the early part of the nineteenth century
to make homes for themselves and their
families. There was the rush to Cali
fornia in 1s49 to seek gold. Later, with
the building of the Union Pacific, the
pioneer turned his face to the then com
paratively unknown regions west Of the
Missouri river, known then as the
Great American Desert
Railroad Building.
''The building of the Northern Pa
cifc, and later the Great Northern and
and the roads in Canada, started a
movement of homeseekers to the north
west. Now the expansive force of 94,-
100000 people of the United States is
sending thousands of wholesome men
and women into this North Pacific
Coast country, not to seek religious
freedom nor political liberty, not to con-
quer a weaker people, not merely to
wrest the mineral riches from nature s
treasure vaults or denude the forests,
but for the purpose of making homes
and earning an honest living with pa
tient and earnest work on the farm, in
the orchard and in the mine and forest
and other lines of endeavor. The immi-
grant from foreign shores also turns
with longing eyes from his now crowded
environment to this zone of plenty.
Irrigation Problem
"Students of conditions agree that no
question of public policy is of more
vital Importance or affects so closely the
interests of the American people as the
immigration problem. This cannot be
dealt with as are other issues. Its sub
jects are human beings, who have aspi-
rations, hopes, fears and frailties.
Hence, the enforcement of our immigra-
ton laws becomes a matter of selection,
and the universal welcome extended by
a free people to those of oppressed coun-
tries thus is restrained by considerations
of prudence and regard for the safety
and well-being of our country.
Distances Conquered.
Steam and electric railroads have
conquered distances and the barriers
long interposed by vast areas of thirsty
desert wastes have been let down Irri-
CATION canals of sufficient length to Cir
die the globe with triple bands have
spread wide GASES in the arid places and
cheerful, prosperous communities dot a
landscape once vacant and voiceless.
The unsurveyed and unexplored noun
tains await the prospector to disclose
mineral riches; streams rushing from
snowy SUBMITS, unchecked and uncon-
trolled, lure the engineer to harness and
utilize for the needs of commerce the
power. now wasted; the once mysterious,
silent, expectant desert holds promise
of freedom and independence to the
careworn and discouraged. 1t offers the
uplft of unmeasured distances and the
individual home with that broader free
dom of action which comes with life in
the open.
All Localities Helped.
Versatility is not confined to any
one locality in the western country. In
the majesty and grandeur of the noun
tains, lifting their heads into regions
of perpetual snow; in forests antedating
the birth Of the Christ child; in can
yons where picturesque carving con
sumed centuries; in landscapes and
river, lake and ocean scenery of such
beauty and colors as were never shown
on canvas; in deserts where life is still
elemental and primitive and where,
amid crumbling ruins of departed races
strange people dwell in an atmosphere
of dreams and enchantment and with
legends as interesting as those of an
cient Greece, in all that Nature has ever
done to enthrall the senses, to inspire
the tongue or pen, the west suffers not
by comparison with any part of the Old
World.
The Real Pioneers.
cit is not necessary at this time to
go into details about what the railroads,
the real pioneers and advance guard of
civilization, have contributed to the up
building and settlement of the North
Pacific country. However, it may be
interesting to learn that during the last
10 years the owners of railroad property
have invested in this western country,
for improvements and additions to exist
ing lines, for new equipment and for
new railways about SLAP for every dol
lar they received in the form of divi-
dends, or AZ per cent more than they
have taken out. What is more, they
must continue to do this same thing for
years if they desire to avoid coming to
standstill and facing a future of COM
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