The daily sentinel., 1912-03-28

chair long enough to make a speech
on the floor in support of the bill to
amend the homestead laws. The bill
provides that a three-year period
shall be sufficient in which TO prove
up ON homestead claims. The only
homsteads on the continent except
in the United States have a three
year homestead law. Canada has a
three-year homestead law. and Tex
as, which manages It's own lands, has
a three-year homestead.
MIR. Clark, in advocating the bill,
said:
Mr. Chairman, in the early days
of the republic the speakers fire.
quently took part in debate. For
some reason-< do not know what
that custom has fallen into 'innocu-
Gus desuetude, to use Mr.. Cleve-
lands famous phrase. | have a no.
tion, not fully matured, TO revive
il. | do not see why the speaker has
not as much right to make speeches
as anybody else. if he feels like it.
daughter and applause)
''Missourians take an abiding in
terest in the whole western, south
western and northwestern country
The ablest defender that the west
ever had in either branch of con-
gress was Col. Thomas Hart Benton
of Missouri, the greatest Missouri
statesman that ever lived; and Col
onel Roosevelt says in his Life of
Benton that when a thousand Mis-
sourians loaded their wives, children
and household goods irio their wag-
ons and went across the plains they
settled forever the ownership of what
wac called the Oregon country; that
up to that time the people out there,
when it was held in joint occupancy
had been temporary scujourners;
but the Missourians were there to
stay. In addition to that, the coun-
try has been very largely populated
by Missourians. They are a prolific
race. and they like to go forth to
better their condition. Just why
they leave Missouri ! can not tell to
save my soul. but they do leave it.
daughter and applause.) ! suppose
! have received over a hundred let
ters from Missourians in the west in
favor of this bill, and | am making
these remarks to please them more
than for any other reason, except
for the strongest reason possible. and
that is that the bill is right and ought
10 pass.
"A strange historical fact is that
during the entire 80 years that Ben
ton served in the senate he worked
incessantly to make it easier for peo=
pie to really homestead land and
live upon it.
And one of the greatest inaccur-
acies in history is that the father
hood of the homestead law is ac-
credited to Galusha A. Grow, of
nj L. ~
and got every feature of it that was
valuable, except that he never was
able to obtain for any of his bills
the title of homestead law. The
day that he went out of the senate
Galusha A. Grow came into the
house. Mr.. Grow introduced a home
stead bill by title in six congresses
hand running, and got it accepted in
the sixth Benton secured the sub
stance; Grow secured the title, and
the historians rob Benton of his
share of the glory and give it all to
Grow
''Benton's theory, and | am simply
following it out, was that the posses
sion of homes-and ! believe il with
all my heart-or the getting of
homes for bona fide settlers ought to
be made as easy as possible. The
home is the unit of American civil
ization. and the more homes we have
the better for the republic The pc
culiarities under which this bill is
presented here are these: With the
rich soil of the state from which my
distinguished friend, Mr.. Mann of
Illinois, comes, or of Missouri, from
which | hail, just as quickly as far
mer could get the land plowed up
he could make living upon it and
he could make a living upon very
few acres. | believe that Secretary
Wilson tells the exact truth when he
says that if the Mississippi valley
were cultivated for all it is worth on
an average, l acre of land would
support one human being. That
would give us a population of ESQ.,
100000 souls between the top of the
Alleghenies and the crest of the
Rockies. But these lands about
which the proposition is made in
this bill that the period of residence
shall be cut from five to three years
are not like the lands of Missouri
and Illinois. The pick and choice
of those lands have been taken up.
1t is extremely difficult for n man
to make living out there on the
160 acres of that dry land. once
helped the gentleman from Nebras-
ka (Mr. Kinkaid) get bill through
here to increase the size of a home
stead in the western part of the
state of Nebraska from 1G0 acres 20
$40 acres, and the passing of that
bill added a new word to the vernac-
ular of the people out there. The
people who entered the $40 acre
homesteads are called 'Kainkaiders