Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-12-10
BETWEEN THE LINES

paper published in the great VII
lamette valley, and turn to It's adyer-
tislng columns, you viii find under
among the For Sale" notices, dozens
OF little advertisements like these,
which are taken at random from last
nights Journal, leaving prices and de-
scriptlons out:
For sale-Ten acres Of good land,
acres under cultivation, 8 acres sec
ond-growth Fir timber " miles from
Salem"
"Twenty-acre farm, Z miles from Sa-
lem, one mile from railroad station,
10 acres in cultivation, 10 acres tim
ber.'
"Forty acres in timber miles from
Salem" etc.
Now these little advertisements 10
the thoughtful man tell an interesting
story
Here In the Willamette valley the
Oldest settled portion Of the North
west close TO river transportation, and
consequently that much more choice to
the early settlers, and here, too, bor-
dering, as It were, the city limits of the
capital Of the state, 60 years after tho
valley began to fiji up with settlers,
are lands, uncleared, uncultyated,
practically in the same condition they
were in when the white man first saw
them.
These lands are high priced, too,
compared to the farming lands Of 9th
er states, and this is what makes the
story they tell so interesting,
They knock the argument out Of
some OF the objections to the single
tax, for one thing, and they give a
strong hint Of the great future Of the
valley They are held up in price de-
spite the fact that they are producing
nothing, but simply because of their
possibilities when they are put in the
producing class The fact that they
are not producing may not be over
flatterlng 70 their owners, but this Ger
tainly adds to the most optimistic
view one can take Of the future
They tell us this great valley of ours
is not half in cultivation.
They tell MS that lands adjoining
them now in cultivation, produce such
values that they easily carry the load
OF taxes that their high valuation adds
TO them.
They toll us that while the william
cite valley is the home Of thousands
of thrifty well-to-do farmers, that
there is room for O. dozen times that
many
They tell MS that in the near future
the big wheat and grain tracts, the big
meadows and pastures will give plac,
to orchards Of apple, pruno and pear
that win whiten the grounds witt
their petals, fill the air with fragrance
and bend the glad boughs with theh
loads Of luscious fruit
They tell us that long rows Of 10.
ganberrles, raspberrles and others will
yield their juicy burdens, hundreds
OF dollars worth to the acre, and of
those "5 acres in second growth ril
timber too
They tell us that the pendulous hoI
shall bend the tall poles with their
rich burdens. They tell us all these
things and many more. We are d
prosperous people now what will be
the condition in few years when the
great uncultvated area Is all produc.
ing. as only oregon land can produce
What will be the conditions when
land producing wheat worth Sl5 or $2C
an acre is yielding from orchard and
berry crops ten times that In values
and the acreage is more than doubled
It's up TO YOU to do the answering,
for the writer cheerfuly admits that
his Imagination is not vivid enough to
let him even begin TO estimate results,
10 deal with the figures, or even try
TO imagine the grand product the Inn