Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-03-12

| Our state as a whole within the last
| ten years has been exceedingly pros
| perors. Our railroad system shows
large increase in the amount of freight
| and passengers carried. The manu-.
| featuring towns have nearly all in
| creased their population. The lumber
| business, which has always been ouI
| leading industry, continues to flourish
| and our forests continue to furnish
| the supply called for by the increasing
| demands of both lumber and the pulr
| and paper business.
| Cotton mills, Which have long llour-
| shed in our midst maintain whole
| some, and steadily increasing growth
| and the wooden industry, in which The
state ei Maine was pioneer, is hold
ing It's own with the other states in
which this business fourishes; and We
have rot vet been obliged 10 send any
| children to Washington as public
exhibit Of the distress in our economic
| affairs. or to New York or Philadel-
| phia for food and support.
| The last census shows that we have
| about $4,000 farms-about the same as
| we had ten years ago--but that they
| have Increased about 80 per cent in
| value The value of the farm land
alone is placed at $3.50 per acre, as
against s5.l9 in 1900, and il is crafty
| ing 10 know that over $1,000 farmers
are native white, that % per cent. of
| them are managers and owners of the
| farms they operate, and that over H.
| 600 of these farms are free from mort
| gage.
But it is not quite satisfactory To
learn that While our whole population
has increased 6 9-10 per cent, that of
the country towns up to $500 inhabi-
tants. and in which is about one-half
of the population of the State, the In
crease has been only about l 40 per
cent, while in the towns larger than
that the increase has been y Clio l3er
cent.
But. with the development of scien-
tifc education. which is now being
popularized in the shape of farm bull
ietins distributed freely among our
farmers. from our agricultural college
and experiment station at Orono, con-
nectcd with the extension work which
is being done by the experiment sta
ton, the work through the Grange
and other societies organized for the
promotion of agriculture, in connee-
ton with the rural free delivery, farm
telephone lines. and the extension of
the troliy lines into the rural districts
coupled with the high price of living
in the cities and larger towns. which
means a higher price for our agricul-
tural products We almost feel certain
that the future of Maine farms is to
be much more progressive and have a
much greater development in the next
2 ho in fha & der
ade When we read in the newspa-
pers that 9o,000 acres of land were
planted TO potatoes in Aroostook alone
last year, which produced at least Is.
GOO. 009 bushels of potatoes. and after
making deductions for home eonsump-
ton. sbfinkaee end seed for the com
ing spring, $4,000. 900 bushels have been
shipped out of the State. returning To
the farmers of that country three
fourths as many dollars, it does not
seem difficult 10 understand the en-
thusiasnI of the A1ostook farmer as a
business man and 4 money maker.
You who live in Portland may not
realize that the towns of Aroostooll
county are as much in the world as
you are: that they are connected with
TIE great west directly by the Cana
dia1 Pacific Railroad; that while they
have not the Grand Trunk, as YOU
have. just across the st. John River
they have the Grand Trunk Pacific,
BY which they can cross the continent.
While this potato industry has been
looked upon as especially an Aroos-
took undertaking in past years, it is
now becoming a Statewide business,
and probably there We're more pota-
toes raised in the counties outside of
Aroostoot county than there were
raised there. and that we are all fast
waking up to Aroostoo.S methods in
this industry.
You doubtless know that the State
of Maine liz the development of water
power is the third state in the Union
New York and California only exceed
ing it. We have over five thousand
rivers and streams and about 1900
lakes, and the average rainfall is
about ~ inches. The average height
Of the State is about coo feet above
the sea Our population is situated
in the southerly and easterly part of
the State. Back OF il. on the west and
the north, is located g high rocky pla-
teau. somewhat hilly and mountain
Gus, which is covered mostly with for
est growth of about half of our entire
area. approximately ten millions
acres. This territory is not suitable
for agriculture, except slightly along
the river borders. but with the forest
cover, is the natural storage of our
water power. From this location,
slowly trickling down into the brooks
and streams. from thence into the
lakes. and from there down the rivers,
comes this wonderful power which has
been estimated by engineers to be
equal 10 the working energy of $4,000, :
eco mea; and the modern methods of
hydro-electric development and the
transmission of this power from the
different waterfalls where it can be
developed, to the places where the
population is living, means the doub-
| ling of the population in our indus
| trial centers in the very near future
| II means also the running of our rail
|