The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1913-12-25
WHY / EMIGRATED"I
-sssE NOTES OF a PROMINENT
JOURNALIST WHO MADE X
TRIP THROUGH WESTERN
CANADA.

Omitted statesr' 1 asked . farmer In
Western Canada.
I believe that for a poor man West
am Canada IL the most favorable
hand" was the reply, "and I have now
found that It Is the Paradise Of tho
Poor."
The farmer, a pioneer OF the west.
had i've years earlier left Iowa for
Canada to secure q now home there
After traversing the country for some
time. he started hts home on the. open
prairie and with steady industry de.
voted himself to the working Of the
virgin soil. Now he is the wellto-do
owner OF that endless sea OF waving
wheat ears that goes on for miles be-
1ore my eyes. His strong, sunburned
ngure finds the best background in his
Darn itself, which Is the outcome Of
mas ~ceaseless activity pretty two
storfed dwelling house, a large clean
stable, In the midst of a hamlet OF
barns, sheds and outbuildings, a USE
Sai garden overfiowing with products:
horses, cattle. sheep and swine on the
rich pastures, and around to the hor,.
NON wheat, golden wheat.
In Iowa?" the farmer continued. II
harmed on rented land, for at the price
OF 500 per acre / did not possess
money enough to buy. I might farm,
I might farm as I could, more than the
Ewing for myself and family, I could
MOI attain. Sometimes the harvest
turned out good, sometimes bad, but
NE grand total was a bitter combat to
ksep want from the door. 1t was i'm
possible to lay by for bad times and
IN spite Of all trouble and work an old
ago free Of care was not to be
Thought Of. My death would have
brought bitter poverty to my wife and
children.
7 decided to breakup and go to
Canada, where at least 1 could fight
out the struggle for existence on my
Swn Land. / started out with a mule
team, all my earthly possessions were
In the prair1e-schooner with my wife
md children. Then Itook up a home
stead of 100 acres to which / added
by purchase gradually; now as a
WAOA0 l SOuAI dDOuG O,UUU AIRES DIS INV
own. The whole property is free of
debt l do not owe a cent to y
I bought my land for $3.50 per acre,
now / would not give it up for $50"
sDo you meal to say that you paid
Tor the whole land in the five years?"
I interrupted.
I'm a much shorter time" replied
the farmer. "The land paid for itself,
some already by the first harvest, and
at longest in 8 years each field had
brought in it's purchase price. II you
doubt that land in Western Canada
pays for itself within 8 years you can
easily convince yourself Of the truth
q farmer buys a farm of 100 A. at SIS
Per A. for $4,000. Farm machines,
seed, ploughs, moving and threshing
might bring up the outlay to about
SO per acre. If the farmer sows the
100 A. for 3 years in succession with
wheat and harvests 20 bus. per acre,
then the product of an A. at the aver
age price of 75c per blu. is exactly Sic
per acre. II you deduct the $40 out,
lay. you will retain a clear return Of
$500. For 100 A. the annual excess
amounts to $500, consequently the
farm has after the third harvest
brought in the purchase price OF
e1,400.
"Sometimes-and not rarely--the
land pays for itself By the first harvest
Of S5 bus. of wheat bring in more than
the purchase price of SIS per acre.
AZ in some years I harvested more
than IS bus, you a reckon for your
self how quickly l paid for my farm"
Would you not prefer your own
farm in Iowa." I asked.
NO." replied the farmer, never
will I go back, in general very few
American settlers return to the old
home. In Iota a 160 A. farm costs
800 per A.. $4,000; in Western Can
ada SIS, only s2,400. For the same
money that you require to buy a $50
A. farm in Iowa, you can buy here In
Western Canada a farm Of 1000 acres.
have money enough to buy a farm In
Iowa, If I wished. But there my year
" income would be a small one,
whereas here l work for a great gain.
There I would only be a small farmer,
here / am a large landed proprietor"
In a corner of the farmyard had
during our conversation noticed a
mound of earth overgrown with
Erasses and wild flowers. To my In
CURRY as to what it was, l received the
reply: '"That Is the ruin OF the wooden
shack covered with sods, which call
ed my home when I settled here five
years ago"
I gathered a wild aster 0 the
ruin and flung 1t into the air. In a pur'
plish-glittering line the wind o the
flower towards the fine, m~odern-equ1p-
ped farmhouse. What a contrast De-
tween the lowly earthly hut OF yester-
day and charming palace OF today!
This contrast says enough of the un-
bounded possibilities, which this new
land offers to the willing worker. How
the poor emigrant on the open prairie,