The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1914-04-28
FERGUSON STATES
POSITION ON THE
AMENDED GRAZING
HOMESTEAD BILL
Believes Leasing Bill Proposed
Would Work Lasting In
jury to the People Of New
Mexico.
H-0MEsTEADERs URGED TO
BACK CONGRESSMAN
Especial 80 tAs nsrslsl

Especial CerreuBoadesee "a tire ueraidl
Washington. II. c.. April 2i-Mr,
Fcrgusson's position ON his house bill
95S2. as IL formerly stood but which
has been re%introduCed az house bill
1879. Is 40 clearly for the interest.
not only Of the people VI New Mex
leo. but OF all the states having semi
arid lands. that every possible effort
should be made 10 hold up the hands
of Mr.. Ferguson and 60 assist him In
securing this legislation.
Continuity u effort, continued push
will be necessary 10 get the bill
through congress. The people should
get behind Mr., Ferguson. send in
letters and petitions as an evidence
Co members of congress. that the bill
meets with public favor. Large in
terests. fearing this measure, may at
feet d~etrimentally extended grazing
on the public domain, are likely to
fight this measure and are in fact
now opposing II.
Mir. FERGUSON, In his statement
before the committee having his
measure under consideration, made
his position very clear ana what he
said II = matter OF such public inter
est that in part IL Is reproduced here.
Mir. Ferguson was vigorously OPP
posed before the committee by "a MT
Kent. who wac In favor Of "A leasing
system rather than this measure In
the interest Of the homesttader, aud
during the hearing "a running fire was
kept up between Mr.. Jones and Mr.
Kent. as opposing advocates of their
different theories, all Of which IA
printed In the hearings OF the com
mittee. bul the same is too volumi-
nous to print In fun, at least la the
newspapers. Ia this running hght
Mr.. Ferguson said In part TO the
committee:
"Of course my evidence relates only
To- New Mexico. That part of the
country most affected by this leasing
bill would be tho slopes going down
after YOU leave the mountain range
running north and south through
New Mexico. an immense slope of
prairie country. with a slight rise TO
the mountains as YOU 40 west from
the east line OF New Mexico, but other
localities In the state not altogether
on this slope = IN man RESPECTS 90
like character. 4 large part Of New
Mexico h like western Kansas. The
early settlers in western Kansas had
q hard time 10 stick there, Good old
Governor Ross, 81 my state. told me
when he located in Lawrence, Kan.
that Topeka. sixty miles farther west,
was looked upon as the western limit
OF possible agricultural development
that they looked al the country west
OF Topeka as the great American des-
crt. Vow every one knows hat west
ern Kansas was settled FIRST by q
great army of people seeking homes
In good faith-many ~ whom failed
.-aud this Islander about men trying
10 get homes in the west, referring 10
them az tramps. Is not justified. OF
the great mass OF h-omcseekers. nine
.ty-ninc out of on hundred are hon
estly seeking "a place 90 get some land
20 make "a home for himself and fam
ily and I say that from an experience
of thirty years IN the west. OF the
first settlers OF Kansas. about one
out OF every four has stuck; and
Kansas today Is one Of the greatest
agricultural states in the Union. ~
this hard and fast rule proposed In
the Kent bin Of classification had
been applied 10 Kansas II would have
been a grazing country and con-
demned 10 be such TO this day. In
der the Kent bin providing a sys-
TEN Of classification FOR grazing pur-
poses mainly there would be a denial
practically OF the possibility OF estab-
fishing homes and schools and
churches ana having taxable land
values in the grazing reserves. My
Judgment h hat my bill will tend
ANA ! am speaking nov with refer
enCe Ia New Mexlco-that my bill
Will result In having a. family on
every $40 acres. especially on he
plains country east ~ the mountains;
that every one viii fence, and by
fencing he pays the government for
his land under the terms OF my bill.
and viii do just as they 10 In Iowa,
whore they have l6O-acre farms.
where the dairy interest will flourish
and where you can raise wheat and
corn and sue things and produce
cattle, perhaps not as successfully as
they do la Iowa, bat 10 an extent suf-
hCieut 10 enable the homesteadeT 10
live. ! mentioned Iowa because 1 be-
lieye there are large sections In New
Mexico similar 10 those In iowa. *
cept that We. would not have the i60-
acre farms as they do in Iowa. but
the 6i0-acre farms. In New Mexico
we have even nov a large dairy prod
uct. / have several letters here
which show that there Is a large
amount OF cheese and cream and but
ter produced Us New Mexico. Through
the parcel post system whom they are
located a long way from the railroad
they ship this product, and many OF
my correspondents call attention e
the fact thaGin many sections OF New
Mexico they can produce ereat dairy
products, and I compare New Mexico
with Iowa because I believe my state
under proper homestead laws would
resemble Iowa In that product. Il
was great statcEmanship that created
the homestead laws under which such
q state a. Iowa developed. and %
going Go take ~statesmnnship ana self
denial and hard work 90 establish
happy homes In this great section Of
our country known as the semi-arid
With the experiences already
had In western Kansas Ia her early
ana also In sections OF my
own state. IL n impossible 10 antici-
pate what can be- done IN the way OF
agricultural development unless the