Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1914-06-05

: the NATIONAL CAPITAL
. Events Of Interest from the Seat
Of Government.
BY J. e. JONES.
Catching up With Canada.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.

Catching up With Canada.
1t has taken the American govern
ment long time to wake up to the
fact that the Canadian government
has better homestead laws than our
own, and for that reason the Domin-
ion has been able to induce hundreds
of thousands of Americans to go into
Cenada. One of the provisions in the
Canada homestead law allows an 49,
year-old boy to acquire home, and
the result is that young men under
age have been taking up the public
lands of the Dominion. The propo-
sition for homestead entries by min
ors has been gaining strength in con-
gress and it received an impetus last
month when the western governors
in their annual conference at Denver
went on record an unanimously re-
solving that 1--WE approve the plan
now before congress to permit home
stead entries by persons over 1S years
Cf age" The interior department and
the agricultural department have
both strongly endorsed the suggested
legislation. Since the secretary Of
the interior has been enabled
to designate entirely arid lands that
cannot be irrigated as enlarged home
steads, enabling settlers to secure
800 acres of land instead of $50,
there has been a noticeable improve
ment in conditions of settlers in Sec
tions of the country where grazing
has been the principal source of in
come.
The change in the homestead law
by which settlers can acquire title
in three years has more than doubled
the entries throughout the United
States. During the fiscal year ending
June 80. 1912, the total homestead
entries we're 24,326, covering 3nf,
068 acres of land. The three-year
homestead law was passed June G,
1912, and during the fiscal year end
ing June 80, 1913 there were in the
United States 52,252 final homestead
entries, covering more than 10000
900 acres of the public domain.
During the debate in the house up
on the bill of Representative Taylor
of Colorado. authorizing minors Of
18 years or over to take homestead
and desert land entries, Representa-
tive Burke of South Dakota, who is
shortly to be advanced to the senate,
used the argument that many of the
boys serving in the navy and marine
corps are not more than is years old
and that the average is about 20. He
insisted that those boys who recently
gave their lives at Vera Cruz were not
too young to file on homestead and
he said that he preferred to encour-
age the boys to remain at home. to
stay on the farm. instead of going in
to the army and navy. He concluded
that "if boy is old enough for mill
tary service he ought to be able to
file on the public domain" Burke,
Republican, and Taylor, a Demo
crat, have been two Of the best
friends the homesteaders ever had in
congress and they have both been
enemies to what has been termed by
them as professional conservation"
Taylor says that there is no monop-
oily of agricultural land in the West
today, and every one who has a big
farm is trying to cut 1t up and sell
it into smaller tracts" He adds that
! a comparison Of the land laws of the
Dominion of Canada with those of the
United States, shows great many
more liberal features in the system
of occupation in Canada than are
found in our own homestead laws.
At the investigation before the
senate in January Mr.. William j.
White, in charge of the immigration
movement to Canada, testified that
500, 900 citizens Of the United States
had gone to Canada to take up lands.
The United States has just discovered
that the Canadian government has
, been spending between $4,000 and
$4,000 a year in advertising in the
states along the border, and the
greater part of the money has gone
into the "patent insides" of country
newspapers. Now since the horse has
been stolen, congress is going around
to lock the doors. to check immigra-
ton.
According to our agricultural de-
partment the cost of producing wheat
in Saskatchewan is IS cents per bush
ell on the farm, and 81 cents per acre
I, O. b. cars. It has been inquired
out that the Saskatchewan farmers
last year realized IA 1-8 cents pront
per bushel. And yet In the race OF
the long winters and scarcity OF fuel
IN ovn