The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1915-02-04
GREAT INTEREST IN
IMMIGRATION MOVEMENT
IN NORTH DAKOTA

interest would be kept at the tor
notch. In speaking of the work do
by the railroads Mr.. Bricker stated
that the roads spent more in one veal
for immigration than the state appro
priated in five years and that results
must not be expected at once. In fact
he referred to one incident where h,
company did not get results for two
years and four months, but when they
, did come they more than justified the
expenditure. He also called attention
to the fact that competition between
the different parts of the country for
, immigration is greater at the present
time than it has ever before been in
the history of the nation. Eastern
| states are making every effort to get
their old farm lands resettled and arc
making great inducements to a good
class of settlers to come to the aban.
doned farms of the east, and they are
meeting with great amount of sue
! cess.
Mr.. Brickers remarks were listened
to with a great deal of interest ard
he was greeted with long and loud ap-
plause at the conclusion OF his re-
marks. Many questions were asked Of
him, one being if people of certain
counties could expect cooperation
from the railroads and he answered
that as a natural result of conditions
their publicity work was of a general
nature, but that if any county started
anything his company would be more
than willing to back them up and len
every assistance possible in the mat.
ter.
Mr.. Leedy, of the Great Northern
road. was the next speaker and re
spoke first of his early experience in
the state, which was at a time when
the settlers for the state were advis ID
that York was as far west as it was
safe for one to go when looking for
farming land. He stated that the pc j.
pie of the state were themselves Il
blame to great extent for the condi-
tions that existed. He said that peo-
pie of the east had heard only the bad
things about the state, that in many
places the stories of the cold wealth
er had been greatly exaggerated ard
that there were many obstacles TO
overcome in getting the people of the
east to look with favor on Nerth Da-
kota. as place to establish hone
for themselves and their children
He said that the farmers of this state
should learn to farm better so that
prospective settlers would receive a
better impression of the conditions
here when they come to look us ovei
1t was well after II when Mr. Leedy
finished his remarks, but everyone re-
manned until the last and showed gr t.
interest in his talk.
The Afternoon Session.
That there had been interest in the
morning meeting was evidenced by the
attendance at the afternoon meeting,
which was nearly twice as large as
the one before. Mr. Baker first intr)-
duced Major Murphy, of Minot, immi-
grafton commissioner for the 500 rail
road. That the 500 made no mistake
in their choice of a booster for North
Dakota was well shown in the next
few minutes. The major prefaced his
remarks with the statement that popu-
lation was the basis of land value,
and said that it would be money we'll
expended if the present legislature ap-
propriated 100000 for the promotion.
of immigration. In showing what the
500 had done he stated that the sta
tistics of the road showed :nat alons;
their line in the state there had been
500 quarter sections of land sold in
1914 and that ISL cars of immigrant
movables had been shipped into the
state over that road and 80 per cent
I nh o0%1 al