Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1915-05-28
WESTERN STATES MAKE POOR SHOW
ING COMPARED WITH WISCONSIN
Article BY A. N Andersen Concerning Conditions as
He Found Them in the West Should Prove
Valuable Reading to Anyone Con-
templating Leaving the
Badger State

On my recent trip South and West,
became interested in comparing
farming conditions there and in Wis
consin and thought perhaps this
might be of interest to farmers here.
Of course my conclusions might not
be exactly true in other localities
in the South and West but applies
to the particular locality which l
went through. We left Chicago in
the evening and when we awoke in
the morning We were passing through
Tennessee, but we did not see any
nice farm houses such as We are
used to in Wisconsin. Most of the
buildings were small huts, which
seemed to be occupied by colored
tenants and were built on blocks
perhaps one or two feet from the
ground, without any basement and
open underneath. We were informed
that this was partly because the
land was low and they could not
have easements and partly because
| it kept the house cool. These con-
ditions prevailed practically all the
way to New Orleans. Most of the
land seemed to be very low and in
many places We could see where
the water had been up on the trees
some three or four feet. Upon in
quiring how people got along with
out cellars, they told us that they
had to use ice if they were to keep
any fresh food and as the ice had
to be manufactured in the cities, very
few if any of the farmers could af-
| ford to have ice brought from the
cities and it is therefore evident
that they could not keep any fresh
meat and must live on chickens or
smoked meats entirely. We could
| imagine how Wisconsin farmer
who is used to a nice cool cellar
where he could keep his butter,
cream and meat would like to live in
a place of that kind.
After leaving New Orleans, we
| took the Southern Pacific through
| Texas. Part of the way was either
prairie without very many settlers
but until we got to the western part
| Of Texas We saw some very nice
farms and farm buildings, but even
there, I do not recall seeing many
hI1i1 n viii lot
ments but most of them were upon
| blocks, the same as We had noticed
before. But it appeared to be quite
a prosperous looking farming coun-
| try. The country we passed through
| in western Texas was entirely use
less and was either a rocky forma-
ton or a barren desert. | had in
tended during our stop at Ell PasO
to go across the bridge into Mex
ing wrecked we passed through Ell
Paso in the night and did not have
the chance But in talking to peo-
pie along in the border towns, we
found that they were very much dis
satisfied with the watchful waiting
policy and that the conditions in
Mexico, were very bad. They told
us that it was a very common sight
in any Of the towns across the Dor
der to see a man going down the
streets with a shovel on his shout
der, between several soldiers, which
meant that they were taking him
outside Of the village and compelled
him to dig his own grave, then shoot
him so he would fall into it. They
also stated that hundreds Of Amer
leans in Mexico, simply dropped out
of sight and no one ever knew what
became of them, and only in few
cases was there any inquiry and if
the cases were reported to the State
Department, they were told that the
matter would be looked into, which
was generally the last they heard of
it. They told us of outrages on
American citizens that We're such
that they could not be repeated in
print.
Very little of the land We passed
in Mexico or Arizona was tillable
and what few places there were had
to be irrigated. After we got some
distance out in California, we saw
some very nice land but all of which
had to be irrigated and most of it |
was in orange groves. All through |
California, we saw hundreds of miles |
of orange groves and sometimes on
each side of the railroad as far as
one could see. All appeared to be
ripe on the trees but We never saw |
any place where they appeared to be
picking them and marketing them
In fact we were told that oranges
did not bring a sufficient price to
pay for the picking.
We found that land in California
that we passed through was from
$500 to $4,000 per acre, and still all
L II IL OIL vail