The Prescott daily news., 1915-10-22

ful proprlety for the state to use Trust money, principally the proceeds of land donated for educational purposes by the government, but to say the least
 of it, she should not pay to the trust fund a less rate of interest than she had been paying heretofore. She re- tired six per cent bonds with those bearing only three per cent. This, believe, was an injustice to the school fund and unfair to the children of the state; the interest should have been
 six per cent.
 That Act should be amended and the
 bonds changed to require the payment by the state of six per cent interest. The difference between three and six per cent interest since 1899 until July lst, 1917 would be S612, 2,630.00 which should be added to the face of the existing bonds and a new issue of bonds authorized, making a total of | HAT, ,15000 to bear six per cent in terest from that date.
 If this transaction in which the state makes herself both borrower and lend
 CT of trust money committed to her hands is permitted to stand, it means
 loss in 30 years to the permanent
 school fund of $1,021 .050.00.
 Agriculture.
 The soil Is the source of all our wealth. Much of the accumulated wealth of Europe is being wasted by the war. 1t must be restored in time
 from the soil. The farmers of Amer
 lea today occupy the most advanta- geous position since the organization
 of our government. This country is
 fast becoming the financial center of ! the world. This is due to the fact Il that the products of the farm have
 given us an unprecedented balance of trade. Last year 1t was one billion dollars; this year it will probably ex- ceed that amount. President Wilson Is urging our farmers to produce more food to prevent world famine. We should not only increase the pro- duction per acre but get more acres. We should not be content with less
 than one fourth of our lands in culti- vation.
 One of the greatest needs of Arkan-
 sas is more tillers of the soil We want immigration. We want capital. If the state is to grow and prosper she must have more of both labor and capital. But she need not expect much of either until she restores her credit and reduces taXs. We have done but little to encourage settlement in this state. We have been sitting on the curbstone and watching the process sion of immigrants pass on to Texas, Oklahoma and other western states. It has taken 30 years for Arkansas to double her populations; Oklahoma doubled hers in the last ten years. Arkansas lies between B and 36 30' latitude and her immigration in the past has been largely on the same lines of latitude. With proper effort
 We could get much more from the same
 states as well as from the great stat es of the Central west. We need on every quarter section of our tillable land home builder We should dc something to bring together the own CTS of large tracts of land and the landless tenants. If we had our popu-
 lation doubled and our land settled
 with small land owners the problem
 of schools and roads would be of easy solution.
 Why is land more valuable in Pres colt than in the country? The peo- Iple live closer together. Why is land Imore valuable in Little Rock than in
 Prescott? More people live on a block of land. Why is land more valuable in New York City than in Little Rock More people live on a lot
 l believe in permanent homes. There Is nothing in my public career l am SO proud of aS that l led the fight that resulted in the repeal Of all the public land laws that authorized the private sale of public lands and re- served all of the public domain that
 was fit for cultivation for actual set tiers under the homestead law; and of the forfeiture and restoration to the public domain of fifty million acres of the uncarned grants to railroads l am also proud that l contributed to i the best of my ability to the reclama- tion from overflow of the alluvial lands
 of the great Mississippi by the Con- strUction of the levees.
 The greatest relief that can be giv- l en the farmer at this time is sys- tenn of distribution Of farm products | through the means of marketing bu- reau or system to be encouraged or | fostered by jaws that will enable the Iproducer to n ace in the hands of the consumers his products at the least | cost and inconvenience. Too great
 proportion of the farm products is consumed by the present means of
 conveyance from producer to consum- CT. This would eliminate waste and save money for both.
 We should have a law that will pro-
 tect the farmers from impure seed,
 in the form of pure seed law. We
 are now in some measure the dumping
 ground for impure seed, the sale of
 which is restricted by law in other
 states. As a result thousands of acres of our best lands are infected
 with Johnson grass and other obnox- ious grasses and weeds.
 1 voted to create the office of Secre-