The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1916-05-25
A LAND PROBLEM AHEAD
tFRom THE PEORIA JouRNAL.)

The Nebraska state Journal calls ut
,cntion to the fact that Uncle sam,
opening VI "a 1900 acre tract IN tn,
North Platte irrigation district for set
Element practically winds up the Ere,
land distribution OF the nation. II
adds
FREQ or cheap land has been
the American safety valve. \
population straining for sclf bet.
tcrmcnt has had its " remedy
To 10 west and grow up with the
country With the government
reduced to advertising m opening
OF fortythrcc farms, the safety
valve may hc considered forever
closed Tho expansive energy for.
mcrly cNCrtcd outward. must hero.
after work itself nut intcnsivcly.
Increasing land speculation. with
rapidly rising prices vi land and
proportionatcly increasing dissat.
isfaCtiuu among the laudlCss would
seem inevitable. The tone " our
politics and the intensity W our
social problems cannot but he vi.
tally changed under the strain W
dealing internally with "a social
pressure which hitherto has had
the wilderness to vent itself upon
Land hunger will soon become u
reality in this rapidly growing country
and the constant pressure ~ popula
tion, increasingly higher than the ratio
OF production. is bound to bring us
that WI have heretofore considered re-.
mote. The ~far.sightcd statesman aud
publicist must devote his thought
earnestly TO the consideration OF these
questions II we are to escape tho ex,
tremes which curse the older nations
OF the world"
In the above will be found one OF
the reasons that the Canadian Govern.
ment Is Offering 100 acres OF land free
10 the actual settler. There is no
dearth OF homesteads OF this size. and
the land Is o, the highest quality. be.
ing such as produces yields OF from 80
to SO bushels OF wheat per acre. while
oats run from fifty TO over hundred
bushels per acre. II is not only a mat.
ter OF free grants. but In Western Can.
ada are also TO be had other lands at
prices ranging from sl2 TO $50 per
acre. the difference In price being
largely n matter OF location and dis.
lance from railway. II one takes into
consideration the scarcity OF free
grant lands in the United States II IT,
not difficult 10 understand why there
has been most material advances In
the price OF farm lands.
A few years ago, land hat now sells
for two hundred dollars an acre In
Iowa, could have been bought for sew.
enty-five dollars an acre or less. The
increased price is warranted by the
on these farms. The lands that today
a be had in Western Canada at the
low prices quoted will In a less time
than that taken for the Iowa lands to
increase, have a proportionate In.
crcase In Nebraska the lands that
sold for sixteen TO twenty dollars per
acre seven years ago. find n market at
one hundred and seventy.ive dollars
an acre. for the same reason given for
the increase in Iowa lands. Values
in these two States. as well as In 9th.
ers that might be mentioned. show
that Western Canada lands are going
ut a song at their present prices, In
many cases In Western Canada today,
there are American settlers. who real.
ize this, and are placing q value OF
sixty and seventy dollars an acre on
their improved farms, but would sell
only because they can purchase uD.
improved land at such a low price that
in another few years they would have
equally az good farms as they left or