Meade County news., 1916-05-11
A LAND PROBLEM AHEAD
(FRoM THE PEORIA JouRNAL.)

The Nebraska State Journal calls at.
tention to the fact that Uncle Sam s
opening of 4,000-acre tract in the
North Platte irrigation district for set.
tlement practically winds up the free
land distribution" Of the nation. II
adds:
Free or cheap land has been
the American safety valve. A
population straining for self-bet-
terment has had its own remedy
to go west and grow up with the
country. With the government
reduced to advertising an opening
Of forty-three farms, the safety
valve may be considered forever
closed. The expansive energy for
merly exerted outward, must here
after work itself out intenslvely.
. Increasing land speculation, with
rapidly rising prices of land and
proportionately increasing dissat-
isfaction among the landless would
seem inevitable. The tone of our
politics and the intensity of our
social problems cannot but be vi.
tally changed under the strain of
dealing internally with a social
pressure which hitherto has had
the wilderness to vent itself upon.
Land hunger will soon become a
reality In this rapidly growing country
and the constant pressure of popula.
tion, increasingly highe$ han the ratio
Of production, is bound to bring us
face to face with economic problems
that we have heretofore considered re-
mote. The far-sighted statesman and
publicist must devote his thought
earnestly to the consideration of these
questions II we are to escape the 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
to the actual settler. There is nc
dearth of homesteads of this size, and
the land is of the highest quality, be
ing such as produces yields of from &c
to go 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 Al
prices ranging from $12 to $40 PEI
acre, the difference in price beinl
largely matter Of location and dis
tance from railway. II one takes int
consideration the scarcity OF fire.,
grant lands in the United States 1t Il
not difficult to understand why ther,
has been most material advances II
the price of farm lands.
A few years ago, land that now sell
for two hundred dollars an acre Il
Iowa, could have been bought for seN
enty-five dollars an acre or less. TIL
increased price is warranted by tn
increased value of the product raise
on these farms. The lands that toda
can be had in Western Canada at tn
low prices quoted will In a less tim
than that taken for the Iowa lands I
increase, have proportionate II
crease. In Nebraska the lands this
sold for sixteen to twenty dollars pc
acre seven years ago, find a market 9
one hundred and seventy-five dollar
an acre, for the same reason given fC
the increase in Iowa lands. Value
in these two States, as well as In otl
ers that might be mentioned, sho'
that Western Canada lands are goln
at song at their present prices.
many cases in Western Canada toda!
there are American settlers, who rea
ize this. and are placing value G
sixty and seventy dollars an acre o
their improved farms, but would Sc
only because they can purchase III
improved land at such low price ths
In another few years they would hav
equally as good farms as they left G
such as their friends have in the Uni
ed States.