The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1922-04-21

stricken territory for seed. Congress
man Carl w. Riddick, of Montana, who
is a member of the Committee
on Agriculture of the House of Rep
resentatives, had an active part in Sc
curing the passage of this legislation.
Speaking for the measure on the floor
of Congress he said:
Land-hungry people in search of
homes of their own have gone to Mon.
tana from every State in the Union.
Severe and unusual droughts have
temporarily blighted portions of that
country for a period of years, until Of
my own personal knowledge I am able
to advise you that there is actual want
and suffering, and unless relief is af-
forded there is certain to follow more
of real suffering that should appeal to
the Congress.
In those sections the land and homes
and all the other property is mort
gagged to the limit. All assets have
been exhausted except the fine cour-
age, the splendid determination, and
the eternal hope Of those pioneer peo-
pie. They do not want to abandon
their homes and depopulate that coun-
try and add to the numbers Of desti-
tute unemployed. They are willing to
continue uncomplainingly to face hard
ships and %privations, to labor long
their laudable efforts to make for
themselves happy farm homes in that
new country, which is a part Of the
United States of America. But they
have expended all of their means and
all of their credit. They have the land
and the tools and the will to work,
but they have no seed for spring plant
ing, and they have no way to get any,
unless the Federal Government will
now come to their aid. They ask no
charity or aims. They do ask a mod.
est loan for each needy farmer, who
will repay the loan as soon as he
will raise a crop. Without this aid
their last hope is gone. Homes will
be lost to them forever. There will
be hunger and suffering, and want will
be actually felt right here in our own
land, and whole sections will be de-
populated.
We have not loaned, but have given
generously to alleviate suffering and
save life in Russia and other foreign
countries, and we cannot in justice
turn a deaf ear to actual suffering
among our own people and their re-
quests for a loan, which they will re-
pay, so they may feed themselves, and
save their homes, and work out their
own salvation.
The particular section of country
where these loans are needed are in
portions of the Dakotas and in eastern
Montana. In some of these sections
there have been four successive years
of drouth. That country is not settled
through real estate dealers, but by
men and women of all the States, who
have read Uncle Sans official docu-
ments, and who then have migrated to
that western country and settled upon
Government homestead land to satisfy
their longing to own a farm home that
they could call their own. Most of
these people are poor, and most of
them are young folks. They lack the
money to purchase livestock or ma
chinery to carry on diversified farm
ing, erect silos, or to carry them
through bad years. They are COM
PEELED by the force of circumstances
to confne their labor largely to the
raising Of wheat as a quick money
crop.
Some sections of Montana hold the
worlds record at national and inter.
national grain shows for raising the
finest grades of wheat, oats, barley,
corn, fax, and timothy in the world.
First prizes have been taken by Mon
tana grain in competition with all 9th.
er States and with all countries of the
world. Moreover, for a 10-year period
Immediately preceding the rough
years the official statistics published
by the United States Department of
Agriculture show that Montana holds
the record for larger yields per acre
of wheat, oats, rye, potatoes, and hay
than any other State in the Union.
In view of those established facts,
1t is not strange that people locked to
that country from every State and
sought to make a successful farm
home for themselves on Uncle Sans
domain, in a section that had made
such a remarkable record for agri-
cultural production. In addition to it's
mountains and forests and ranges,
Montana has 10000, 900 acres of farm
land, a territory as large as the State
of Illinois, Wisconsin, or New York,
and over that vast territory are many
varieties of soil, altitude, rainfall, and
climatic conditions.
Although this great territory was
formerly all regarded as an arid coun-
try and a part of the great American
desert, unsuitable for farming, it has
been demonstrated that parts of the
by any other State in the Union for
quality and quantity Of crop produc-
ton. But during the past five years
in parts of the State there have been
some most unusual and distressing
conditions. There has been a new low
record made for lack of rainfall. In
some sections crops that gave promise
Of generous yield were later eaten up
MONTANA LEADS IN
PURE BRED CATTLE