Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1938-03-31
w. /. ENDICOTT WRITES VERY
INTERESTING LETTER

| Editor of Morgan County Demo
tive hills in Athens and Morgan
counties, after an absence of Sc
years, broken only by brief and in.
frequent visits, / have been asked
to express some opinion of the rela-
tive advantages presented by
Ohio and the west. Most of my life
has been spent in Iowa, but travel
in IA states while in the employ
ment Of the department of the in
terror and bureau of Indian affairs
has served to confer postgraduate
course of instruction on commercial
and physical geography, two neg
lected branches of study with which
the affairs of every American are
closely associated
| By "advantages'' the greater
number of inquiries refer only to
the subject of making money
of putting the golden calf of the
/ children of Israel in the feed lot
and fattening it to greater proper
| tions and more refined appearance.
My own belief is that man may be
quite as poor on 800 acres of excel
lent prairie land as he can be on 40
acres of Ohio hills, clothed in this
soil; and that the owner of 40 acres
of Ohio hills may be quite as rich
as the one who holds title to the
half section of prairie. My idea of
riches refers to happiness, content
ment, elevated manhood and wom-
anhood, the rearing of families with
correct ideas and worthy missions,
friends. Character, to me, is the
great wealth and the true reward
for living. But some effort will be
made in the contribution to dis
cuss advantages as such matters
are popularity accepted
The west has been advertised as
the land of promise; Horace Greely
advised the young man to sgo west
and grow up with the country
Many acted on his advice-he did
not go west himself-found to their
loss and sorrow and suffering that
the greater area of the ''west'
could not grow up The result
has been tragedies without num-
ber, the Wreckage of tens of thou
sands of lives of Industrious, in
telligent and patriotic citizens. The
west is not all alike. Some Of it,
but only small percentage of the
is good" cor fair still more
poor and the greater area west of
the Missouri and especially between
the meridians of Bismark, N. D.,
and Missoula, Montana, north and
south, from the Candian line to the
Rio Grande presents insurmount-
able obstacles Of soil, climate and
lack of water, to cultivation
The national board of resources.
an United States agency, headed by
Secretary of the Interior Ickes, has
listed all the land in all the states
under the five headings: excel
lent Good" "fair,' '.poor" and
not available for tillage. California
has been and still is greatly extolled
as the Garden of Eden" where ev-
cry day. begins with kiss from the
sun and ends with the lullaby of
soft and soothing breezes from the
ocean. California has less than 49,
600 acres of excellent land, little
more than two congressional town
ships. Ohio has more than 3,OOO,-
900 acres of such land, California
is five times as large as Pennsyl-
vania. Ohio has an area of 10000
square miles, California has twice
as much land not available for
tillage as the entire area of ohio.
North Dakota, Montana, Idaho.
Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, New
Mexico, Arizona and Nevada have
no excellent land. Utah, Arizona