50 HOW TO GT A FARM 



saved the nation from destruction, so the still cheap 

 er ones may be relied on to insure its preservation. 



A recent anonymous writer on this subject fur 

 nishes the following appropriate suggestions : 



&quot; The lands given away will be worth far more to the 

 country, peopled with an industrious population, than lying 

 waste as they now do. They will soon yield up their treas 

 ures of grain or of cotton and tobacco to be exported, and 

 to buy goods that will pay a duty to the Government. 

 Peopled, they will furnish soldiers for the army, and taxes 

 to pay their expenses, should the country need them. Be 

 fore this law was passed, lands were so cheap that every 

 man of real energy and industry could obtain a homestead 

 if he tried, provided he could raise the means to get on to 

 the land. This will be the chief difficulty now. Hundreds 

 and thousands of families, to whom the land would be a 

 priceless boon, will never be able to reach it. They have 

 little forecast, are poor and in debt, and pretty much dis 

 couraged. They cannot find constant employment, and do 

 not know how to employ themselves profitably. If associa 

 tions could be formed for settling these lands in part by 

 such families, it would meet the difficulty. It would help 

 them without damaging the success of the new settlement. 

 It would secure to them at once homesteads and full em 

 ployment, which they so much need. 



. &quot; Many questions are asked concerning this new law by 

 those who desire to avail themselves of its advantages. A 

 careful reading of the law will answer many of them. The 

 lands are to be found in Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minne 

 sota, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, and on the Pacific, 

 in large extent, and some still in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, 

 though they are probably not of a very inviting character. 

 The lands lying along railroads are of double price, and, on 



