A CAMPAIGN FOR NATIONAL PROSPERITY. 



43 



shalt thou eat bread." There is reason to hope for 

 new and better institutions in the great virgin half- 

 continent. There is the promise of a larger measure 

 of independence and a nearer approach to human 

 equality. There is almost a guarantee of a higher 

 average prosperity for the common people than they 

 have ever realized before in the history of the world. 

 But these things are 'to be purchased with the old- 

 fashioned coin of honest toil and courageous effort. 



THE PEOPLE'S HERITAGE. 



The government of the United States, familiarly 

 and lovingly personified in the term Uncle Sam, is 

 the largest land owner in the world. It used to be 

 said that "Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all 

 a farm. 1 ' But the extraordinary scenes witnessed 

 during the past few years at the opening of the Okla- 

 homa, Sioux Reservation and the Cherokee Strip re- 

 minded the public sharply of two things. First, that 

 public land was becoming scarce. Second, that the 

 demand for land on the part of the people was as 

 fierce and insatiable as ever. Now, the truth is that 

 Uncle Sam is still opulent in the matter of his landed 

 possessions. He is still able to deal generously with 

 those of his children who want farms. He is notable 

 to give them on the old terms of $1.25 per acre, but 

 he is able to furnish a far better quality of farms and 

 a much fairer promise of happiness and prosperity. 



Uncle Sam still owns more than half a billion acres 

 of public land in Western America. It is the heritage 

 of the American people. It is perhaps fortunate that 

 it will require the construction of great systems of 

 irrigation to make this land fit for occupation, be- 

 cause in the making of these systems great sums of 

 capital and mighty human energies must be utilized, 

 and that is what is needed to render idle capital pro- 

 ductive and thus restore good times. It must not be 

 understood that all of this half billion acres will ever 

 be agricultural land. Most happily, our resources 

 are diversified. The public heritage is part arable, 

 part forest, part pasturage, and a great part bursting 

 with precious metals, with base metals, with marble, 

 onyx and other building stone. It will thus furnish 

 the foundation for a symmetrical industrial life. But 

 agriculture is the foundation of civilization. It was 

 that industry with which the Pilgrim Fathers began 

 in the Massachusetts colonies. The most conserva- 

 tive estimate concedes that this great heritage will 

 sustain at least as many people as now live in the 

 United States, or seventy millions. 



******* 



[Here follows a comparison of "the old promised 

 land and the new," with a statement of the advantage 

 of irrigation over rainfall. This is succeeded by a 

 statement of the land laws which have hindered 

 progress in the past. Then follows a description of 

 the Carey Law and the manner in which it is proposed 

 to utilize it in several states. ED.] 



PRACTICAL STEPS TO A GREAT END. 



There is no more question about the existence of a 

 large class of unemployed or half-employed than 

 about the existence of the deserts which are awaiting 

 transformation into prosperous homes. But how 

 shall the surplus labor be brought to the surplus 

 lands? This is the broad question. Let it now be 

 stated more in detail. <l) How are the unemployed 

 and others who seek to better their condition to be 

 discovered and organized? (2) How then are they to 

 be transported to the place where labor awaits them? 

 (3) How are they to be supported after they get there? 



(4) Having completed their labors on the canal and 

 taken up a forty-acre farm under it, how are they to 

 be sustained until they get returns from their crops, 

 and how are they to obtain implements to begin opera- 

 tion? (5) How is the large capital which will be re- 

 quired by construction companies to be raised? 



Perhaps it is not possible, and certainly it is not 

 necessary, to answer every question in advance. 

 Probably General Booth was not able to anticipate 

 with a satisfactory answer every question which arose 

 in the minds of doubting Thomases when he entered 

 upon the organization of the Salvation Army. Many 

 another great project, along all lines of human en- 

 deavor, has been bravely undertaken in the face of a 

 crying demand for performance, but before it was 

 possible to clearly foresee how each difficulty should 

 be surmounted. Nevertheless, this subject has been 

 carefully considered with men of various classes and 

 is not now undertaken without forethought. Answer- 

 ing the above questions it may be said: 



(1) Agitation precedes organization, but in this in- 

 stance the two operations need not be far apart. It is 

 proposed to inaugurate this movement by great public 

 meetings in New York, Boston and Chicago, followed 

 by meetings in all other important eastern cities. The 

 movement also counts upon the hearty co-operation 

 of the newspapers and magazines, since a cause which 

 seeks to make homes for millions, and to evolve new 

 forms of industry and society, must necessarily be 

 possessed of the deepest human interest. It is also 

 expected that labor organizations will heartily co- 

 operate along this line, since the presence of a large 

 class of unemployed is a constant menace to work 

 and wages. The practical means of enrolling appli- 

 cants will be to announce places in the leading cities 

 where lists will be opened. 



2. The burden of transportation, in case large 

 bodies are organized to go to common points, may be 

 lightened in several ways. Western railroads must 

 be profoundly interested in this movement, as settle- 

 ment of their tributary territory is their only hope of 

 profitable operation. Already assured of a high de- 

 gree of interest in these quarters, the projectors of 

 the movement count upon obtaining extraordinary 

 terms for the transportation of homeseekers who may 

 go in large bodies. Furthermore, construction com- 

 panies can afford to make some advance on wages 

 for this purpose in view of the fact that they are ob- 

 taining not only laborers, but also the settlers who 

 are to make their investment profitable. Still further, 

 public contributions of funds may assist. New York 

 City spent $22,000,000 for charity last winter, most of 

 which was expended in a way to make men depefid- 

 ent. Possibly New York and other cities will expend 

 something to assist men on the road to independ- 

 ence. 



3. Laborers will be supported after their arrival 

 and during the period or their work on canals by 

 construction companies, which will pay so much a 

 month "and board." 



4. The problem of supporting a cla's which starts 

 without original capital during the period which in- 

 tervenes between the planting of crops and the har- 

 vest is the most serious question in the list. But an 

 answer will be found. By no means all who avail 

 themselves of the opportunity to obtain labor and 

 homes will be penniless. But assuming that there 

 will be many who are, it is entirely feasible to pay 

 men but little cash for their labor, while working for 

 their board on the canals, and to pay the balance in 



