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THE EDITOR'S DRAWER 



THE Kansas oil fields are being de- 

 veloped. 



MONTANA shipped 306,460 head of cattle 

 in 1895 valued at $11,032,560. 



A BILL has been reported favorably by 

 the committee on territories of the United 

 States Congress to admit a delegate from 

 Alaska, thus making it a full-fledged terri- 

 tory. 



THE Canadian government has decided 

 to continue the Chicago immigration office 

 under the control of Peter F. Daley who 

 has been doing such good work in behalf 

 of the Northwest Territories. 



SENATOR HANSBROUGH and Representa- 

 tive Cooper have introduced bills in the 

 Senate and House respectively, to incorpo- 

 rate the Maritime Canal of North America 

 to connect the Great Lakes and Hudson 

 river. The capital stock is to be $10,- 

 000,000. 



IRRIGATION has proved itself the one 

 great necessity for Idaho and the press 

 and the people are co-operating for ex- 

 tensions of the great improvements already 

 established. Numerous new irrigating 

 companies have been incorporated the 

 past season. 



JAMES B. ANGELL of Michigan, John E. 

 Russell of Massachusetts, and Lyman E. 

 Cooley of Illinois have been appointed by 

 the President as commissioners to make 

 inquiry and report upon the feasibility of 

 a deep water canal between the lakes and 

 the Atlantic ocean, under the act approved 

 in March last. 



THE Torrens Land Law is proving a 

 success in Cook county, Illinois. It is 

 the means of saving a great amount of 

 time, annoyance and expeuse in the trans- 

 ferring of real estate or in borrowing 

 money thereon. The abstract companies 

 are naturally opposed to it but its utility 

 has now been practically demonstrated. 



THE Western Mining World comes out 

 in a bold stand against the statements of 

 the Northwest Magazine that the West is 

 destined to be an arid region forever. 



The Northwest Magazine has nearly always 

 been inclined to look with disfavor upon 

 anything tending to develop the irrigation 

 possibilities of the Western States. 



THE Burlington railroad has 50,000 

 acres of land for sale in Nebraska, princi- 

 pally located in Webster and Franklin 

 counties in the,.southern part of the State, 

 and in Antelope, Sherman, Greeley and 

 Valley counties in the North Platte dis- 

 trict. The land commissioner ,at Lincoln, 

 Neb., is disposing of these lands on very 

 reasonable terms. 



THE following prices show what the 

 choice grain lands of the San Luis valley are 

 worth to practical farmers. Ten quarter 

 sections were sold bringing about $20,000, 

 without improvements. The best forties 

 sold as high as $25.25 per acre for the 

 bare land, and the poorest for $6 per acre. 

 The average of 1,600 acres was $13.32 

 per acre for the land only. 



KANSAS has again come to the front in 

 spite of the retirement of Mary Ellen 

 Lease. This time it is a corporation in 

 which membership is conditional upon 

 being in debt. It is named the Mont- 

 gomery County Mortgage Relief Associa- 

 tion. It is intended to accumulate a re- 

 serve fund by regular assessments and this 

 fund will be used by such members as are 

 particularly hard pressed by creditors. 



RUSSIA has a system of government 

 banks for loaning money to farmers. 

 They number thirty-six, all but three be- 

 ing restricted to specific territory. There 

 is, no competition of any kind, and the 

 rules and regulations are carefully drawn. 

 The last statement shows $600,000,000 

 loaned on land and $250,000,000 on build- 

 ings, in mortgages of periods varying 

 from one to sixty years. These banks are 

 authorized to issue bonds to ten times 

 their capital, but never to exceed the loans 

 on real estate made by them. They are 

 issued at par and to a certain extent pass 

 as currency, being frequently used to can- 

 cel mortgage obligations. 



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