[901 , 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 





But it does not stop there. The shop 

 that makes the locomotive sends to other 

 shops for tools and machines, and they in 

 turn send further for the tools that make 

 the tools and the machines that make the 

 machines, and the chain widens and ex- 

 tends its reach clear back to the mine 

 where the men dig out the ore, to the 

 shops that make the picks and shovels they 

 use, to the forests where the handles are 

 cut and to the mills that cut the lumber for 

 erecting the shop. 



There is no hardwood west of the 

 100th meridian and in large sections there 

 is no coal or iron. There is oil in places 

 but its extent is uncertain. But even with 

 fuel the absence of suitable materials will 



cities to build and great enterpi 



every kind to engage the ei the 



wide awake young men who* 



feet will wander from the crov* 



ern home in search of opportunit} and 



venture. 



When we were children we used I 

 " Uncle Sam is Rich Enough to B 

 All a Farm,' and this consciousness w.> 

 safety valve for all the discontent and enw 

 arising from deprivation and hardship 

 among the poor. The public lands were 

 open and the tinker and the tailor, the 

 bookkeeper and the barber, the labc 

 and his sons knew that if worst cairn 

 worst they could go west and find a quarter- 

 section and make a home on it. Who can 



leave the west dependent for agricultural tell what misery, what riots, w hat anarch} . 



machinery of every kind, farming imple 

 ments, wagons, buggies, and fine furni 

 ture upon the older States for generations 

 to come. It takes an age to build up such 

 establishments as those turning out fine 

 carpets, ribbons, watches, etc., and there 



what class hatred we have escaped through 

 this happy condition. But ad that i- .1 

 thing of the past now. The safety valve 

 is closed. 



The tillable land is exhausted and the 

 prairie schooner no longer Hits across the 



an open claim to settle on. The need is 

 greater than ever before because the wh, .It- 



will be a demand that will steadily grow country with a family aboard hunting 

 with every passing year. 



This will give the American business 

 man and manufacturer a market right at 

 his door that will be far more valuable 

 than all the foreign possessions we can 

 ever acquire. Here we will make both 

 sides of the bargain. Our foreign trade 

 divides the benefits but if we trade be- 

 tween ourselves we are both buyer and 

 seller, maker and user and all the advan- 

 tages are our own. Western America is 



Middle West and even Iowa and Kansas 

 are as thickly settled as New York and 

 New England were when the} sent their 

 sons and daughters out to till up Ohio. 

 Kentucky, and the Mississippi Valley. 

 Then the home-seekers came out of a 

 small fraction of territory compared with 

 that which is swarming to-day. All New 

 England, the Atlantic States, the whole 



the most heavily mineralized region on the Mississippi Valley clear to the foot of the 

 globe and when its boundless riches are Rocky Mountains is dotted with school 



developed there will be a field for enter- 

 prise not equalled since Columbus discov- 

 ered America. 



It is a question what is to become of the 

 large crop of mining, mechanical, and 

 electrical engineers that are annually grad- 

 uated from the universities of the country. 



houses full of children who in twent) 

 years must have homes of their own. 



Where shall they go ? Shall thej crowd 

 out their older brothers on the farms or 



take lower wages and longer hours in the 

 coal mine or the factory in ordei t" get 

 places at all ? Who can think ol Mich an 



They leave college to find every branch of alternative, with its privations, its strug- 



business overdone and many of them turn 

 to some very modest occupation, from 

 peddling corsets to running cable cars 

 until the time comes when they can gain 

 a foothold in their chosen line. 



The reclamation of 100,000,000 acres 

 or even a fraction of that number means 

 opportunities for thousands of trained men. 



odes for a chance to labor, its strikes 

 against hard conditions, without casting 

 about for some relief. Who can calculate 

 the strain upon republican institutions 

 when the hungry poor haw no place t> 

 and have the extravagance "i the rich 

 flaunted constantly in their laces ? 



Only divine intelligence could foretell 



There will be important public works, the many ways in v 



canals and bridges, irrigation systems, and the West will hem-lit the rest of 



railroads to plan and oversee, there will be The vast sums spent in attempting to C 











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