206 



THE IEKIGATIOX AGE. 



If 5 per cent of the Canadian immigration goes from 

 Minnesota and an equal number from Wisconsin, and the 

 proportionate loss to each state is unquestionably greater, it 

 means 10,000 settlers' will leave this state in 1912, carrying 

 away with them approximately $10,000,000 in money or 

 property. 



To stem this loss, Wisconsin appropriates less than one- 

 tenth part of one per cent. Seven thousand dollars is the 

 'sum set apart by law with which to pay office expenses, 

 postage, salaries and exhibitors, with less than half the 

 amount available for advertising, in an effort to combat the 

 flood of Canadian literature and the group of Canadian 

 agents now working in our own state. 



Our lands are not half developed. From eight to ten 

 million acres remain uncultivated, which with intensive farm- 

 ing methods, now being introduced in Wisconsin, will in- 

 crease the present yield many fold. Every effort to acquaint 

 our people with the opportunities to be found in Wisconsin 

 should be put forth. We challenge comparison, either in 

 markets or climate, water or soil, seed or home making pos- 

 sibilities with any other state or country, and when we are 

 able to bring the comparative advantages of our own state 

 home to the discontented farmer in our midst and he is per- 

 suaded to direct his energies to his vocation, it is a finan- 

 cial saving to the community and a better citizen for the 

 state. 



This note of warning sounded by Mr. Frear is by no 

 means idle talk, but should be seriously considered not only 

 by the border states but by every state in the Union 

 and especially by our national government. Nor is it the 

 factor of advertising alone which draws or drives the United 

 States farmer or settler across the border. 



A thorough inquiry should be made into this subject, as 

 it vitally affects the prosperity of our country. Of course 

 Canada has millions of acres of land which can be settled 

 under very liberal homestead laws, which facts are doubt- 

 less strong drawing cards for the exodus of American citi- 

 zens to the Canadian Northwest. In the United States free 

 homestead land has practically disappeared and the cost of 

 land has greatly risen, so that it is difficult for a settler 

 with a small capital to obtain a foothold in the United States, 

 and he naturally turns to the country offering the best con- 

 ditions. The United States, on the other hand, offers a far 

 more agreeable climate and better and nearer markets, 

 together with the attractive features of civilization which 

 are more pronounced in densely settled countries. 



All of these things are factors which should be investi- 

 gated thoroughly and the widest publicity fhould be given 

 the results obtained. 



One factor particularly needs elucidation, and that is the 

 inability of our farmers at the present time to furnish suf- 

 ficient food products for our nation while millions upon mil- 

 lions of acres of land lie idle. When this is considered in 

 connection with the loss of 200,000 able-bodied settlers who. 

 no doubt, would rather work these idle millions of acres at 

 home than to go to seek their fortunes in a foreign country, 

 the problem looks almost absurd, and it doesn't take mucli 

 studying to find out that there is something fundamentally 

 wrong. 



The reason is undoubtedly the fact that much of the good 

 farming land in the United States is held too hrgh in price 

 by land speculators, and by the making of unsatisfactory 

 conditions where land is bought on the instalment plan. The 

 average American land owner wants too much profit on his 

 land, and if he were willing to accept a fair interest on his 

 investment the chances are that he would be' able to dispose 

 of his land holdings and assist the country by being instru- 

 mental in getting twenty or forty or eight acres under cul- 

 tivation, helping to feed our home nation and keeping several 

 farmers busy near home. 



Another point of importance is the old idea of twenty 

 years ago, that it takes 160 acres or more to make a living 



on a farm. This fallacious principle is doing an untold 

 amount of harm, as it fills the mind of intending settlers with 

 dread that they will be unable to get along unless they, have 

 at least a quarter section of farm land and if then they see 

 the glowing advertisements of the Canadian railways, telling 

 them how quarter sections of splendid land are given away 

 up there as homesteads, it is easily understood why they 

 flock northward. As a matter of fact, after the Canadian 

 settler from the United States goes up there he finds things 

 different, and many come back, after loss of time and money. 



What must be done here in the United States is to 

 educate the people, and especially the rural population, that 

 large farm units are not essential, and that intense cultiva- 

 tion of a few acres will show better results and pay better 

 than the large farms improperly worked. Our government 

 has recognized this fact, and has induced many settlers upon 

 some of its western irrigation projects to reduce their hold- 

 ings to much smaller units, and the results have been very 

 good. 



Summarizing the proposition, we will say with Mr. 

 Frear : By all means advertise your vacant lanas, and adver- 

 tise them through the proper channels, but do not neglect the 

 other points considered, as the advertising alone won't put 

 our vacant lands under cultivation. We have the markets 

 and a good, agreeable climate, and if we extend to the 

 willing settler a helping hand, he will stay at home and help 

 build up the country, swelling the aggregate of a happy and 

 contented nation. 



It is just twenty-one years since the first 

 Back National Irrigation Congress organized and 



to the met in Salt Lake City. Since that time this 



Place of organization has done much for the arid 



Birth West in promoting the interests of irriga- 



tion by educating the people to success- 

 fully solve the many problems of agriculture in that 

 region. 



Much progress has been made during that period in 

 extending knowledge pertaining to agronomy, hydraulics, 

 engineering, irrigation and drainage, so that a great part 

 of what was formerly the great American desert is now 

 an aggregation of successful farms and happy homes, and 

 due credit must be given to the National Irrigation Con- 

 gress for its share in this work. Much of the Reclama- 

 tion Work of the Government would probably never have 

 been undertaken had it not been for the activity of this 

 organization. 



And it has barely entered upon its full scope of 

 work; there is a multitude of problems constantly aris- 

 ing, due to new conditions which require careful con- 

 sideration ; the principal ones of these are, the most 

 economical use of water for irrigation purposes, a uni- 

 form system of water measurements, the amount of water 

 required for various crops, and the most economical 

 methods of transporting water to the lands to be irri- 

 gated. The fact seems to be generally admitted that 

 much water has been wasted recently in irrigation, and 

 that a much greater area of land can be served by the 

 exercise of proper economy. 



No one doubts that the National Irrigation Congress 

 is best qualified to discuss these questions intelligently 

 and finally adopt the best measures to reach the desired 

 ends. 



The Congress will meet in Salt Lake City, early in 

 Oictober, and it should prove to he a very interest- 

 ing and important meeting which should be attended by 

 the irrigators of Utah and adjoining states as fully as 



