Give Homemaker A Chance

Shall the nation's great domain of western arid lands and the nation's money be used to enrich a comparatively few greedy individuals, or shall they be used to furnish security and happiness for millions of men, women and children?

Uncle Sam is still rich enough to give us all a farm. And an irrigated farm, at that. It is not a dream but a fact that the present population of the United States can be duplicated on the arid public domain in the west.

This can be done without making new competitors for those already engaged in agricultural pursuits in the east and in the south. On the other hand, this wonderful act of planting a new nation in what is now all but an unbroken wilderness will confer enormous benefits on those sections which are already covered with farms, factories and towns.

The subjugation and settlement of the great empire of public lands means that every factory wheel in the United States must whirl faster, that every banking house must handle more money, and that every railroad must transport more passengers and freight. This, in turn, means a larger and busier population in every eastern and southern town, and that, of course, will quicken and enlarge the demand for all products of the soil in the older sections of the country.

In the meantime, that which is grown from the soil to be conquered by irrigation in the west will go almost exclusively to the feeding of new home-markets to be created within the arid region itself and to the satisfaction of unlimited demands in the Orient and in the frozen north.

Congress has decreed that the great policy of national irrigation shall be entered upon without delay. Already the engineers and surveyors are doing their work and five great projects have been reported favorably to the Interior Department. Only about $7,000,000 are required to carry all five to completion and the money is in the treasury awaiting the call. But upon the threshold of the greatest constructive policy to which this nation ever set its hand, a new and appalling obstacle is encountered.

Almost every acre of these lands which the nation is about to prepare for the swarming of a home-building population may, under existing laws, be stolen and used as the basis of a profitable speculation. And those who desire to secure these lands for speculative purposes are strong enough to tie the hands of congress until the deed shall have been done. This, too, in spite of the fact that the president of the United States has urged the repeal of these iniquitous land laws as something which is vital to the success of the national irrigation policy.

Shall the nation's land then, and the nation's money be used to enrich a comparatively few greedy individuals, or shall they be used to furnish security and happiness for millions of men, women and children?

This is the question which must be answered when congress meets again. The answer depends absolutely upon the will of the people as it shall be made known to their representatives at Washington. No power on earth, except the power of an aroused and indignant public opinion can save the arid region from falling prey to the speculators who are alive to their opportunity while the people are asleep. In this last message, the president recommended the repeal of the Desert Land Law, of the commutation clause of the Homestead Law, and of the Timber and Stone Act. Those are the provisions of existing statutes under which absolutely the most valuable property now owned by the American people is being systematically absorbed into private ownership by those who cannot use it, but who purpose to sell it at enormous profit to real home seekers when the nation shall have multiplied its value an hundred-fold by means of irrigation.

The nation has land for every man who will make his home upon it in good faith- who will break the sod, plant crops, build a house, and settle down to support his family from the soil. But the nation has no land- at least, it ought to have none for the man who merely seeks to forestall the actual settler and sell out to him at a profit, or become a landlord collecting income from his tenants.

Under present land laws millions of acres are being taken by those who have no thought of breaking the soil planting crops, or building homes. They are mere adventurers and speculators.

The Desert Land Law gives them a chance to obtain for a song, without residence and without cultivation, three hundred and twenty acres of the richest soil on earth - enough for sixteen families. The commutation clause of the Homestead Law gives them a chance to take up one hundred an sixty acres with but the barest pretence of residence, and that for only fourteen months. The Timber and Stone Act enables them to acquire forests and quarries for a bagatelle and to hold them for speculative advances.

Frank Stockton left the hero of his famous tale hesitating before two doors. If he opened one, it meant life and happiness; if the other death. And the question was never answered the Lady or the Tiger?"

Uncle Sam stands at the door of the arid region. His foot is on the threshold, his hand is at the latch.

Shall it be homemaker or the speculator? Shall it be life and happiness for millions, or a riot and a carnival of speculation at the expense of the people?

There is but one way to answer the question in the interest of the nation's welfare. That is to repeal the vicious provisions of the existing land laws, in accordance with the president's recommendation.