Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 65, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1910 — Editorials [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Editorials

Opinions o/ Great Papera on Important Subject*

REFORM THE LAND LAWS.

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OW backward we are still is shown by the fact that no urgency of public opinion and no pressure of common honesty has'yet succeeded in making the preliminary step—-a reasonable reform of the land laws. The agencies of justice are employed in discovering and punishing land thieves whose

crimes were invited by legislation apparently framed for ” their especial profit. The repeal of the desert land act, the timber and stone act, and the stringent enforcement of the provisions of the homestead act are necessary to honest dealing with the land question. Speculators and land grabbers prevent this, while occasional Congressmen and Senators are smirched and disgraced by particl—pating In land frauds. We have enlarged the unit of. public land for Alaska, in order to tempt dishonesty there. We have made it 160 acres for land reclaimed at great expense, although a large family could not possibly cultivate twenty acres of this land as It should be. Perhaps economy must be substituted for the extravagance now too prevalent in every department of government before we can hope to see It supreme In land reclamation and distribution. But this plain business conception must be restored before the country can hope either to realize upon or retain its most valuable resources.— World’s Work. DON’T PUNISH THE FAMILIES.

EARLY everybody nowadays fancies ho perceives wherein the social organization can be improved. Once in a while somebody does suggest a concrete change that looks good. A judge in Chicago recommends that a portion of the fines or the labor of prisoners in bridewells, houses of correc-

tiou, jails and the like& be diverted from the coffers of the State and paidTto the destitute wife or family, whose livelihood is suspended during the sentence of the culprit. A wife beater or a child beater is properly convicted and punished. But the punishment falls also upon his family, dependent on the wages he cannot earn while serving his sentence. Women and children, too, are deterred from complaining against the bully and niffiau, because they prefer his blows and abuse to near starvation. Many an ill-used wife has begged the judge to let her husband off because while he is in prison her babes Will suffer. Money derived from fines or from labor of prisoners, the State can dispense with, provided it is used to supply families with necessities until the brute is returned to society to make a living for his own. Money thus

expended would be a real saving to the State, since It would prevent the breaking up and demoralisation of families and would keep some from lapsing into charges upon the State. Also there would be less wife beating -and general brutality, or else more punishment for the same.—Minneapolis Journal. AN EXAMPLE OF FBOGBESS.

N 1850 Texas sold to the United States a strip of territory approxlmating'loo,ooo,000 acres for $10,000,000. Texas was larger then than she is now and was in debt. The land was considered valuable and Texas needed the money. At an average valuation of $lO an acre the land to-day would

be worth a billion dollars. As a matter of fact, some of it is worth times $lO an acre and is all the time becoming more valuable. There was opposition to the sale at the time, but it was ineffective. Those who favored the sale contended that the land was worthless and that the United States Government was buying an elephant. The Legislature thought it wise to sell, and the deal was put through. The territory sold now covers the eastern half of New Mexico, a corner of Oklahoma and Kansas and a strip of Colorado. If Texas had retained that land she would to-day be about one-third larger and a billion dollars wealthier than at present. The outcome is a striking illustration of the growth and progress of this country.—Louisville Courier-Journal. LIFE-SAVING STATIONS FOB MINERS.

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ONGRESS is earnestly taking up the question of making the life of a miner more secure. The Federal Government has already taken some steps in this direction, looking to the establishment of stations from which experts may go out to mines where there has been a disaster. One

Senator —name, Bailey, of Texas —has raised the question of State rights. To the credit of all the other Senators, the question is not raised. This Government provides life-saving stations along the coast, both on salt water and on the Great Lakes, and places there trained men, ready on a moment’s notice to rush to the rescue of sailors and others Imperiled by the waters. Why not also have these life-saving stations distributed properly over the country, where they can go quickly to save the lives of men in danger in mines? The work Is a good one and the country will be gratified if steps are taken by our Congress to further promote this work.—Danville Commercial News.