With every one limited to 160 acres there would be so much thrown open
to settlement that it would practically wipe out all mortgages on land,
for the occupant of mortgaged premises, could give his owner the option
of accepting what would be a fair price under the new conditions, and if
it were refused then the occupant could simply back his wagon up, put
his portables on and drive to some of the Government land nearest to
him.
And it should not be so difficult to get the fencing and the lumber for
the few small buildings that would answer till he could get better, and,
once started, his condition would be a steady improvement, the interest
he now pays remaining on the premises where it is made. At present there
are the usual fences and buildings put up when the land is bought (part
down, the rest at 8 per cent.), and these are the only improvements,
outside of vine and tree growth, that can be made; the wear of time even
cannot be repaired, for the occupant has nothing to spare for repairs or
improvements, and even the necessaries of life are a tug, and as to
decent clothing for himself and wife and other dependants that is not to
be thought of while he is loaded down with that bane of modern life,
interest obligations.
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