Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 11.djvu/355

 Political Parties in Oregon 325 pared to give ready ear to the story of a new and fertile country where open waterway transportation to the sea was ample. 1 Coupled with this was the typical western attitude of mind that in a more or less vague way placed the responsibility of their bad financial situation upon the East, resulting in their nursing a sense of injury and in their desire to place them- selves beyond baleful tutelage. Land values were rising throughout the Middle West, necessitating smaller holdings. To a man of a large family for which he desired an adequate field of activity, the situation was becoming less and less desir- able. The pioneer method of agriculture is extensive. There is land in plenty and to spare and it is natural to seek the greatest returns with the minimum of effort. The extent of American areas had ever fostered this attitude and it has been a decisive factor in continually pushing westward the line of frontier. The farmer's land was rising in price. Taxes were increasing. Greater effort was required for making a com- fortable living. Debt followed financial stringency, with its relentless mortgage. Why not go to Oregon and begin again where free land was in prospect? The man with several sons rapidly approaching manhood wished them to have the oppor- tunity whicn had been his when as a young man he had taken up land on the then frontier. This opportunity was virtually promised in the far Northwest by the enlistment of such men as Benton and Linn in the effort to give the Oregon question an American solution. 2 The Linn Bill with its provision grant- ing six hundred and forty acres of land to every white male inhabitant who should cultivate the same for four years, had finally passed the Senate, February 3, 1843. It was an earnest of the future to those whose faces were set westward. The desire to "give the boys a chance," was not the least of those influences promoting settlement. 3 i Jesse Applegate, "Views of Oregon History," Ms. p. 31. 2 Jesse Applegate, "Views of Oregon History," Ms. p. 32. 3"Linn's bill in Congress was the first start that set me to thinking of coming here. . . Another inducement was to settle my family ... a family of boys and they were getting to be men and I was not able to settle them in Mis- souri. Land began to get up and it was hard to get, and I thought by moving to a new country my boys could shift for themselves." Wlm. Shaw, "Mississippi and Columbia River Valley Pioneer Life Compared," Ms. pp. 6, 7.