Speech #530047390

That was at a time anterior to the golden age in the morning of which the gentlemanfrom Aurora. well named. was bornan Auroral birth. letme say. in all res pects. At that time the prairies of Illinois were for sale at $1.25 per acre. and there were thousands and hundreds of thousands of sheep ranging theirsurface. As men have come in there. by birth and by immigration. by hundreds of thousands. until 4.000.000 of people occupy the soil of that State. the land has risen to $50 and $100 an acre. during our long winters the sheep have to be folded and shedded and fed on highpriced hay and grain. Constant carehas to be bestowed upon them. There is no longer room for profitable sheepgrowing. and the consequence isand what I say of Illinois in this respect is true in large degree of all the States of the Northwestthe consequence is that the number of sheep flocks is small and the number of sheep in each flock is small.