OCR Text |
Show Outlines Six Steps for Land Use Plan "Much lower prices for what he sells, higher prices for what he buys, and higher taxes these are the upper up-per nnd nether millstones which are slowly grinding the life out of rural America," said Prof. M. L. Wilson of Montana State College in a radio address, over an NBC network in the program of the National Advisory Council on Radio In Education. "Fortunately, "For-tunately, there Is a way out," Wilson Wil-son stated, "but the way demands a reversal of the basic land policy of the nation." The speaker presented six steps In a program for land utilization. First in the list of six fundamentals fundamen-tals suggested by Professor Wilson is the repeal of the Homestead Act and the enactment of a new national land policy bill which, he pointed out, is essential because there is no more land In the public domain suitable suit-able for farming and home building. "Secondly, each state should classify clas-sify its lands, develop a state-wide land use plan and Institute a program pro-gram of action," Professor Wilson advised. The third step is that poor land, as determined by land utilization utiliza-tion studies, should be taken out of production. Additional steps in the plan presented pre-sented by Professor Wilson include the modification of land taxes and reorganization of local government ; the withdrawal of poor lands from production to solve the surplus problem. prob-lem. Suggesting how this might be carried out, he explained the "Domestic "Do-mestic Allotment Plan" which calls for the Issuance of certain allotments to farmers to grow the .kinds of crops they have been growing, the farmer to receive tariff protection on the alloted acres. Finally, Wilson recommended part time farming and the decentralization of industry. To prevent men who are farming unsuitable land from joining the ranks of the unemployed, Professor Wilson stated that industry must adopt a new policy coupling Industry with small farm agriculture. Small farms, located near Industrial plants, he said, would not produce the great food staples of which there is a surplus. |