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Show PUNS 10 SECURE SOLDIERS' FUTURE OCCUPATION OF MILLIONS OF ACRES OF RECLAIMED LAND BY RETURNED MEN. Secretary Lane Asks for Hundred Million Mil-lion Dollars to Be Used in Making Life Easier for Men Who Fought for Freedom. Washington. Immediate consideration considera-tion of the interior department's request re-quest for $100,000,000 for the reclamation reclama-tion and occupation of 215,000,000 acres of tillable soil in this country by returned soldiers was asked by Secretary Sec-retary Lane at an informal meeting of members of congress held in the house .chamber on Friday. This plan of the department not only will provide labor for thousands of men discharged from the military service, Secretary Lane said, but will greatly .increase the resources of the uation. Briefly, the program contemplates that discharged soldiers be employed at current wages on vast reclamation schemes in many states, and that they be permitted later to select a section of the reclaimed land for farming purposes, pur-poses, the government furnishing money to pay for the cost of development. develop-ment. This money, together with the full cost of the land and interest, would later be returned to the government. govern-ment. No Cost to Government. "The project will not cost the government gov-ernment a penny," Secretary Lane said. "Full payment for the land will be made within forty years." Necessity for haste in making the appropriation was emphasized by Secretary Sec-retary Lane. Soldiers are being discharged dis-charged from the service at the rate of thousands a day, he said, and provision pro-vision for employing them should be made soon. "It would be unthinkable that the government should permit these men to search in vain for work," he added, "after they have willingly given up good jobs to help the country Ln its time of need, ready to sacrifice their lives if necessary. Who can say that the demand for labor will not soon be satisfied and that these soldiers will have to drift aimlessly from city to city, living from hand to mouth?" |