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Show I BORAH'S PLAN CUTS OUT BONUS Idaho Senator Proposes Reclaimed Re-claimed Lands for Former Service Men I WASHINGTON", May 13 Convinced that the soldier bonus bill Is dead and that undor no circumstances can It. get a favorable hearing In the senate, even If It should pass the house, Senator Sena-tor Borah of Idaho today Introduced a. modification of tho land settlement title of the Fordney bill, providing solely for the reclamation of lands' for "fiddlers and eliminating entirely, the Cash bonus and the accompanying, provision for special taxes. The" Borah bill authorizes the appropriation of $300,000 In the next ten years, not-more not-more than $50,000,000 to be appropriat-i ed in any one year. This entire amount to be expended In reclaiming lands and for loans to help the soldier establish himself on the lands when reclaimed. Before Introducing this bill, Senator1 Borah conferred with Senator Sraoot,' chairman of the public lands commit-' tee, and both senators togothcr, went I over tho senate situation, concluding! that the bonus bill pending in the house has not a ghost of a show of j ; 4 passing the senate. It then was ar-t L' ranged to have the Borah bill referred! Wli tcf the .public lands committee and Sen- KtJm ator Smoot has agreed to give the bill P9 early consideration in that committee. mm Senator Borah regards the prospects wfcM favorable for early action on his bill mm ana predicts Its passage by the senato & ' before the convention recess, June 6. KS The Borah bill recognizes absolutely the irrigation district Idea, and In H9 terms forbids the expenditure of a dol- Rl lar out of the appropriation for tho IH purchaso of lands, in those respects) HH differing radically from the Fordney E9 bill. Where .private lands are to be M&i JL reclaimed, the owners of such lands WSr much agree In writing, before the pro- V Ject is adopted, to sell all their hold- j Bl ingi in excess of a single farm unit Wf on terms to bo fixed by the secretary. ma of the Interior, and authorized rep- Kg resentatives of southern land owners i have pledged their support to this I proposition. The federal farm loan system sys-tem is to be utilized, as under the Smith-Fletcher bill, in financing pro-v pro-v jeets undertaken under the Borah bill the bill being so drawn that by taking full advantage of tho district organization organ-ization witli Its bonds and a proper interest in-terest charge an expenditure on a project pro-ject can be repaid within a period of eight years. This bill makes it possible for the soldier settled, within two or three years after locating on the land, to negotiate ne-gotiate a loan through the federal landi bank to repay all advances mado to1 tmm ana pay uio balance of tho purchase pur-chase price of the land. This will make it possible, if congress later approves for the secretary of, the interior to utilize district bonds as a basis for re-financing re-financing and the entire amount advanced ad-vanced by the government on anv project pro-ject can be repaid with in six to ten y years, whereas under tho Fordney bill it will take forty years for the monevj to get back into the treasury. It is claimed for the Borah bill that1 under its provisions one billion dollars I worth of reclamation construction can be carried out in the next twenty-five years with the $300,000,000 appropria-l tion, if full utilization is made of the Jr-rlagtion Jr-rlagtion district and farm land bank ideas. This would not be possible under the Fordney bill. In another important particular tho Borah bill differs from the Fordney1 bill. The bonus bill creates a board of five, headed by the secretary of the interior in-terior and including three ex-soldiers to have charge of reclamation. The t Borah bill retains the board of five, but' f . gives the secretary of tho interior full authority over all reclamation and en- gineering work and permits the soldier M. ' members to handle solely questions of . soldier welfare. g Throughout the bill, runs the rec- tlamatlon district idea, and where the s Fordney bill permits the organization of reclamation districts, the Borah bill I; makes such organizations mandatory gtt and provides specifically for the re- W i payment of reclamation charges Pf through tho payment of the district B - i bonds. This makes tho charges a tax SB against tho land and leaves the loan y value of the land practically unim- paired. This plan differs from the K Fordney plan primarily in that it transfers to the investing public at the earliest possible date tho burden H which the taxpayer would have to car- ry under the Fordney bill. HI- on - ' |