Show 4 af ben 1 AR AY j a 4 i A ak i 4 millions of acres vc in bosl and south available for farm ames mmes if brov 1 aw N orlu 1 I b 01 AKI part i of the farm wealth nn an n assured heritage of themen who fight the nations war against Germ germany huy is the plan of 0 secretary lane who urges a vast t reclamation scheme to meet the requirements jor returning soldiers atler after ahe hevar war itis secretary lanes belief that tile the time has come when thought should be given to tile the preparation of plans for p providing ro viding opportunity for these men and anc 1 because lits hla department lias has handled similar problems in the past ile he ila lias 13 it his duty to bring the matter to the attention of the president and congress ile he points out that every coutier country A has found itself face to face with this problem at tile the close of a great war from rome home under tinder caesar to France under napoleon down even to our own civil war the problem arose it ns to what could be done with the soldiers mustered out of military hill tary service at the close of the civil war america faced a somewhat similar enill ar situation but fortunately at that time ame the public domain offered opportunity to ti the chome home returning soldiers the great part the veterans of that war played in fit developing the west is one of our epics the hohl homestead estead law had been signed by president ent lincoln in the second acar of the alio wa war so o that out of mir wealth in lands we had farms to offer vet qan einns s it was also the era of transcontinental railway construction it ii was Ilkow likewise lse the period of ra pid yet ye t broad ond and full development of f towns and communities find and stat states es to the great number of returning soldiers in tile present war land will undoubtedly offer mhd tl great and fundamental the experience peri per lence ence of wars points outs out the lesson that our service nien men because of army life with its openness and activity will largely seek out of doors vocations vocation abild occupations this fact Is accepted accept by tile the allied european Europ qan nations that Is why their programs program and policies of relocating and readjustment nt emphasize th the opportunities on the land for the returning sold ler the question then is ahat land can can be made available for farm home for our soldiers we have not ilia the bountiful public domains of the he sixties and haid seventies in it n literal sense sefile for the use of it ph on n 6 generous gen 1 scale far or soldier farm faria homes as in the sixties the public domain 16 maln Is gone the al figures nt the endom the fiscal year junea june SO 10 1017 1917 show that we ive have printed land in the continental united states to the amount ani quilt of acres it if Is 19 safe to say that not one hlf halt of this land ivill ever prove toile to e cultivable in nn any sense so we have no land jil in any way comparable to that in ili the public domain when appomattox Appo mattos camo tind men turned with army rifle and roll blanket to begin life anew I 1 while we do not have that matchless public domain of 05 C fieo we do anve millions of acres of undeveloped innig in ili the northwest nice lake states and south and also q swamp J lands ands in the middle west and south which can be made aval available lable through the he proper development much of this 9 land can be made suitable for farni farm homes if properly handled but it will require that each tipe of land be dealt with th in its own part particular lular fa fashion ailon the arid lands will require water the cut over land will require clearing and the swamp laud land must be bd drained dr tined without any of aids they remain largely no mans larid land the solution of these problems Is thing in the admirable achievement of the reclamation service in ili reclamation and drainage we have abundant proof of what can bo be done looking toward the construction of additional projects Secret secretary nry lane announces that plans and investigations have been under way for some time A survey survay and study has bebenin been in the course of consummation tion by the reclamation service on the great colorado basin that project undoubtedly will appeal to the pew new spirit of america it would mean the ma conquest of nn an empire in the he southwest it Is that tha th A more than acres of arid igind could be reclaimed liy by the completion of the upper and lower colorado basin projects jt it has ha been officially estimated estian ted that more than acres of irrigable land now rem remain ain in the governments hands this Is the great r remaining P storehouse of government land for reclamation under what policy and program program millions of these acres could be reclaimed for future farms faring nd homes remains for legislation to determine the mount amount of swamp and cut over lands in the united states available for farming is exten tive five just ha hov r much there Is in has never been determined ter mined edwith with nay degree of accuracy practically all of it has passed into private ownership for that re reason ason in considers consi considering derl ng ifs ls is use it would be necessary to work wor k put out a policy between the private owners and the government unless the land was purchased athas been estl estimated mated that them the total area of swamp and overflowed lands in the united states to la between and SO acres of this amount about an 1 1 A s P W A r t W A 71 1 ni N V A X P N ac M Wy fy 4 I 1 I 1 JS aw I 1 41 V V aa ak L yi v 3 vi st S 7 si ali tl t 4 t aa i tj 01 00 mW wo 1 9 11 cje acres be reclaimed and made profitable for agil agriculture culture tile the undeveloped swamp lands lie ile chiefly in in th the estates states along the atlantic find aud gulf gult coasts la in the mississippi I 1 delta and in missouri Ill indiana liana michigan minnesota wisconsin and what amount of land in its natural state unfit for farm homes can be made suitable for cultivation by drainage only thorough surveys and studies will develop it Is known however that figures show chow more than acres have ha boon been reclaimed for profitable farms most of aich li lle lies in the ille mississippi alv river er valley the amount of cut over oyer lands in the united states state of course it Is impossible even in api atlon to estlin estimate ate these lands however ile te largely in the south AtIn atlantic and gulf gul states lake balci stages and ana the northwestern states A rough estimate of their number Is 19 about 1 haes acres that Is of land suitable for agricultural development substantially till all of bf this butoy er or I 1 logged off itin annd dla la in private ownership the me failure fulli faili 0 of f this lynnd and to be developed Is largely due to inadequate method of approach unless a 9 new policy oi of development eni Is worked out in cooperation between the federal government go eminent the ahe states and the individual owners a greater part of it will rem nin unsettled and uncultivated the undeveloped ea cut over lands lie ile chiefly in the pacific northwest in washington and Oreg gil in the lako lake states minnesota and wisconsin and in the south atlantic find and gulf costal tates states r virginia nora find and south carolina georgl georgala Geor gla i florida alabama mississippi sis sippi louisiana and texal texas any plan for the development of land for bor the returning soldier will come face to face with the fact thata that a new polley policy will haye to meet the new conditions the era of free or cheap land in the united st states antes has passed we must meet the new conditions of developing lands in advance security must to a degree displace speculation I 1 there are certain tendencies which must be faced frankly kly in our consideration of a policy for land to the homecoming home coming soldier first the drift to farm tendency the experience of the world shows without question thattie th that atthe the happiest people the best hast farms und and th soundest political condition are found where the farmer owns the home and the farm lands the growth of this tendency in Anier america fen an increase of 32 per cent for the alie 20 years between 1800 1890 and 1010 1610 second the drift to urban life in of tho the total population of tile the united states 2 95 per rent of our people resided in miles cities and per cent in the country at the c census census of 1910 per cent resided in cities and peri per cent remained in the country it Is evident that since the war in europe there has been ft decided increase in ahn trend toward the city because of industrial conditions the adoption by th united states of new policies in its land development plans for returning veterans will also contribute to the amelioration of these two dangers of american life A plan of land development whereby land Is developed in large areas subdivided into individual farms then sold to actual bonafide farmers on a longtime long time payment basis has been in force not only in the united states under the reclamation act but also in many for several years it has proved a complete success in denmark ireland new zealand and the Austral australian laa commonwealth it has completely changed the land situation one of of the features of this plan la Is that holders are aided in improving and cultivating the farm in a word there Is organized community development its beneficial results have been well deschi described bed by the canadian commission which was ap to investigate its results in new zealand there the commission reported the farmers nao liaa built better houses 0 or r re remodeled modeled their old ones one 8 brought a larger acreage of land under cultivation that would otherwise lia bae ve remained iving idle iia had db drought bought ought and urged more labor sav ing machinery on the farms and in the houses ahey y kept more she epand and pigs and had so largely increased the revenue from their farms that they averd were able to meet the payments on the and to adopt a higher standard of living fled and a better one throughout the country a higher and better civilization was being evolved the younk young men med and women who aez wez were growing up were happy and contented to remain at home on the farm andi found ample time and opportunity for recreation and entertainment ofa of a kind more wholesome and elevating thin than can be b obtained in th the cities it may be said that this country outside of alaska has no frontier today of course alaska will still offer opportunity tor for pioneer life and of course course alaska likewise has yet unknown remarkable agricultural possibilities but bui unless we make possible the development of this land by bv the men who desire a life in that field we willrose will lose a great national opportunity furthermore this i Is jin an immediate duty it will b be e too late for aliese tangs hangs when tae wars war Is over and the work of definite I 1 ite planning should be done now the platt plan dutU outlined by secretary lane lame does not contemplate anything like charity charety to the soldiers he ale Is not to be given a bounty he hes Is not to be made to feel that he Is a dependent on the tha contrary he li Is to continue in a sease sense la in the service of the government instead 0 destroying our enemies na ho Is to develop our resources the work that it Is to be done other than the planning should be done by bi them the soldier r himself the dam or irrigation project should be built by him the canala ditches the breaking of the land and the building of the houses should under proper direction be his occupation he should be allowed to make bis his own home bome cared for while he is doing it and given an I 1 interest a terest in the land for which he can pixy pay through a long period of years perhaps 80 or 40 years yeam the farms fannig should not returned be tamed turned over as the ier prairies airles were unbroken unfenced without accommodations formen for men or animals there them should be prepared homes all of which can be constructed by the men themselves and paid for or by them under tinder it a system of df simple devising by which whick modern methods of finance will be applied ta t their needs I 1 |