OCR Text |
Show Released by Western Newspaper Union. FREE LAND FOR WAR VETERAN'S AT THE CLOSE OF THE CTVTL WAR the government provided large numbers of mustered-out veterans vet-erans with free farms. That was then a practical compensation for patriotic service. The government then had many millions of acres of fertile land in states west of the Mississippi, and each veteran desiring desir-ing it was given 160 acres capable of good crop production. Following World War I a small portion of the mustered-out veterans veter-ans were rewarded with such free farms as were available, but they did not represent the choice lands of the late 1860s and early 1870s. The desire for land on the part of mustered-out veterans, which the gov- ernment could not satisfy, was productive pro-ductive of a harvest for unscrupulous unscrupu-lous land sharks. They organized land companies, and sold the sol- dier acres that, all too often, were worthless as crop producers. I recall the large number of abandoned homes in the cut-over forest sections of Michigan. Those homes had been built by veterans on what were supposed to be developed devel-oped as 20-acre fruit farms. Many of the purchasers knew nothing of fruit culture; they could not start from scratch; they could not grow enough of anything to provide food (or themselves, and could not pay interest on the mortgage. What was true in Michigan was true in a number of other states. It will again be true following fol-lowing the end of this war unless un-less the discharged veterans are protected against those who would prey upon them, Today we are more an industrial indus-trial than an agricultural people. 'A larger portion of our armed forces were recruited from the mines, factories, stores and offices of-fices than from farms. Returning Return-ing veterans who came from the farms will make good on the farms, but those from the towHs and cities should not be encouraged encour-aged to attempt farming as a vocation. There Is a technique, a "know how," to farming, as there is to other specialized lines, and in the great majority of cases, the novice who undertakes under-takes it will fail. In a number of states, organizations organiza-tions have been perfected for the purpose of protecting discharged veterans from land-selling sharks; to discourage those not qualified from attempting to farm, and to see that those who do buy land get full value for what they pay. That is a worthy purpose. REAL DANGERS OF INFLATION THE GREATEST DANGER to our continued prosperity is that of uncontrolled inflation. We have financed a war at inflated prices for the commodities that war has called for. Much of the cost of those commodities is yet to be paid for, and the payment will spread over a considerable period of years. It is well that such inflation in-flation as we have had during the war should continue until the war debt is paid. We bought bonds with dollars of less than par value. Unless government can pay off that bonded indebtedness indebted-ness with dollars of the same below be-low par value we will again have a depression. Our prosperity lies in continued high prices for labor and commodities to the same extent ex-tent we have had during the war. If our dollar values can be held at that point we will not have a run-away inflation, but will have prosperity. Either increased or decreased prices would be dangerous. HOURLY WAGES AND WEEKLY EARNINGS IN THE WAR PLANTS, and in many plants producing civilian commodities, there is a wide difference dif-ference between the hourly wage and the weekly earnings. It is a difference that will largely disappear dis-appear when the conversion to peace time production comes. For the 40 hours of straight time at $1.10 an hour would be $44.00. But at the end of the week the worker whose hourly wage is $1.10 an hour finds in his pay envelope $67.10. The difference dif-ference is the 14 hours, average, oi overtime for which he receives $1.55 an hour. The hourly wage is in line with the Little Steel formula The weekly earnings are far above what that formula would allow When peace comes the overtime will.be out, and there will be a drop in weekly earnings. IT MAY TAKE MORE EFFORT and a longer period of time to de feat our army of bureaucrats han were needed to defeat Hitler. YOU CAN TALK YOURSELF a' part of the way, but the end of the road to success is reached by those I who listen at least a portion of the time. ITALY HAS ATTEMPTED to tell the Allies what conditions she demands de-mands for her unconditional surrender.. |