The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 23, 1918, Page 5

3 Irrigable lands in'the rollmg country of the North Platte project in Nebraska. ; New Frontier for Veterans to Conquer Returned Soldlérs Who Clear Western Lands for Cultlvatlon Will Be Given Farms for Thelr Own Use——-Tltle Would Remain to the Nation . Washington Bureau, Nonpartisan Leader NEW frontier, within the boun- States, is to be opened to-the returned soldiers and sailors when the war is done. That is K.Lane, secretary of the interior and custodian of the vast pub- lic lands of this nation, which he announces in a letter to Speaker Clark of the house of representatives. It is the first definite step in the land program to which the government is now turning its atten- tion, having in view the land-hunger of the return- ed soldiers in Canada, Australia and England, and the necessity of a gredter food production after the war than in many years past. Speaker Clark and the house of representatives have responded to the call of Secretary Lane by making a preliminary appropriation of :$200,000- to get ready for opening new lands. The project is be- coming a reality. “T believe the time has come,” wrote the secre- tary to Speaker Clark, “when we should give thought to the preparation of plans for providing- opportunity for our soldiers returning from the war. Because this department has handled similar problems I consider it my duty to bring this matter to the attention of yourself and congress. AN OUTDOOR LIFE FOR THE VETERANS “Every country has found itself face to face with this situation at the close of a great war. From Rome under Caesar to France under Napoleon, down even to our Civil war, the problems -arose as to what could be done with the soldiers- to. be mustered out of military service. “At the close of the Civil warMenca faced a somewhat similar situation. But fortunately \at that time the public domain offered opportunity to the home-returning soldiers. =The great part the veterans: of that war played in the development of the West is one of our epics. The homestead law had been signed by Lincoln in the second" year of the war, so that of our wealth in lands we had farms to offer the millions of veterans. It was also the era . of transcontinental railway construc- tion: It was likewise the period of rapid, yet broad mment dredge at work in’ tht swamp lands of Mmsnssippl. ; Some i to be drained: by daries of the continental United - the decision made by Franklin - _available for farm. -LEASES INSTEAD -has likewise been study- and full, development of towns” and communities and states. “To the great numhker of returning soldiers land will offer the great and fundamental oppor- tunity. The experience of wars points out the les- son that our service men, because of army life with its openness and activity, will largely seek out-of-doors vocations and occupations. This fact is accepted by the allied European nations. That is why their programs and policies of relocat- ing and readjustment emphasize the oppor- tunities on the land for the returning soldier. The question then is, what land can be made homes sol- for our diers?” = OF TITLES This is not the first step taken toward de- veloping an American policy of land settle- ment for the period to follow the war. Secre- tary of Labor Wilson ing the problem," and the experts under his direction have gone even” farther than the Lane plan, by pointing out a method by’/which the highest efficiency shall be secured from the use of the land at all times. Briefly, they ad- vocate the Australian method, which gives a life- grazed by sheep. * time ‘lease to the land to the settler, provided only that he continue to cultivate it. He can not sell it, -hence the element of land speculation, which is pos- sible under the old system of land laws in America, is shut out. The settler and his family have all the advantages of ownership, except that they can not sell their monopoly, of the use of that particular land‘to any -one else. While the department of labor is working toward action by congress which will establish the Aus- tralian plan here, the secretary of the inte- rior has taken up the = first element of the land settlement difficul- ~ ty—the putting of the - land into condition for use. the factory before bringing the . factory will probably adopt the labor department’s terms . of employment later on. g Secretary Lang’s statement on the “fact .accepted by the. allied European nations,” is of _the utmost impor- . tance. “pecially - to. the' .land programs worked :out " by “British “ government vernment and. i A s and 1t pomts the Heé wants to build hands to the site. He - ‘It refers - es- . . commissions. and by ‘the British Labor: ,party, 3 most significant change of mind on the part of the masses of allied soldiers during the war—their de- cision that they will never again go back to the old servile conditions in the industries. President 'Wilson gave warning of it in his letter to the New Jersey Democrats when he said that these soldiers would refuse to go back to the “economic serfdom to which many of them .have been accustomed.” In his outline of what can be done, in the next Land skinned of its timber and burned over after lumbering, and later heavily This is in Montana, and gives an idea of the obstacles that must be cleared away before installing returned soldiers on the land. few years, to satisfy the land-hunger of our mil- lions of soldiers, Secretary Lane says: “We have arid lands in the West, cutover lands in the North- west, the Lake states and the South; and also . swamp lands in the Middle West and South, which can be made available through proper development. THE LESSON OF PREVIOUS MISTAKES - “It has been officially estimated that more - than 15,000,000 acres of irrigable land now remain in the government’s hands. This is the great remain~ ing storehouse of government land for reclamation. The amount of swamp and cutover lands that can: Prac- - be made available for farming is extensive. tically all of it has passed into private ownership. For that reason in considering its:use, it would be necessary to work out a policy between the private owners and the government, unless the land was purchased. ' It is estimated that of the swamp .and overflowed lands in the United States about 60,000,000 acres.can be reclaimed and made prof- itable for agriculture. chiefly in‘Florida,}in the states along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, in the Mississippi delta, and in Missouri, Indiana, Mlchlgan, Wisconsin, anesota : and California. . “The amount of cutover lands in the- United: . oStates is, of course, impossible even in approxima- These lands lie largely. in the South Atlantic and Gulf states, the Lake states, and A rough estimate of- tion 4o estimate. the Northwestern states. e their area is about 200,000,000 acres—that is, of ; land suitable for agricultural deyelopnient. Unless. .- a new ‘policy of development is worked out in co- /5 operation between - the . federal’ govemment, the:: .. states 'and the: mdlwdual"drimwrs, a great part of it will remain unséttled and uhcultlvated.” He lays down the rale fot tmsa;_e\v.«,pohcy' 7 : (Contmued on m e The undeveloped lands lie