Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1907-11-29
SAVING MANY MILLIONS.
RECLAMATION OF SWAMP LANDS
BILL IN COMING CoNGRESS-EIGHT
MILLION ACRES TO BE RECLAIEED

RECLAMATION OF SWAMP LANDS
BILL IN COMING CoNGREss-EIGHTY
MILLION ACRES TO BE RECLAIEED
Tens of millions of dollars may be
saved to the government by the enact.
ment of Legislation providing for the
reclamation of swamp lands in the
various States of the Union.
This. in brief. is the purpose of q
measure which will be pressed at the
approaching session of congress. At
the last congress Senator Flint of Cal
ifornia, introduced bill providing fol
the drainage of the swamp and over
flowed lands of the United States. His
idea was that it was as much govern.
ment function to reclaim waste lands
as it was to provide for the reclama-
tinn of arid lands, and he did not hes
icate to assert that the results would
be of greater value to the general
public.
| AAO Jill wac CoHs1uOlOu AoNOAoOAy
by the senate committee on public
lands, but 1t did not reach the stage o1
serious consideration In either the
senate or the house of representatives
Senator Flint has announced his pur-
pose to re introduce the measure and
to insist upon its consideration. The
prospects are bright that. eventually,
it may he enacted into law. as the in
fiuence behind it are even more power
full than we're those which brought
about the enactment of legislation
providing for the reclamation of the
arid lands of the west.
An official call has been issued for a
meeting of the National Drainage AS
sociation to be held at Johns Hopkins
Hospital, Baltimore, this week. The
results of the meeting promise to be
of as great value to the States of the
eastern seaboard as have been the re-
suits of the arid lands works of the
West.
Through 81 States of the Union are
scattered eighty million acres of land,
overflowed by water, the reclamation
of which means untold millions of dol
lars to the people of this country. 1t
Is is asserted that if these lands were
drained and divided into farms-a pro
position which is declared to be per-
fectly feasible, they would afford
homes for twenty millions of farmers,
aside from the urban population which
inevitably would follow. The crop val
ues of these lands practically are in
estimable. 1t is figured that they
would produce at least So 600. 900. 900
annually. In addition. they would
furnish to the various States valua-
bic tax asset.
A particular reason for their recla.
nation, aside from their commercial
and industrial value, Is that 1t would
rid the country of the seats of disease
which now endanger not only the COM
munities Immediately contiguous 10
the swamp lands. but the whole coun-
try. The swamps now are the home of
the mosquito and the seat of malaria,
and are regarded by medical authori-
ties as menace to the health of the
people.
At the meeting of the National
Drainage Association a memorial will
be prep ared and committee will be
appointed to present it to congress. A
vigorous effort will be made to induce
congress to consider favorably the
subject of swamp reclamation and the
prospects are bright that affirmative
action will be taken at the approaching
session.