Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-01-04

The longest step yet made in the back
to-the-land movement will be possible
| if Congress o. ks the
Irrigation plan to provide 100000.
900. through an issue of
oonu Aes"e' bonds, for the extension
of the governments irrigation policies in
| the west. Secretary Franklin X. Lane of
the Department of the Interior has re-
ported to the President that the western
farmers can use this large amount
proftably during the next ten years in
the further development of the section Of
the country which was once known as
the Great American Desert
Not only does Secretary Lane believe
that this sum of money used profitably
and wisely will establish many people in
agriculture who otherwise would be help
ing to congest the cities, but he believes
that the crops from the many new farms
which will be established will do more
to help increase the food supply of the
country and to check the rise in the cost
of living than anything else which the
| government can do in this direction dur
ing the same period of time.
Secretary Lane has talked with mem
bers of Congress and also with President
wilson ABOUT pan LOT HdSlSitliB lHc
| further development Of western agrtcul-
tural lands through irrigation. and all
who have heard him have been impressed
with the constructive program which ne
| has worked out The governments ac-
| ton in the reservation of radium de-
posts and the completion of the plans
| for the development and conservation OIL
| the resources of Alaska are two sub
jects, however. which for a while have
lovershadowed in Importance the plans
h
extension of the western irrigation work,
and up to the present time little has been
| said about the manner in which the large
amount of money which has been re-
quested will be used, and why so much
| is needed.
In the first place, Interior Department
officials point out. if the sum Of s1O0. Co.,
600 is placed at the disposal of the recia-
nation service during the next ten
years. the government will be able to
increase the period of time in which set
tiers are given to make the payments for
the land on which they establish their
farms. At the present time lands settled
on the government projects must be PAID
for within ten years. In the opinion OF
Secretary Lane, this time Is far too short,
and should be doubled.
| If the bond issue is provided for by
Congress-, the Interior Department OFF,
Gals say that it will also be possible to
increase the area of reclaimed desert land
the government projects to more than
3. 10000 acres, which is the total amount
which the reclamation service engineers
have estimated can be reclaimed by the
extension of work now under way and
the beginning of government projects for
which plans have already been made.
This increase of the amount of cultivated
land on government irrigation projects
will provide homes for nearly 5000
american families. in addition to the
26.OO0 families now on government irriga-
ton farms. Most of the farms to be es-
tablished on the lands will be forty acres
each. because it has been found that this
amount of land cultivated under the in
tensive methods now used in the west
will provide good income for the aver
age family.
Secretary Lanes. principal reason for
asking Congress to provide for 100000 600
is not based on his desire to see the mere
extension of the western reclamation
work much as it is on his hope to
see the food supply of the country in
creased. and to give real encouragement
to the back-to-the-land movement. This
will benefit every section of the United
States, as well as the west. The govern
ment census statistics show that the num-
Der of people living in cities and towns in
the United States has increased from less
than so per cent of all the population in
1880 to more than as per cent in 1870
while the number of people producing
food on the farms of the country on the
| other hand has decreased from more than
10 per cent in 1880 to less than 81 per
cent in 1910 The same 7iigureSsazso show
that of the total increase of POPULATION of
10000 between the years 1900 and 1910
seven-tenths of this increase took
place in towns and cities, whereas only
| three tenths of the increase was recorded
in rural communities. During the last
decade. in only two states in the Union,
Montana and Wyoming, did the rural
population increase faster than the city.
Statistics show that the increase in the
country's food supply has not kept pace
with the increase in population. This
truth applies not only to agricultural
| crops. but particularly to the meat supply
of the country, which is diminishing rap
idly every year.
Secretary Lanes experts in the reclama-
ton service have estimated that il water
can be supplied to 3,191,OOO acres now
planned for in government reclamation
projects. this area when put under
cultivation will be equal to nearly SO per
cent of the cultivated area of all Of the
New England states on the basis of crop
returns for 1913 Besides if the amount
of 500. 100000 to be raised by bond issue
is provided for by Congress the cultivated
land on the extended area of the irrfga-
ton projects will yield crops every year
to the value of $40, ia. 600. and the irriga-
ton engineers point to this fact to show
that the proposed amount Of money to be
spent in the west is amply secured as an
investment for the government. The
money will not be, of course, in the ma
ture of direct appropriation, but the
bonds will be bought and will yield 3 per
cent interest, and the returns from their
sale will provide the amount of money
necessary for the extension of govern
ment reclamation. The proposed plan Of
Secretary Lane is in a way an extern
sion of the provisions in the so-called
Carter bill passed two years ago by Con-
gress and which set aside $20.0O0,0O0 to be
used in the completion of irrigation prof.
ects on which the government engineers
are already working.
officials of the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture find 1t hard to ac-
count for the storm of
The Potato protests which have fol-
lowed the action of Sec
CmudISo. rotary Houston in put
ting an embargo upon all disease-in-
fected potatoes from Great Britain. in
Guiding England, Scotland, Wales and
Ireland, Germany, Austria Hungary, the
remainder Of continental Europe. the Do
minion of Canada, Newfoundland and
the Islands of ST. Pierre and Micouelon
| Scores of newspapers in various parts
of the country have attacked the Score
tary of Agriculture because of his
action, and their reasons for do
ing so are difficult to understand,