The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-12-08
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
By FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. Director
Washington, d. C.
RECoNsTRUCT1oN IN ENGLAND.

lar,s in reconstruction: What can De
done TO meet the unemployment cris-
is that will inevitably follow the close
of the war? How can the nation De
velop its natural resources so as 10
nrevent it from again becoming
dumning ground for German manu-
facturers? The best brains or the
country have been called upon 10
work out these problems, and alreaoy
certain reforms are being seriously
considered by the government In
sense one problem seems TO answer
the other.
It is estimated that at the end Of
the war, over a million men, return
ing from the front, will be thrown
upon the labor market. Slmulta-
neously, about a third of the working
population will be thrown out of work
by the closing of munitions factories
and the cessation of other war pro-
duction. At the beginning OF the war
there was a labor crisis. But 1t was
quickly passed through the rapid en-
listment of men and the opening up
of new war Industries. Entirely new
remedies must be found for peace
OF all those suggested by the men
working out the reconstruction PROB
lem, agriculture seems to offer the
most favorable results. The. soldiers
returning from the front will be used
to an outdoor life. Many OF them,
sent home to convalesce, have already
small French farmer and have ex-
pressed a longing to get back to the
land. Heretofore, land has been ex-
tremeIy scarce in England-tillablel
were tied up in the large estates, very
little of which was cultivated.
The Small Farmers Ways.
1t was not always SO, of course.
With the ending of the feudal system,
the small farmer came into his own
English land was divided up into
small holdings among yeomen farm
ers, who not only made the country
/ rich in agriculture, but fought val
iantly for it thru the French cam
| paigns under Edward III and Henry
v and put up a splendid fight against
the armies of Charles 1, under the
| leadership of Cromwell
| All thru the Victorian period these
small farmers held their land, which
had come down to them in small
patches from their yeOmen ancestors,
and asked nothing better of England.
Then things began to change. The
small holdings were bought up by in
dividuals; many of the farms were
turned into game preserves, and the
| English yeoman farmer either went to
the cities or became a farm laborer at
sixteen shillings a week.
At the same time agriculture in
England began to dwindle, and kept
| on dwindling until the war showed
the country the danger of such a pol
| icy. During the Victorian period al
most all of the wheat consumed in
| England was grown on its own soil, in
1914, four-fifths of it was being i'm
ported from foreign countries and the
British colonies. Potatoes and beet
sugar were imported in large quanti-
ties from Germany, while a great part
of British soil was lying idle, not even
being used for grazing of cattle. 1t
is estimated that about per cent of
the population was engaged in agri-
culture at the outbreak of the war, as
compared with 81 per cent of the
population in France, and 81 per cent
in Austria.
Many Big Estates Titled.
Since the war, the government has
put many of the large estates under
cultivation, under the stress of a food
structlonistS seems to be to keep il
cultivated. They want the govern
ment to buy these large estates and
| divide them once more into small
holdings, to be sold to the people on
a time basis. That the owners may
not care to part with them appears
to make ne difference. They must be
compelled to for the public good, just
as British soldiers have fought and
died for the public good. With the
ending of the war these soldiers will
come home, and something must be
done for them. Otherwise, it is pre-
dicted. there will be awholesale emf
grafton from England such as there
has never been before.
The Unionist party has already pur-
sued the above policy in Ireland
Thru a national loan of 120 million
pounds, it purchased 100000 acres
of Irish land and sold it to 400, 200
Irish farmers. Then it built $4,000
laborers' cottages and rented them t.
laborers at a nominal price.
This last is another feature urged
upon the government by the recon
StructiOniStS. The housing condition:
in Great Britain are acknowledged tt
be very bad. For years the govern
ment has been on the verge of taking
some important step to amelioratt
them, and the war has increased it.
anxiety in this regard. So many case.
of tuberculosis and other degenera
tive diseases occurring in the army
? have been traced back to insanitary
quarters at home. AT the beginning
of the war it was estimated that owe
three million persons were living il
overcrowded insanitary houses, thu
average sheitering more than two per
sons to one room.
When the war was about a month
old, the British government passed {
bill appropriating sum of four mil
lion pounds, to the distributed among
local authorities for the construction
l of small houses-small houses being
especially scarce. The purpose of thi
: bill, however. was not to relieve hous
ing conditions as much as it was {,
relieve conditions in the buildin;
: trade, which had been literally shot t.
prices by the war.
In the first place, money was tight
People were Withdrawing their mort
v cages on real estate as fast as pos
= sible, and were not disposed to max,
new loans. This naturally operate,
against building. InaSmuch as build
= ing was the third largest industry il
a Great Britain up to the time of tn
war. thousands of builders wer
: thrown out of work. 1t was to TAX
r care of these workers that the gov
n eminent bill was passed. But, as con
. ditions began to improve when man
y builders entered the army and mum
f tions plants, the government evidentl
iPhanOod tS ind he