Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-12-03

general market again. Great indus trial plants whose whole outut and machinery had been taken over for the uses of the government have been set
 free to the uses to which they were put before the war. It has not been
 possible to remove so readily or so quickly the control of foOdstuffs and of shipping, because the world has still to be fed from our graneries, and the ships are still needed to send supplies to our men oversea and to
 bring the men back as fast as the { disturbed conditions on the other side i of the water permit: but even there restraints are being relaxed as much as possible and more and more as the weeks go by.
 l Never before have there been agcn- cies in existence ill this country which
 knew so much of the field of supply, of labor and of industry as the war ! industries board. the war trade board. the labor department, the mood ad- minlstration and the fuel administra- | tiOn have known since their labors became thoroughly systematiZed and they have not been isolated agencies |; they have been directed by men who
 represented the permanent depart ments of the government and so have been the centres of unified and CO., operative action. It has been the pol 1 icy of the executive, therefore, since the armistice was assured (which is i'll effect complete submission of tho enemy) to put the knowledge of these bodies at the disposal of the business men of the country and to offer their intelligent mediation at every point and in every matter where it was de- sired. It is surprising how far the process of return to a peace footing has moved in the three weeks since the fighting stopped. It promises to instituted and any aid that may be it any better than it will direct itself The American business man is of quick initiative.
 The ordinary and normal processes of private initiative Will not, how ever provide immediate employment for all of the men of our returning |.armies. Those who are of trained capacity, those who are skilled work men, those who have acquired famili- arity with established businesses, those who are ready and willing to go to the farms, all those whose apti- tudes are known or will be sought out by employers will find Ao difficulty, it is safe to sa, in finding place and employment. But there will be others who will be at a loss where to gain livelihood unless pains are taken to guide them and put them in the way of work. There will be large float ing residum of labor which should not be left wholly to shift for itself. 1t seems to me important, therefore, that the development of public works of every sort should be promptly resumed, in order that opportunities should be created for unskiled labor in particular, and that plans should be made for such developments of our unused lands and our natural resour- ! ces as we have hitherto lacked stimu- lation to undertake. l particularly direct your attention to the very practical plans which the secretary of interior has developed in his annual report and before your committees for the reclamation of arid, swamp and cut-oyer lands which might,i f the states were willing and able to cooperate redeem some three hundred million acres of land for cultivation. There are said to be fif- 1 teen or twenty million acres of land i'll the west, at present arid, for whose reclamation water is available, if properly conserved.
 1 There are about two hundred and 1 thirty million acres from which the forests have been cut, but which have never yet been cleared for the blow and which lie waste and desolate. These lie scattered all over the union. And there are nearly eighty million acres of land that lie under swamps or subject to periodical overflow or too wet for any thing but grazing which it is perfectly feasible to drain and protect and redeemi. The congress can ot once direct thousands of the
 returning soldiers to the reclamation of the arid lands which it has already
 undertaken, if it will but enlarge the plans and the appropriations which
 it has entrusted to the department of the interior. It is possible in dealing ,, with our unused land to effect great
 rural and agricultural development
 which will afford the best sort of
 opportunity to men who want to help
 themselves; and the secretary of the
 interior has thought the possible methods out in way which is worthy
 of your most friendly attention
 I have spoken of the control which
 must be for while, perhaps for a
 long while, be exercised over shipping
 because of the priority of service to
 which our forces overseas are entitled
 and which should also be accorded the shipments which are to save recently