Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-10-22

preparation of plans for providing opportunity
for these men, And because his department has
handled similar problems in the past, he mas
made it his duty TO bring the matter to the at
tentiOn of the president and congress- lie points
out that every country has found itself face TO
face with this problem at the close of great
war. From Rome under Caesar to France under
Napoleon down even to our Civil war, the
problem arose as to what could be done with the
soldiers mustered out of military service.
At the close of the Civil war America faced
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 developing
the West is of epcs The homestead
law had been signed by President Lincoln in the
second year of the war; so that out OF our wealth.
in lands we had farms to offer the military vet
Grams. 1t also the of transcontinental
railway construction. 1t likewise the period
of rapid, yet broad and full development of towns
and communities and states.
To the great number of returning soldiers in
The present war land will undoubtedly offer the
great and fundamental opportunity. The ex-
perence of wars points out the lesson that our
service men, because of army life, with its open
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 poll
cies of relocating and readjustment emphasize
the opportunities on the land for the returning
soldier The question then is "What land can
be made available for farm homes for our sol
dierS"
We have not the bountiful public domains of
the sixties and seventies. In a literal sense, for
the use of it on generous scale for soldier farm
homes as in the sixties the public domain is
gone The official figures at the end of the fiscal
year, June 80 1917, show that we have unapprO-
priated land in the continental United States
70 the amount OF 230657,755 acres. 1t is safe to
say that not one-half of this land viii ever
prove to be cultvable in any sense. So we have
no land in any way comparable to that in the
| public domain when AppOmattox came-and men
| turned Westward with army rifle and roll blan~
ket--to begin life anew.
While we do not have that matchless public
! domain of So we do have millions of acres of
| developed lands in the Northwest lake states
| and South and also swamp lands in the middle
| West and South, which can be made available
| through the proper development. Much of this
! land can be made suitable for farm homes if
| properly handled.
| But it will require that each type of land he
| dealt with in its own particular fashion. The
! arid lands will require water, the cutover land
| will require clearing and the swamp land must
be drained Without any of these aids they re-
main largely No Mans Land. The solution of
these problems is thing. In the admirable
! achievement of the reclamation service in recla-
nation and drainage have abundant proof
of what can be done.
! Looking toward the construction of additional
! projects, Secretary Lane announces that plans
and investigations have been under way for some
| time A survey and study has been in the course
of contamination by the reclamation service on
| the great Colorado basin. That project undoubt
edly, win appeal to the spirit of America 1t
would mean the conquest of an empire in the
! Southwest 1t is believed that more than 3OOO-
| 600 acres of arid land could be reclaimed by the
completion of the upper and lower Colorado basin
projects.
It has been officially estimated that more than
| 100000 acres of irrigable land now remain in
the governments hands This is the great re-
naming Storehouse of government land for recla-
nation. Under what policy and program millions
Of these acres could be reclaimed for future farms
| ana homes remains for legislation to determine
The amount of swamp and cut-over lands in
The United States available for farming is extern
! tive. just how much there is has never been de
| termined with any degree of accuracy. Practical
| ~ all of it has passed into private ownership
For that reason. in considering its use, it would
| be necessary to work out policy between the
priy ate owners and the government unless the
| land was purchased. 1t has been estimated that
| the total area of swamp ana overfiowed lands in
the United States is between 100000 and So
100000 acres OF this amount, about 60OOOOOO