The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-07-11

Taken Dy congress.
WASHINGTON, July 11.-President
Wilson has approved the plan of Seere-
tary of the Interior Lane to provide
for American soldiers re-
turning from the war to engage in oc
remunerative to themselves
and economically useful to the nation.
The plan would give soldiers unre
claimed land and provide them with
government money with which to retain
it, the money to be paid back in install
ments.
An appropriation of $l,000,000 has
been asked to put the plan under way
The request is still before the house
appropriation committee With the
Endorsement of the President there is
little doubt that the money viii be
granted by congress-. The 100000
asked for would be used to conduct
thorough study and survey of what
steps should be taken to make the lands
attractive to returning soldiers.
In his letter to the President in which
he first brought up the plan Mr.. Lane
said
"We should know by the time the
war ends not merely how much arid
land can be irrigated, not how much
swamp land reclaimed, not where the
grazing land is and how many cattle it
will support. not how much cutover
land can be cleared, but we should
know with definiteness where it is
practicable to begin new irrigation prof
eets, what the character of the land is.
what the nature of the improvements
needed will be and what the cost will
be.
'We should also know not in a gem
eral way but with particularly what
definite areas of swamp lands may be
reclaimed, how they can be drained.
what the cost of drainage will be, what
crops they will raise. We should have
in mind specific areas of grazing lands
with knowledge of the cattle which
are best adapted-to them and the prael
tieability of supporting a family upon
them. We should know what it would
cost to pull ont or blow out stumps and
to put the land into condition for a
farmhouse. And all this should be done
upon definite planning basis.
| Gin short at the conclusion of the
war the United States should be able
to say to its returned soldiers, IF you
wish to go on farm, here are q variety
of farms of which you may take your
pick, which the government has pre-.
pared against the time of your return
ing.
To prevent the idea that the project
smacks of charity Mr.. Lane wrote tc
the President:
'This plan does not contemplate any
thing like charity to the soldier. III,
is not to be given bounty He is not
to be made feel that he is a dependent
On the contrary, he is to continue in
sense in the service of the government
Instead of destroying our enemies hi
is to develop our resources.
The soldier himself will do the work
) Mr.. Lane pointed out, once the plan
: ming is finished. This would includ,
the draining or irrigation of his farm
using money advanced by the govern
ment with the land as security.
CAS- / have indicated,'' Mr.. Lam
wrote, "this is not a mere Utopia,
VISION. III Is, with Sllght variations,
policy which other countries are pursu
ing successfully. The plan is simple
| win undertake to present to congress
definite projects for the development o
this country through the use of the re
turned soldier by which the Unite
States, lending its credits, may increas
its resources and its population and tn
happiness of its people with cost to il
| self of no more than the few hundre
, Thousand dollars that it will take t
/ study this problem through competen
{ men.
: "This work should not be posi-
poned. =