The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-12-23
WIEN THE BOYS COME HOME.
Government Has Worked out Plan
Both Practical and Desirable.

When the boys come home there will be
.reioicings and fetes and receptions. In
city and village there will be bands and
addresses and honors for those who have
bravely and willingly done all, and more,
than was required or could be expected
OF them. 1t is yet too early to arrange
for those days, but it is none too soon TO
plan for the weeks and months and years
that will follow. One of the changes
which we can expect will be that our in
door and Office life will no longer appeal
to the thousands of young men who have
been living in the open. They will de
mand the freedom Of the out-ot-d0or life,
and the broader scope Of individual ac
tion which goes with it. The independent
life Of the scientific farmer will appeal to
them as never before, and Tor their own
good aud the good OF the nation, this de
sire should be met in a comprehensive
manner
Secretary Of the Interior Lane, with ad-
mirable foresight, has worked out a plan
which is both practical and desilable.
1T the close of the Civil war there we.e
vast areas Of the choicest land which had
never felt a plow that thousands Of re-
turning soldiers we're allotted under tire
homestead law. That was over fifty years
ago, when hundreds of our now Wei
known western cities and towns had not
been thought OF. While there remains
some good unclaimed government lands in
various states, its total is mere garden
compared to what was available then
The problem Of supplying productive
lands in both our warm and colder eli
rsYf 10 &c
Take the swamp and overlooked lands If
Florida and the Gulf States. and fev
other states, of which there are soms 90
0o0,000 acres of the richest soil The are
also the cutover lands which as3 lie
waste, and other now barren l,:.is in the
far West, rich as the %aler Tie Nile
when water is poured upon i
| These three classes Of 2nd are all ca
pable of enormous production. once they
are reclaimed and t:licd This work OF
reclamation would Immediately offer the
Inducements outdoor actiyitie ;nj
when accomplished. permanent home
and occupation 70 thousands Secretary
! Lame calls a. nt.oa to the vastly improved
| terms 81 a:s plan over that OF the early
homestead days Then the honesteadcl
was also a pioneer. who started with al
most nothing III the way Of buildings
farm machinery, and stock The nearest
postotcc was often a DAYS Journey dis
tant; the life was hard ana isolated
Progress was slow for want OF money
The more abundant the crops, the les
the price per bushel There are still thosi
living who remember the DAYS when tn,
expense OF hauling a load OF grain to tht
nearest market cqualcd every dollar tn,
grain sold for. Papers and magazines wer,
almost unknown; the settlers life wa
bard in the extreme, and in some place
in actual jeopardy.
Under the proposed plan all this is E
be reversed The government would f
nance and engineer the reclamation
would build roads and farm buildings
would equip with necessary machiner
and stock; would establish rural delivery
Where the pioneer did everlasting By tn
hardest work. scientific farming would re
duce manual labor to minimum; Uhcr