The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-10-24


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. He points
out that every country has found itself face TO
face with this problem at the close of a great
war. From Rome under Caesar to France under
Napoleon down even to own Civil war; the
problem to what could be done with the
soldiers mustered out Of military service
At the close of the Civil 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 one of our epics. 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 era of transcOnt1nental
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 land will undoubtedly offer the
great and fundamental opportunity. The ex-
perience of wars points out The lesson that our
service men, because of army life, with Its open
ness 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 reimbursement emphasize
the opportunities 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 literal sense, for
the use of it generous scale for soldier farm
homes in the sixties, the public domain is
gone The official figures at the end of the fiscal
year, June So 1917 show that we have unappro-
priated land in the continental United States
TO the amount of go, 657 755 1t is safe to
say that not one-half of this land will ever
prove to be cultivable in any sense. So we have
land in any way comparable to that in the
and
turned Westward with army rife and roll blan-
ket-to begin life
While do not have that matchless public
domain of 80, 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 be made available
through the proper development. Much of this
land be made suitable for farm homes If
properly handled.
But it will require that each type of land be
dealt with in its particular fashion. The
arid lands will require water, the cut-over land
will require clearing and the swamp land must
be drained Without any of these aids they
main largely No Mans Land. The solution of
these problems is no 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. viii appeal to the spirit of America It
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
and 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-
terInined with any degree Of accuracy. Practical
~ all of 1t has passed into private ownership
For that reason. in considering its use, it would
be necessary to work out policy between the
private owners and the government unless the
land was purchased. It has been estimated that
the total area of swamp and overlooked lands In
the United States is between 100000 and So
100000 acres OF this amount about 100000
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