Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-11-07
BY Frederic J. HaskIn

| expects TO solve after the war, the problem
OF feeding America and also m part that
of replacing in civilian life the soldiers
| returned from Europe The plan upon
which il is working through the Depart
ment Of the Interior IS bnsed upon ono
which has proved successful in Australia,
and also as a state measure IN California.
Dr Elwood Meade, chairman of the
California Land Settlement Board has been
called 10 Washington by the Secretary ot
the Interior, and is now here studying
the problem of applying the Australia
California plan to the whole United
States At the same time, the Interior
Department has several land experts
in the field, studying arid. c1i-ov and
swamp lands which may bc reclaimed
and made fertile for this purpose. The
Department has m appropriation Of
5000, 900 for carrying out these lnvestI-
CATIONS
FURTHER STUDY COMO ON.
And independent study. but also under
government auspices. ls being made bY
Benton Mckaye. an expert IN forestry,
whose studies look to the application of
this colonization scheme to numbering
and mining ms we'll rs farming Several
measures have been introduced into
Congress which embody the general idea
but these viii undoubtedly tie superseded
by an administration bill, prepared
hg the experts who are now studying the
problem
Although thIs lnnd settlement plan goes
under the name of i measure to provide
farms fors oldiers. i i really q great deal
more than hat II - d plnn 10 forestall
food shortage in the United States
II anns to do this ~ establishing Z
scientifically planned system of rural
development. which will IN every possible
wav insure the success of the farmer and
thereby the productivity Of the farm
Heretofore We have mad no ordered sys-
tom of rural development
cor To HAVE FooD INSURANCE.
The country IL awakening 10 the fact
that # cannot feed itself much longer bv
the haphazard method The var has
-houn that there are limitations TO orr
resources 80 often called boundless The
American people have experienced Want.
Yet NJ undoubtedly have the land ~
feed n population much larger than our
present one The trouble, then, must fe
in the way the land cultivated. II IS.
Land in nearly every state Of the union
lies unculfivated or partly cultivated, +,
or wastefuIlg cultivated because GOOD
farming in many parts oi tins country
docs not pay There are Two principal
reasons Tor this III the first place, he
price of the land IS 30 nigh that an invest
rnent Is land cannot possibly pay In
the second place our system of distributing
the products OF the land is such thar =
fair share Of the price pald Tor them 9toes
not reach the man Rho produces them.
The price of land alone i enough 10
check the development of farming winch
Is necessary To iced the nited states
IN the future The difficulty i that land
Is commonly held at a price based upon
what Il may be worth IN the Iuture, due
To changed conditions, ana not on what
II will produce nov
HYPOTHETICAL But TYPICAL.
Thus. II a man buys hundred acres
of land Tor $40 900. nc y Ill do exceedingly
we'll To make ne; profit OF $1,000 a year
by farming It If his time Is considered
10 be worth only 5000 year. he has then
made on his investment only 500 or about
fonr p.r cent lie could invest It in i
tIrst mortgage on city real estate and
make twice that amount Tins ease is
hypothetical but typical.
It Is usual to say that ne farmer. ;
thousand dollars Is worth more than thc
same amount in the city, that he leeds his
family with the products OF the farm and
SO on But this IS sophistry Figuring
III every possible factor OF proht the TYct
remains that the farmer cannot make
both day wages and fair return on his
Investment. The natural result Is that
he quits farming and goes 10 a city Or
else he stays, from force of habit, farming
rs best he can, financially crippled. Or
else he sells his farm and rents land, which
enables him TO make more money but
quickly exhausts the land, which he does
not own and about which he cares nothing
The problem of distribution is not 80
simple 1t is generally admitted that the
farmer does not get his share Even
now, with the prices he gets for staples
regulated by the government, he often
does not get his share, though he so1ne-
times gets enough 10 make him tempo
rsrily prosperous.
MIDDLENAN AND PRoF1TEER.
The middleman and the prohteer are
generally blamed for the farmers losses
in distribution There is not so much
III this The middle man is generally n
necessity and the profiteer a myth
The trouble is that the forces Of distri-
button are organized and the farmers
are not An organized force Will always
and inevitably exploit al unorganized
force
For these reasons, then, the farmer ls
quitting the farm Even NOW, when
farmers are popularly supposed TO he
making money hand over fist, there IS
a steady flow Of young men from the
country to the cities The fact that
thousands of young countrymen would
rather run street cars and work behind
lunch counters than farm shows about
how attractive farming is TO them.
All serious students OF the problem
have long recognized this state Of affairs
They have seen plainly enough that
farming is a losing game much more
plainly than have most farmers. They
have realized that men will not stick 10
an occupation which holds forth 50 li,tle
hope Of material comfort or leisure. And
they also realize that It will not help 70
give the farmer free nasturtIlm seetis,
free literature or free hog cholera serum.
It will help but will not solve the problems
| for the government 10 lend him mon ey.
| The only thing TO solve il is to give him
| the land at such price hat he can make