New-York tribune., 1918-11-03
Experts Draw Plans for
Vast Reclamation of
Waste Lands
-----
would Make Homes
For Returning Men
Undertaking Would Give
Employment to Veterans
in First Years
Rv Theodore M. knappen

wAsHINGTON, Nov 2.-The pros
s... that the war will soon be ter
5;,ated is causing an acceleration OF
.,.,t on plans for dealing with after
=, nroblems. the most pressing OF
...;.h will be the rehabilitation of the
..uy and navy and the absorption of
..,,s 2 600 900 men into civil life with
sv hordship to them or distress to
ne country.
'A1 The only concrete plan that has been
.aranced here for caring for the re-
sn,n;ne fighters during the transition
sss,;od and afterward, is the project of
gs.rstarv of the Interior Lane for the
sssat;on of ready-made farm homes for
.hsr, The homes themselves will not,
- course. be Of immediate assistance,
sut the idea is to employ hundreds of
shnusands of men on the great prepara-
nv ard construction work that will be
;ryolyed in preparing the new farm
homes. sc
5cybulating a definite project at the
ssrlest possible moment. members of
the commission appointed by Secretary
Zane to investigate the subject and
Srsft the outlines of comprehensive
Man began their conferences this week,
liter period of superficial inspection
bf the available lands.
Experts Hold Conference
Those present were Arthur Davis,
chief of the Reclamation Service; Ell
vood Mead, an authority on land
y,clamation, development and settle
ment: Fl. r. Cory, to whom has been
assigned the general subject of the
eut.over and swamp lands Of the South;
E. Weymouth. chief of construction
Of the Reclamation Service, whose head
nuarters are in Denver. and F. w.
Hanna, a Reclamation Service engineer.
Mr.. Weymouth is particularly charged
with the reclamation of arid lands. and
Mr. Hanna with the cut-oyer and swamp
lands of the lake states-Minneso ota,
Wisconsin and Michigan-and of the
Pacific Northwest. Mr.. Cory has just
xeturned from an exploring trip in the
South, Mr. Mead has been scouting
through the West and Mr.. Davis has
recently returned from trip to Den
yer, in the course of which he devoted
considerable attention to the general
plan.
This committee has. 100000 at its
command for a rough general survey
and examination of the scheme and of
the localities and tracts OF land that
may be suitable for the proposed work
Of providing homes for returning SOL
diers and sailors The House Commit
tee on Public Lands has recently favor
ably reported bill appropriating ST.
100000 for further preliminary work.
Provides for Classification
More specifically, this bill is de-
and classification by the Secretary of
the Interior of ali unentered public
lands Of the United States. and all un-
used, cut-oyer, logged and swamp lands
and other unused lands of the United
States with view to disposing there of
to honorably discharged soldiers and
sailors and others and for other pur-
poses."
The hope is that if this s1,0O0,00O
should be made available soon the COM
mlttee now working on the great un-
certaklng will have a complete and
orderly scheme ready for action by
congress within the next few months.
Haste is urged not so much in any
hope Of having farms ready for soldiers
g soon as they return but to provide
them with temporary employment of a
nature that will appeal to the vast
numbers Of them who will not be able
Immediately to find their inches in
civil life.
1t is calculated that there will be at
lsast 100000 men of the army who will
prefer farm life to any other after
sner months or years of active life in
we open. Most of them will be men who
nave had some previous agricultural
esperience or association, but con-
slasfable proportion will be men who
si choose farm life as their initial
y Is thought that vast development