Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-03-01
WOULD RECLAIM ARID LANDS FUR
 CATTLE RAISING
Expert Says More Cattle Key to Food Problem of
 U. $ and All.

Rome, Feb. 2S.-(Correspcndece of the Associated Press. }-"'The rs- clamation for cattle raising of the
 lands Of the eleven arid states of the United States is the key to the food problem which our. allies in
 Europe are looking to us to solve,' said David Lubin of California, Unit ed States delegate 10 tho lnterna- tional Institute of Agriculture
 ''This is the most critical food year of the war and l have proposed to congress in my reports that meas ures be taken at once by the gov ernment to carry out the plan right now," said Mir. Lubin in an inter- view with The Associated Press. 'The cattle of Europe are being rapidly eaten up, and the cattle sul- ply of the world is diminishing in the unprecedented demand or the war for hides with which to make shoes, for wool, and for meat. l am not proposing this merely for the war, but as a lasting benefit to the nation for all time. If the war were to stop right now, there would still be not enough leather. nor enough wool You can grow wheat from one season to another but you cannot re- plenish your cattle supply at once. In Northern France the Gel mans cut down all the fruit trees because fruit trees are the result of many years of growth, and as they did
 With fruit trees ill their devlliy we
 have been obliged 10 do with our cattle supply.
 "The land of those arid state is in the same condition now as would
 be the famed fertile valley of the
 Nile if the river were taken away.
 What propose is the leading of lot of small Nile streams from the
 mountains. or by striking artesIan wells, until these lands are made to flourish in tie same way the Nor
 mons have made Utah to flourish. Take away the Nile from Esyrt and it couldn't support church-mouse. While this reclamation jop would ordinarily take many years. if the
 government gets at it quickly, as a. war measure, and provides the money to buy machinery, the easiest
 part of the work could be done in time for helping now. Then we would be lending money to ourselves instead of cur allies and yet helping them
 "By this plan we would reintro- duce the old-fashioned extensive sys- tenn of cattle and sheep range ia some measure, instead of the lnten- sive systems. On the old system water was merely needed to make the grass grow and give drink to the ,, animals. The intensive system can not be carried out on tho farms now otherwise available in t}le United States because land is heing used for growing wheat and corn and oats, and these foods are expensive to be used i'll feding cattle. When corn is cheap, as a rule the falmer keeps it at home and feeds it to his cattle in winter. and in this Way we get cheap meat in the cities, and cheap shoes.
 "Of course the immediate object ion has already been made to me by congressman that the plan will take money But we must not stop at money, no matter whether it be 6 hundred million dollars or billion. If we don't win this war we won't have anything left at all of our money, and we can't win the wal without food If we don't lookout starvation will soon be a normal con dition for all nations, allied or ene- my.
 E. T have recommended that the United States shall first take over watershel rights in these arid regions, build .the irrigation plants, and let them out to the states con- cerned at an interest of two per cent. permitting the states to sublet the irrigation rights to continue at say two and half per cent, sld the counties to the users at say three ger cent on the dollar; or the system could be modified so that water users should pay a fixed rate. There are already irrigation schemes enough working in the west 10 show the best practical way of handling the mat ter.
 Here is the great opportunity, al so, for the arid states. The black man gave us cotton, an dthat was an era. Protective tariffs gave the east and the midle west vast subsidies. and that was another, erc. Now we must subsidize the farmer or go go hungry, and this is the oppor tunity of the great arid states whose territory is many times that of the Nile. These states can have by irri- gation vast populations, great wealth on top of the land. This war has giv en them the right of way"
 new line of curtain scrim from 1Qc lln at LaaYitt'S LoIlt Price store.