Evening star., 1918-11-24
PEACE LABOR PHASE =
CONFRONTS NATION
Statesmen and Philanthropists Give Thought
to the Absorption of Returning Soldiers :
and Readjustment of Substitutes.

..,.-
| fcials. They are afraid that If the
farm hands are mustered out now
they will be lost to the farms when
next spring comes.
republican member Of the Senate
committee on education and labor.
and prospective chairman Of that
committee when the republicans as
F! sumo control Of the Senate. altar
terest in the problem Of the returned
soldiers. He is optimistic in regard
to the prospects. and he is strongly
1 opposed to too much paternalism. He
| expressed the following view of the
situation:
Senator's Statement.
Il do not anticipate nearly as much
difficulty in demobilization. 50 Tar
as finding work and labor Is con-
cerned. as some others seem to.
'It must be remembered that all Of
these men in this country were very
busy in different industries and voca-
tions prior to the war. There was- .
scarcity of labor before the war be-
gan. And II business is permitted to
resume its natural course and trend
there will be plenty of work to do. In
, my judgment, for all men who are re-
leased from the munition plants or
from the Army or any other source.
state is concerned. IL enterprises
which are waiting are permitted to
go ahead, we can utilize every man
who comes into the state. There are
a great many different enterprises in
my state which have simply been
waiting and watching on account OF
the war and which If the Capital Is
sues Committee will be liberal VIII
go ahead at once. They are solid,
substantial business enterprises, the
building of irrigation projects. Of su-
gar beet plants and that class OF en-
terprises which characterize western
development
MY great hope is that the Capital
tries Board will give individual INF
i tiative and enterprise an opportunity
to go ahead as I presume they will.
| If so. SO far as the west is concerned,
! I will venture to say there will be no
| dihculty In finding employment.
Americans Have "Knaek." -,
'It must be remembered also that
| the American people have wonder
| to almost any change of situation
| Perhaps the most wholesome and sub
lime incident in the history of free
government was when the soldiers OF
ped back into civil life without a
shock or a disturbance, scarcely of
any kind. And the men who have
been called into this war will readily
and easily take up again the thread
of life where they left off. Depend
upon the American character, its ini-
tiative and sterling worth and less
upon bureaucratic directions and we
will have no trouble" -
Secretary Lane Of the Interior De-
q wv rrv1H ~ =
steps should be taken looking to the
placing of as many as possible of the
returning soldiers on farms of their
own in the public domain. As long
ago as last May he wrote to the
President and to Representative Sher-
ley of the House appropriations COM
mittee asking that something be done.
In his letter to the President Secre-
tary Lane pointed out that after
every great war. from Rome under
Caesar to France under Napoleon and
| the United States after Appomattoa,
every country has found itself faced
with the problem of what must be
done with the returning soldiers. At
the close of the civil war the United
States was possessed of huge areas
of tillable land in the public domain.
and thousands of soldiers turned
westward with army rifle and blanket
roll to begin life anew.
vast Acreage available.
Today 'the public domain is gone"
in the sense that it contains culti-
vable land on a generous scale for
farm homes for soldiers. But, on
June so, 1917, the records show that
appropriated land in continental
United States. More than half of this.
according to Secretary Lane, prob
ably will never be tillable Never
theless, there are millions of acres
that can be reclaimed and made into
desirable farm lands. The arid lands
| in the west. the cut-over lands in the
northwest and the south, and the
swamp lands in the south and the
| middle west all offer themselves to
such treatment
Secretary Lane estimates that 15,-
000, 900 acres of irrigable land remain
in the public domain A rough esti-
mate of the cut-over lands, SubStan-
TALLY all of which is in private own
ship. is 200,000,000 acres. A new pol
icy will have to be developed, if SOL
diers are to be placed on these lands.
under which the federal government.
the states and individual owners must
cooperate.
To Be Given Opportunity.
Under the plan suggested by Sec
| retary Lane. the returning soldier is
a
! bounty. but is to be given the op-
portunity to make farm home for
himself and his family on lands that
must be redeemed. The work that
| is to be done. other than planning
, must be done by the soldiers. Dams
! and irrigation projects must be butt
| by them; the canals, bitches, the
| breaking of the land and building OF
| the houses also. The soldier should
| be allowed to make his own home.
| cared for while he is doing it, and
| given an interest In the land for
| which he can pay through a long
| period of years. perhaps thirty or
: forty years. Modern methods o.,
| finance. applied to the needs of the
| soldiers, should make all this pos
sible.
| President Wilson has given his ap-
| proval to such a plan, and a bill. m
i troduced by Senator Myers of Mon
| tana providing a million dollars to
make surveys and studies looking. TO
| the placing Of the soldiers on such
| lands has been favorably reported to
| the Senate and is now before that
| body for action.
Adopted by Foreign Nations. ~.
Foreign nations engaged in the
war have already made provision TO
place as many returning soldiers on
| farms as they can. England. France.
| Canada, Australia. New Zealand and
South Africa have enacted legisia-
] tion looking to this end.
| there is for whom Congress already
| has legislated In order that they
may return to Industrial pursuits OF
ono hind or another-that fs, the