The Tomahawk., 1918-11-21
Secretary Lanes "Baek to
the Farm Movement-view
of Two Returning Soldiers

The time is few months after the
crushing defeat Of Germany and the
signing of the treaty of peace in Ber-
lin: The place is the deck Of trans
port with only one day more to go be-
fore sighting Fire island, the statue
Of Liberty, and the skyscrapers OF
New York. The persons with whom
we are especially interested for the
moment are two soldiers, leaning on
the rail- in earnest conversation. One
is husky artillery man, the other is
from an infantry regiment. The left
sleeve OF each is decorated with three
gold chevrons, indicating year and
half "over there" The still 1ivid
scar on the right cheek Of the infai1-
tryman tells its own story OF the
trenches without the aid Of the gold
wound chevron on his right sleeve.
"Buddy,'' said the arttlleryman,
"what are you going to do when you
get through receiving the congratula-
tions of your family and friends in the
old home town and feel that its about
time to look around for job7" ~"
The infantryman smiled. II have
my job all picked out" he replied.
"and it's about as big a job in a con-
structive way as. the destructive one
we've Just helped to finish" he
smiled rehectively, eased his cap lit
tie more over his left eye, settled him
self comfortably on one elbow, and
continued: - ~ - - -. -. ...--2
"You know I'VE told you about dad
and the hard uphill pull he has had on
his tenant farm in Arkansas. He
never seemed to reach a point where
he could do much more than make
both ends meet, especially while he
was carrying the load of sending me
to that business school and sis to her
finishing school. The two Of us Ger
tainly helped the old man get rid of
what money he had saved. -
"After seeing the way dad had been
brought up, how he later had to slave
on q farm that didn't belong to him,
experiencing myself all the. inconven-
fences and the loneliness Of farm life
miles from any town. I swore when l
got away that I'd never 60 back. Well,
/ I've changed my mind. I've added up
the last column Of figures in dinky
little office In sweltering city for
seine ONE else for some years to come.
Sounds funny, doesn't 1t? Some
guys might think that after spending
/ a year and a half in Uncle-Sam's army,
living most Of the time in the open; a
fellow would be glad to get back un-
der cover even Of skyscraper. But
not for me. I'm going back to the
farm. But I'm going to beat the old
mans game, and I've got the dope
right here"
! The fnfantryman reached into his
pocket and pulled out a dirty, dog
cared newspaper clipping.
Dad sent me this" he/said, "and
told me to think It over, that perhaps
I'd beready to 60 to farming again
after the war, and that this looked like
! .. good opportunity not only to get
work but also to get home. I've kept
1.-The thing all these months and know
Il BY heart. S:
sYou see, it's like this All over this
country there are great areas Of un-
used and unproductive land. In the
West the reclamation service. which is
under the interior department.. has al
ready reclaimed about million and q
half acres of desert land by building
biz dams and reservoirs, like the
Roosevelt dam In Arizona We saN In
tie movies at At1les- -Baiuea when NJ