Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-08-09
LETTER FROM
WASHINGTON
After the Wharf.-The Drift to Farms
Government Employment Service
Fundamental Laws.
(By J. E. Jones)
After the War

After the War
1t is the business of the govern
ment to look aheadl Already Wash
Ington has plans in operation to pro-
vide against the day of the home
coming of American soldiers.
War-risk insurance is one of the
greatest plans of modern times. Vo- /
cational employment for wounded SOL
diers is an actuality, and plans are
being perfected to take care of ten
thousand incapacitated men, who are
likely to return from Pershing's army /
this year.
Secretary of the Interior Franklin
K. Lane has called attention to the |
fact that at the close of the Civil !
war America met it's problems of
caring for the returning soldiers by |
throwing millions of acres of home
stead land open for entry. The So
called Homestead Law was signed by
Lincoln in the second year of the war
and out of our wealth in lands we
had farms to offer millions of veter-
ans. But the bountiful domains of
the sixties and seventies have passed
and, as Mr.. Lane puts it, eve have
no land in any way comparable to
that in the public domain =
when men turned westward with
army rifle and rolled blanket to De-
gin life anew"
Even though the rich homestead
lands have all been taken, the fact
remains that there are still arid lands
in the west, cut-over lands in the
northwest, and in the states bordering
the Great Lakes. The swamp Ianos
of the south can be made available
through their proper development.
However, the best opportunity for
new home-seekers dou65less lies in
the Colorado Basin. "Ttat great pro-
ject, believe, will appeal to the new
spirit of America says Secretary
| Lane, who comments: u would mean
the conquest of an empire in the
southwest. 1t is believed that more
than three million acres of arid land
could be reclaimed by the completion
of the Upper and Lower Colorado
Basin projects. 1t has been officially
estimated that more than fifteen mil
Ions of acres of irrigible land now
remain in the governments hanos.
This is the great remaining store
house of government land for recla-
nation"
The Drift to Farms
\ Hardening back to the days of, the
Civil war, there is an abundance of
evidence that's oldiers returning from
military life showed a decided pref
erence for agricultural pursuits. The
soldiers life in the open appears to
be conducive to the selection of the
farm for a vocation. History chal-
lenges the prediction and prophesy so
often heard, that our soldier boys
will flock to the great cities upon
their return from Europe. They have
never shown any tendency to coop
themselves up in apartment houses
and tenement flats.
The United States is no longer ig-
noring the experiences of other coun-
tries and governments; and we have
ceased to drift along in a self-satis-
fled manner. A study has been made
of the agricultural conditions of
Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, and
Australia with reference to the land
situation, and it has been determined
that organized community develop
: ment in these countries has succeed
ed in turning the drift. of population
from the cities toward the farm. The
Interior department, under Secretary
Lane, is urging that the government
7 seize the opportunity for immediate
duty with reference to beginning new
irrigation projects and reclaimine
vast tracts of land that can be util
: lied after the war, so that the United
States may be able to say to its re
turning soldiers: eff vou wish to g,
q upon a farm, here are a variety O.
: farms, of which you may take you
q pick, which the government has pre-
. pared against the time of your re
turn"
e Secretary Lane is very insisten
e that the United States get busy upo
l. this phase of national development
e Government Employment Service
+ Under a new form of employment
IS that has been worked out through tn
.e United States Department of Labol
% Capitalization of employment ser1
d ice for the purpose of recruiting an
s. distribution of labor for world pre-
duction has gone into effect Th
J. new United States employment SER
ce proposes to blanket the Unite
States, and a large staff has been en-
rs ployed at Washington, while through
out the country Community LabC
boards have been established. B
ginning with August I, it is the pu
pose of the government to control,
far as possible, the employment
labor. Ten thousand private emplo
ment agencies throughout che Unit,
States will be forced out of bushes
Similar work has been carried
successfully in England since the b
ginning of the war.
President Wilson, in a MESA,
upon this subject dated June II. sal
California draws its unskilled lab
from as far east as Buffalo; Ne
York, from as far west as the Mi
sissippi; thus labor has been Undue
to move fruitlessly from one point
another. congesting the railways a,
losing both time and money" Lab
has been urged by the President
respond as Loyalty as heretofore
any calls issued by the governme
employment service for voluntary G
listment in essential industry. T
President adds: "And l ask for be
alike to remember that no sacrif
will have been in vain if we are al
to prove, beyond all question, that t
highest and best form of efficien
S the spontaneous cooperation of
free people"
Fundamental Laws
United States Senator James
Watson of Indiana, in discussing q
ernment ownership said that he h
been a student of the subject all
life, and that he had likewise devot
some time to the study of ''func