Republican farmer., 1918-12-13

and divert waters a hydro electric plant, miles of canal and tunnel, per- maps, thousands of acres to be cleared and Ieveled, fenced and broken. This would mean years of work at good wages, work in the open under hous- ing conditions that would seem pala- tial to the soldier of the trench, and at the end a piece of land on which would be erected a house and barn, a farm home in a group Of farm homes. For this he must pay. But already he has received wages out of which he can have saved the necessary first in- stallment on his place of 10 or 15 per cent. The balance with interest he can pay in 40 yearly installments, or earlier if he can"
 MT. Lane estimated that more than one-third, probably nearer one-half, of the American troops in Europe came from farms, and probably would wish to return to the agricultural work Care should be taken, however, he said, that the government in sell ing farms to these men, limit the size and impose restrictions to prevent their being aggregated into great es- tates.
 Turning to the question of cost, Sec retary Lane said this would be AS much as we wish to spend less than many a strike has cost this 1 country"
 Would it be unreasonable to ask | for as much as we will spend this year for pensions to the veterans and 1 their dependents of wars that ended | 20 and 50 years ago?" he asked, l ''WouJd if ba 1Iorea Sopa hJo +o oelr that 1 we spend in the next two vars on i these veterans of the great war as much as it cost us to conduct that war for a single week? Would a peo- pie that gave out of hand, out of a noble sense of charity to quasi public i organization, $500, OOO, 900 for the en- hesitate to buy the bonds of this country for like amount to provide peace work home work, and homes for these same boys?
 We have spent largely for this war and largely we must spend for many years to come. We are to economize that we may meet our debts; this must be the national policy. But to stop growth is not economy. To stand paralyzed in the presence7of a debt is | planning. in the hundreds of millions of pounds sterling for housing and land schemes. Canada with less than
 0000 people is offering to each man
 460 acres of land and $2,500 with i which to improve it. Surely the i United States, wwhich has escaped 1 with so slight a comparative loss of life, will not do less.
 There can be no surer insurance for the nation than to put it's men
 upon the soil, and there can be no
 wiser investment that nation can
 make than to add to it's territory by taking from desert and waters and
 desolation land that is now useless"
 Mr Lane dec ,ared that in the United States there are more than i 20O,OO0,OOO acres of waste land which can be made into farms.
 Appropriations of only a few mil-
 lions are needed to start, said the Secretary. A bill for this purpose all
 ready is pending in Congress, and President Wilson endorsed some leg
 isIation of this kind in his address at
 the opening of the present session.
 The development need not be con-
 fined to states containing government
 lanQ, Sa1Q MT. Lane, c1IlnS cases OF
 large unused tracts near eastern cities
 which would supply markets with
 farm produce.
 Turning to the question of provid-
 ing fuller education through the pub-
 lie schools, particularly for the for
 eign- born. Secretary Lane said: Our war experience has taught us
 among other things, the value of q
 strong national spirit. the vital impors tance of national ideals, the iInpor7
 tance of ignorance, the dependence of
 this modern world upon skilled men and organizing ability, the need for . and the possibilities that lie in the extension of cooperative effort of all kinds.