Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-09-01
PLAN T0G|VE FARN,
TO EVERY SOLDIER
Congress Votes 100000 for Pre-
lininary Survey of
Resources.
NEW AMERlCANISM COMING
Believed Such Move Will Do
Much to Enrich the
Nation.
lEW AMERlCANIsM COMING

WASHINGTON. August 31.-A farm
for every returning soldier. That is
the plan on which the Interior De-
partment is straining every nerve
these days.
When Congress voted Secretary Lane
100000 for preliminary survey Of
the resources Of America in lands that
could be made ready for it's returning
soldiers when the war should BE end
ed. it gave impetus to the realization
of a great ideal his brain had been
fathering. He will go to the incom-
ing Congress for additional appropri-
atoms.
ut is all part and parcel Of the new
Americanism this country is to see and
teeI after the war" said the secretary
to-day, outlining new developments.
1T means a home for every returning
soldier, home that he must earn. but
which he will be given opportunity
With the the country and keeps him from ON
This scheme is no matter of phiIan-
thropy. 1t is no charity. 1t VIII en-
rich the nation and and max make comfortable.
men Who avai the themseves Of It, AND n
even now it will make these same
lii9a Know That that When they come home the the
opportunity to support themselves and
their families sis. Is aTai,irE ;ai them them a
family is to have the comforts 1t
needs"
Director a. P. Davis, of that service.
has general charge Of the new sur,
sition in the reclamation service H.
%i.h fame ,ns Sy een
uuering the Salton Sea. is in charge
of preliminary investigation Of swamp
sod,b snd eu'IovSF M Hanna a%I Mil % do the y same
work in the North, and Elmwood Mead.
formerly in chaTge of the via nnS Sanie ssi
the details of the settlement problems:
This organization was only recently
Peeeetee Ppeed to discover @ just what land can
be made available to the returning
soldiers.
OF LAND AVAILABLE.
From eaFy 5ep0FtT pon ss,aefs se4ea 81 and fha
fsRDe Gant # 6 say 81
mi!fion fSSlass sezss osF are ayaiissis n the
Rysr bee iSo mion Rro5eee sefea
lhen af cut t.oyer .nSes @ iands. There the problem
: to clear the land Of doo st1mps tSn ,crs And
swamp wan and overflow lands; The
problem on these is one of dyking and
atshfns 1he richest eh wne IN the mord
ished ailuvial basins; enriched year
by year for centuries by the over
I'VE do not plan to. do any Of the
reclamation work on these lands u9, n
planned iaf and everything,, ready t9
oea,ed S,e5 Ws Slsns msss naSs for e M dams
power plants. for cement plants to be
na.i' fer the htsnE dykes K. n ana Ssehss for Tie
stumpage removal. for school houses
and homes me % 9n saSs S nf the great re
claimed tracts. Everything must De
ready.
RECLAAIATIoN work TO
DE DONE by SOLDIERS
'Then when the boys come back we
Will say to them, come out to the Col
orado River reclamation project or
whatever project we may be hrst start.
on it at a wage which will meet your
living requirements and allow a margin
which you can save against a hrst
payment on ort farm IN aons tnere' "heh the
"All the reclamation work Will be
done by them. Then each can pick out
his farm. The government will have
buildings. paying him for the work and
furnishing the materials. It Will stock
his farm with animals and implements
necessary and then sell 1t to him on
(, reasonable payment basis. with
small first payment down. which he will
have been enabled to save from his
wages while working on the reclama-
tion project.
TT will have handled all the fnanc-
ing and he will come into possession
of farm already TO operate, for which
he will be allowed to pay out OF it's
own productivity.
Forty acres will be enough for a
good living and surplus to meet his
~ayments. And there will be forty
ares of wonderfully rich reclaimed land
or every soldier who desires it,