Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-12-15
lilies Turning Their Swords Into Pl0WShares

this week in the Interior Depart
ment looking into Uncle Sans
Il new project for providing far,l
homes for the ~ol!icrA. The
reclamation service has the martcr III
hand, and Congress will; have appro-
priated 100000 for beginning the
work before this lettu" Is published.
At least this rs the Drtloc!l today.
The scheme origina.Di With Secretary
Lane, and it has been approved by
the President. 1t is based lpoIi &c.,
100000 acres OF deserts, swGmps and
cutover lands which ,m geological
survey geographcrs a.,d reclamation
experts say can L2 redeemed. To-day
they are as barren as no rnan':; land
between the trenches On that devas-
tated by the Germans in Belgium OF
France. Tomorrow, ;'sing that word
as synonym of the future, a large
part of them will be producing crops
as big as those we are now getting
from the reclama ton projects Of the far
west; and at a not distant date they
will probably have added new aari-
cultural empire and billions Of lolIars
to our national wealth.
* X
One of the best informed men con-
nected with this class of land Inn
provement is DIR. IGlwood Mead, civil
engineer who has been engaged by the
government to help in this work. DIR.
Mead has been employed upon state
and national reclamation schemes for
the most of his life. JIe has been a
rt IF 1prnia and
was chief Of the irrigation and drain
age Investigations carried on ly the
Department Of Agriculture during the
decade which ended in 1907. After that
he went to Australia to aid in trans
forming some Of its great holdings
into community farm settlements like
that planned for the soldiers. and later
came back to California to act az chair
man Of the commission for the invGs-
tlgation of certain subjects of land colo
nization. In the latter position he has
had to do with the dividing up of six or
seven thousand acres of the great STAN
ford ranch which lies under the
shadow Of Mount Shasta, and aslng 1t
into a model farm settlement. Lr.
part OF the world studying national
schemes of similar nature. and Is
thoroughly abreast of all that our al
lies have planned for their soldiers when
they come DaCk from tNS war.
met DIR. Mead in his office in the
reclamation service Of the Interior De-
partment The first subject discussed
was the plans our allies have for their
soldiers Said DIR. Mead:
CAN of the English-speaking coun-
tries except the United States have re-
Gently passed special soldier legisla-
ton. Such of them as have govern
ment lands are Offering them to the
soldiers free of charge. Others are
lending the men money to buy private
properties. and others are purchasing
large tracts of private land and divid-
ing them up into blocks. The English
and Canadians are establishing central
farms on which the soldiers are to be
employed to prepare the land and try
out the crops; and they are laying out
these farms into holdings of different
sizes to be given to the men on easy
terms of payment, stocking the same
with the outfit needed for farming.
Some of the countries are appointing
agricultural instructors to teach the
soldiers how to farm, and others are
giving them farm tools and farm ami
mails, seeds and fertilizers at cost.
Some are creating model farms, equip
red with barns and houses, to he taken
over by the soldiers when they are
completed.
In all cases the improvements and
in most the lands are to be paid for by
the soldiers, but the payments are
stretched over long periods of time.
In the Australian states the men have
thirty-six and half years to buy the
land outright at a low rate Of interest;
while in New Zealand they have a
leasing period Of siXty-six years. The
rental is only 3 or 4 per cent of the
capital value. The advancements for
stock and farm outfits are payable in
from ten to twenty-five years.
What is Canada doing?" i asked.
THE Dominion government has taken
up the matter only quite recently, al
though several of tho provinces have
been planning such schemes since the
beginning of the war. 1t was a year
ago last August that the Canadian par
lament passed land act for the SOL
diers, and only last spring that the SOL
diers' settlement board was appointed.
Since then 100000 has been appro-
priated for carrying out the act. and
each soldier has been given the right to
take up vacant government land to the
amount of 800 acres. The government
will also lend each soldier $4,000 at
per cent interest to put up house and
buy tools and seeds, taking a mortgage
upon tho land for repayment. Tle pay
NIX 1< No h~ .11s~ y l-A