The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1919-01-09
WORLD NEEDS FOOD
Demand Makes Opportunity for
Returning Soldiers.
Thousands VIII See Glorious Posi-.
biIities in Settlement Of Avail
able Farm Land in This Coun-
try and In Canada.

The war is over, pence viii soon be
signed, the fighting nations have
sheathed their swords, and the day Of
reconstruction has come.
What OF III
Hundreds OF thousands OF men.
taken from the fields of husbandry.
from the ranks Of labor, from the four
walls of the counting house. and the
confines OF the workshop. taken from
them TO do their part, their large part,
in the prevention Of the spOliatiOn Of
the world, and in the meantime re
moved from the gear of common every
day life, will be returning. only to find
in many cases old positions filed, the
machinery with which they were for
merly attached dislOcated.
Are they to become aimless wander
ers, with the ultimate possibility OF
augment1ng an army of menacing
loafers2 If they do it is because their
ability to assist in laying new founda-
lions, in building up much-required
structures, is underestimate. Men
who fought as they fought, who risked
and faced dangers as they did, are not
OF the caliber likely to finch when 1t
comes TO the restoration of what the
enemy partially destroyed. when 1t
comes to the reconstruction of the
world, the ideals of which they had in
view when they took part in the great
struggle whose divine purpose was to
bring about this reconstruction.
Injured to toll, thoughtIess Of fatigue,
trained in initiative and hardened by
their outdoor existence, they will re-
| turn better and stronger men, boys will
have matured and young men Will have
developed.
They will decide for themselves
lines OF action and thought. and what
| their future should and will be. On
the field Of battle they developed
| alertness and wisdom, and they will
return with both shedding from every
pore.
Action was their watchword. and 1t
will stand them In good stead now that
the din Of the battle no longer rings
them to the fray, and 1t will continue
during their entire existence.
But If they return to find their old
avocations gone, their places filed.
the institutions with which they were
connected no longer existing. new
walks of life and employment must be
opened to them. It may be that the
counting house, the factory, the
workshop will have lost their attrac-
ton. The returned soldier viii look
elsewhere for employment; within his
reach there is always the Forward.
to-the-Land' necessity. In this lies
the remedy that will not only take care
of a multitude Of those who may moi
be able to return to their former occu
pations, whose desires are not to do so
whose health prohibits them from in
door life or whose outdoor habits from
the past one, two. three or four year:
have given them such a taste and de
sire for it that confinement would be
! unbearable. Farm life will thus ap
peal to them, and the indications are
that it will be taken advantage Of by
thousands. 1t means much to them as
we'll as to the continent of America
that provides the opportunity to the
world at large. and to the stricken and
famished nations of Europe. who, not
only today. but for years to come. will
require the sustenance that can only
largely be supplied by the United
/ States anu by 4OllOhlnS Tie
pursuit of agriculture the returned SOL
der will continue the cause he so
greatly advanced when fighting on the
field of battle. Both countries have
undeveloped areas yet open to settle
ment.
There is little need here TO direct
attention to the wealth that has come
to the farmers of Canada. within the
past few years. It is not only in grain
growing that unqualified and almost
unequaled success has followed honest
effort, but the raising Of horses, cattle
sheep and hogs has been a large source
OF profit. These are facts that arc
well known to the many friends and
acquaintance Of the thousands OF
farmers from the United States who
have acquired wealth on the prairies
Of Western Canada. Farms Of from
one hundred and sixty TO six hundred