Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1919-05-19
PLAN FARMS
!. FOR lO|||RI| I J / 1 / |!
Department of Interior Ex-
plains That Plans now
Await Action by
Congress.
INFORMATION SOUGHT
Is Scheme to Give men Home
And Outdoor Employ
ment.
INFORMATION SOUGHT

With an ever increasing flood of men
returning home from the war to take
up anew the tasks of civil life. many
OF them with greatly changed ideas
of life and ambitions and in a quandary
as to just what to do, many appeals are
being made to the department of the
interior for information as to the in
tentions of the government in it's pro-
posed plan Of providing farms for sol
diers.
Such a deluge of requests has been
received from the. men who wore the
uniform as to emphasize the lesson of
all other wars that the service men, be-
cause of army life, with its openness
and activity, largely seek out-of-d doors
vocation
The interior department has already
explained to more than 10000 men that
the development of its plans rests Solely
with congress. 1t is expected that early
in the extra session which convencs
May 19, there will be introduced bills
covering the farms-for- soldiers plan.
Plan In Brief.
Briefly the department is saying
that, If such legislation is passed,
work will begin at once in the develop
ment of cooperative farm settlement
for soldiers and sailors in nearly all
of the states. In practically every
state in the union there are large areas
Of land suitable. for this purpose.
There is dry land in the west that
needs water, which can be provided by
building dams and canals. In the east
are large areas of cut-Over or logged
off timber lands from which it will be
necessary to blow the stumps and clear
off the underbrush. In the south is Il
large amount of c,lt-over land and
swamp land which must be drained.
Many of the soldiers have asked if
it will be possible! for them to obtain
a job near their homes by DRAWINGS
clearing. irrigating and improving
these lands. That again depends upon
the action of congress in providing the
money for construction. The plans
propose that these settlements he scat
tered all over the country, 80 that it
would be possible for every honorably
discharged soldier or sailor or marine
to work near his old home. There
would be- work Of all kinds in cOnnec-
ton with these settlements, from the
highest technical and clerical positions
to that Of laborer.
A New Farm Idea.
The plan involves ''the new farm
idea" in that there will be built what
are known as community settlements
each containing number of farm
|hones, SO that the men will have near
neighbors, good roads over which to
bring their produce to town, and a
market for the sale of the produce with.
in short distance of the farm home.
Efforts will be made to overcome the
handicaps of farm life that are driv-
ing the people to the cities-the lack
of society in the country, the distance
between farm homes; the remoteness1
from the pOstoffice and the newspaper,
the desire for better school facilities
for the children. Under the new way
there will be the farm village. the set
Element of farmers around center
which is their home. in which can be
gathered most of the advantages of
the city-the good school, the church,
the moving picture, the well-outfitted
store, and these, with good roads, the
rural express, the telephone, the anto-
mobile and the postoffice will make life,
on the farm thing of far different
meaning from the isolated life it has
been.
Paying For Farms.
After these service men have builded
the dams and canals, or cleared the
cut-oyer land of stumps. or built the
bitches to drains the swamp lands
after they have helped to- erect houses
and barns, built fences, constructed
roads and laid out town sites, built
creameries, canneries, warehouses, and
schools, after they have in fact re-
claimed the land. the government in
tends to allow the men to pick out one
of these farms. The plan provides that
these farms and homes shall be paid
for i'm small payments over long term.
of years. 1t is expected that the men
will be able to pay the first small pay
ment out of the wages received from
the government in helping to build
these settlements. The balance can be
paid from the proceeds from the sale
of crops.