Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1919-05-24
FARM LAND FOR
 SOLDIERS IS PLAN
 SECRETARY LANE

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, are appealing 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 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, because of army life, with it's open ness and activity, largely seek out-of- doors vacations.
 The Interior Department has al ready explained to more than 40,- 900 men that the development of its plans rests solely with Congress. It is expected that early in the extra session which convenes May 19, there will be introduced bills covering the farms-for- soldiers plan.
 Briefly the Department is saying that, if such legislation is passed, work will begin at once in the devel- opment of cooperative farm settle ments for soldiers and sailors in near ly 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 under brush. In the South is a large amount of cut-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 draining, clearing, irrigating and improving these lands. That again depends up- on the action of Congress in providing the money for construction. The plans propose that these settlements be scattered all over the country, so that it would be possible for every honorably discharged soldier or sail or or marine to work near his old home. There would be work of all kinds in connection with these settle ments, from the highest technical and clerical positions to that of laborer.
 The plan involves "the new idea" in that there will be built what are known as community settlements, each containing a number of farm homes, 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 within short distance of the farm home. Efforts will be made to over come the handicaps of farm life that are driving the people to the cities the lack of society in the country, the distance between farm homes, the re- moteness from the postoffice and the newspaper, the desire for better school facilities for the children. Under the new way there will be the farm will lage, the settlement of farmers around center which is their home, in which can be scattered 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 automobile and the postoffice will make life on the farm a thing of far different meaning from the isolated life it has been.
 After these service men have build ed the dams and canals, or cleared the cut-over land of stumps, or built the ditches to drain the swamp lands, of- ter 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 reclaimed the land, the Government intends to allow the men to pick out one of these farms. The plan pro- vides that these farms and homes shall be paid for in small payments over a long term of years. It is ex- pected that the men will be able to pay the first small payment out of the wages received from the Government