Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-12
i. S. FIGHTING MEN
EAGER TO OWN LAND
Letters Received at Interior Department Show
Keen Interest in Secretary Lanes
Homestead Plan

CDGlNG from the hundreds of
voluntary letters reaching the
Office of Secretary Lane at the
Interior Department, land-hun-
ger is one of the dominant character
istics of the American fighting man,
whether serving in the land forces or
at sea. Life in the open, in training
camps in this country and at the
front in France apparently has
brought a love of the great outdoors
which makes exceedingly distasteful
prospect of a return TO the congested
conditions of city existence.
Former bookkeepers and clerks,
having gone through a process of
physical reconstruction, today are
eager to undertake the hard work of
farm, something from which they
formerly would have shrunk aghast.
NO attempt has been made by the
IntefIor department TO canvass men
in the service on the subject of Mr..
Lanes plan for providing farms for
discharged soldiers and sailors. This
fact makes more impressive the flood
OF letters of inquiry which daily pour
in on the department. 1t is accepted
as convincing testimonial as to the
OIL Tile pan
500, 100000 to Star. It.
Mr.. Lane has asked Congress for
an initial appropriation of only $780,
100000 He said the other day that
thought there was any chance of
getting it. Experts estimate that it
will require $1,000 to finance each
soldiers farm, SO that the initial hun
dred million asked would provide
farms for only 10000 soldiers. officers
who have conducted voluntary can
vases among the men of their COM
mands have written the department
that % per cent of them are inter
ested in the back o-the- farm project.
About four million men were mob
ilized for land and sea service. IL,
instead of % per cent, even 10 per
cent of them should desire to avail
themselves of the Lane plan, $4,000
100000 would be required to finance
the venture. An addition of 100000
to the number of American farms
would go a long way toward help
ing solve the food problem.
A popularity of the letters reaching
the Department of the Interior from
men in the service is that they show
that previous occupation has little
bearing on the desire of the hght1ng
man to get on the land. Men VINO
have been farm laborers. but never
able to own land, are anxious to avail
themselves of the Lane plan. Resi-
dents of New York's East.Side. who
never saw things grow outside OF
Central Park, are equally anxious to
become farmers. Some OF the let
tiers are pathetic. others tragic. All
are of intense human interest. in that
they show a desire for a new and
pssee - s.ss,s 81
ixss AaxieAs Over Isss;Hs
a man who lost leg at chatea AZ
opinion of Secretary Lane, his injury
would incapacitate him from becom-
ing a farmer.
An enlisted man who was stationed
at Camp Meade was detached from
his command and assigned to police
duty in Washington. He asks to be
assured that this detachment from
actual military service. through no
volition of his own, win not render
him ineligible to get government
farm.
A captain at Camp Humphreys. Va.
writes:
every soldier I have talked with
thinks the plan splendid; then at once
begins to ask questions about as fol-
lows: How much land; where To-
Gated; must we live on the tract con-
stantly or can we work at some trade
part of the time; what are the physi-
cal advantages of each locality: where
shall we get data, and when and how
soon will we have a chance to take up
this land / have only talked with
officers and soldiers in this camp and
those have met in Washington, and
believe that most soldiers are in
tensely interested in the plan as they
conceive it to be, and all want data.
To sum up my conclusions about what
soldiers think about the plan of your
bureau. / will say that the greatest
interest is in ascertaining when data
of this plan will be available"
one-Fourth Want Farms.
A major sends the following from
France:
Tonight 1 took one company. hav-
ing 14S men in it's ranks, and ex-
planned to them as best 1 could the
idea of the government, and terms
and conditions under which the land
could be obtained. Then 1 asked how
many men would be interested. and
thirty-eight. OF 2s per cent, said that
they would be interested. / think
that this particular company is rep
of this regiment and di-
vision. If you cut this in two and
said that 10 per cent would come
I think you would have
about a correct figure. Personally. I
feel that it is the most remarkable
chance, and I am more or less inter
ested myself"
Probably no more typical letter has
been received than the following from
a lieutenant stationed at Camp Gus
ter, Mich:
Il am an officer in the Army. but I
write this letter not as an officer, but
as a citizen of the United States and
a family man who is about to be re-
turned to civilian life. Now that all
my old associations have been sew
cred by nineteen months of Army life.
/ cannot bring myself to point