The Topeka state journal., 1919-09-24
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
Blu RE AU
FREDERIC J. HAsK1N. Dirsctor.
WaahtngtOn. D. c
MORE HOMES. LOWER PRICES.

, Washington, ID. g, sept 2l-Tne
natural resources of this country, in
lands. and it's forests, must be made
to yield their products at a lower cost
than they do at present. and they must
also furnish more and better homes
for Americans.
These are the two chief conclusions
! in report which has been made to
the secretary of labor by Benton Nc
Kaye, an expert in the secretary's Of
! flee. This report is a most unusual
! and interesting document. McKaye is
a trained forester. and he attacks the
| problems presented by the high cost
of living and by Industrial unrest from
| the standpoint of an engineer and
field man rather than that of poll
! tician or other variety of arm chair
reformer.
| McKaye spent a large part of his
| time for three years in preparing this
report, and much of that time he was
out in the woods and in the swamp
and cut-over lands that might be made
/ into farms. He made his plans for in
creased production and better living
conditions on the ground, not in a
room. Having worked out a method
] by which forest lands could be made
to yield timber indefinitely, and fur
nish permanent homes for men and
women at the same time, he went to
! the Pacific northwest, selected a suit
able area of forest land, made a map
present, and worked out a plan for
| the utilization of that particular piece
! OF timber land which overlooked no
! detail. In the same way he made
| plans, with every road and building
! provided, for the working of combina-
/ ton agricultural and timber lands.
| One of his plans was so convincing to
| President Wilson and his cabin ct that
during the war. McKaye was given
100000 out Of the presidents private
| fund wherewith to establish one of his
forest communities and SO increase
timber production, which was then
greatly needed. Mr.. McKaye was Just
setting about the work when the
| armistice was signed. The immediate
/ need for increased timber production
had ceased, and the presidential ap-
preparation was Cancelled. Thus the
ending Of the war killed a most inter-
esting experiment.
! McKaye says IN effect (tho not in
these words) that bounding profiteers
and smashing monopolies will never
solve the cost of living problem. He
argues quite cogently that you must
so to the source of your living if you
want to make it flow more easily. The
source of your living is the land-us-
| ing land in the larger sense to include
| farms. forests and mineral lands. The
| first thing to examine is the "extrac-
tive industries" by which the things
we need are taken out of the earth
These include farming. mining and
numbering. Until these three great
| industries have been put upon a sound
basis. the problem Of the high cost OF
| living cannot be solved. Afterward,
the manufacturing and distributing
Industries should be considered. But
the extractive industries are of pri-
mary Importance. 1t is with these
that the report deals. especially with
farming and numbering
The report states in the first r1lace
that the average worker in this coun-
| try is idle 20 per cent of the time. and
that only so per cent of our natural
resources are in use. These facts show
that we are not bringing men and the
land together to the best advantage.
McKaye says this is due to the fact
that the land, under present condi-
tions, does not offer men the things
they need-good livings and good
homes. That is one reason why the
soldiers are not going back to the land,
but are crowding into the cities. The
manufacturing industries offer a man
better living and better home than
do the extractive industries If a man
work on a bench or machine which is
already equipped. He is assured of a
living wage and of certain desirable
working conditions. His place is rea-
sonably permanent Nearby. he can
find a house. ready equipped, where
he can live and have a wife and chill
dren. He will be in a community. He
will enjoy a normal social life, his
children will have access to schools
and libraries. The movies and the
baseball park are within reach of his
| legs and of his pocketbook.
1t is not meant to argue that this
! factory workers life is ideal. He may
| be getting less than his share of what
the factory produces. as the labor ad-
vocates claim, and he certainly does
not have fair share in the control Of
the industry of which he is a part
| He is subject to periods of idleness and
resultant poverty, for which he is not
to blame, and for which there is no
good excuse.
But at least he can lead a normal
human existence. Compare his lot
with that of a man who goes into
the extractive industry of numbering.
This man goes into the woods in the
winter, where he lives in a bunk house
with lot of other men, and no
women. His condition has been de-
scribed before-the filth, the vermin,
the brutality that always results when
men are crowded together. This is
the worst side of the picture. At best
the man should have a clean bed and
good meals. But he does not have a
home, or a wife. or a normal social
existence. He is sometimes a hobo
and always a malcontent. He is
| leading and formidable factor in the
social unrest. Is he demonstrated by
holding up timber production during
| the war.
And at the same time. he is wasting
| the natural resource upon which ne
works. That is one of the most inn
| portant facts which the report brings
out The method which wastes the
man also wastes the material The
| lumberJacks are hired by the owners
| OF forest lands to cut down all the
( merchantable timber When this is
done. the land becomes a wilderness
of stumps and brush. and does not
yield any more timber for perhaps a
century, II ever.
But IL the cutting is done scien-
ttically. taking only the old and ma
ture timber. an area of forest land
| may be made to produce indefinitely
IL may then be made the home of a
community-in fact of two of them,