Imperial Valley press., 1919-02-07
FARMS FOR SOLDIERS;
SOLDIERS FOR FARMS

That's the lineup that by day and
: night Secretary of the Interior
Franklin X. Lane, is talking for and
writing about in Washington.
His own son, in the aviation corps
wants to be Western farmer, in
stead of going back to the university
to become a lawyer.
Secretary Lane has hundreds OF
letters from soldiers and sailors VINO
wish to be farmers, and who are
! ready to work under the land recla-
nation plan, to establish which the
secretary is asking Congress to loan
S1O0,O00,000.
The State Council of Defense was
supplied with all the details and arg
uments in reference to this great
enterprise, and asked by the Council
of National Defense to lay the facts
before the Community Council OF
| California.
Various states owning land, or IN
dividual owners of tracts and willing
to have lands appraised, taken over
and reclaimed by the government, the
sellers accepting compensation as the
farmers pay it in from year to year
during d forty-year period. /
Some development is contemplated
in almost every state. In some, i
dozen are feasible. California would
come in for big things.
Here is the way Secretary Lane
outlines his ideals:
"We have got to support lOo,ooo,-
600 people now, and we are going TO
ave 20O.0OO00O before the century
is out. We are growing at the rate
Of sixteen or seventeen million every
ten wears. We wish to show a plan
by which they can be taken care o.
One-third of our tillable land outside
of the mountains is already occupied
and in use. We would see that the
other two-thirds is used by men VINO
are Americans. who are tied to the
soil, who are identified with us IN IN
terest and heart. i
"The plan which l have presented
20 Congress means that we shall put
this land to use. That is where the
country gains. 1t means that it shall
Se rut into condition by the soldiers
ofter they have been mustered out.
That is where the soldier gains.
Tverv man who has been in the ranks
If the army or the navy shall have an
opportunity to go on to one OF these
Projects and have a job at the cur
rent rate OF wages in building dam'
or a ditch or leveling la2a or pul'!ng
ID stumps, building dikes, clearing
land. building houses CT roads or
fences: and that this shall be done
in accordance with the plans which
! hone the government will authorize
= to make within the next few
months. This means that when the
boy reaches New York he goes PACK
home for a time, meets his people,
and then is given a chance to take
a place in one of the great camps
that will be formed for the reclema-
ton of some of this unused land. he
gets his wages Out of these ne Will
paw a certain amount for his board,
save enough in year and half or
two wears while he is working to pay
a first installment on farm any
where-North, South or West, and
have that as his own. 1t Will be
farm that will be prepared-not a
piece of wild land, but farm al
ready surveyed, fenced, a house and
barn built, the land cleared, so that
q man can move in his furniture and
begin life at once. These farms shall I
be located upon lands which the de-
partment of agriculture will approve
AS suitable for raising certain crops.
They will be connected with the rail-
road, if thev are not Immediately on
It. bv good roads. They will have
centers. little towns already planned
with good schoolhouse up and ready
for the teacher. They will be chosen
with reference to the marketing OF
the produce that will be produced up
on them, and thev will have admin
istrative agents of the government
who will be advised as to the methods
of farming and marketing. In short,
each man can have a job, the govern
ment advancing the capital, and out
of the combination of his own labor
and the governments capital, he can
ke piven an Independent living.
"But this is not to be done in the
slightest bit of charity, nor is any
nan to be coerced into taking up the
work. 1t is an opportunity which the
government out of appreciation Tor
the fine service rendered by Its boys
given to them They will pay back
the money with interest, but they
can paw it back over period OF
forty wears, and no man is to be con-
fined in his choice to the propect up
on which he works. The man who
drains great area in South Caro-
lina NAV choose farm in Arizona or
IN Tdaboo