The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-04-09
CATHOLIC WAR COUNCIL PLANS
 LABOR RELIEF

'he failure of Congress to provide for retaining land for cultivation by re- turning soldiers and sailors, the Re construction Committee of the Ma tional Catholic War Council today an nounced plans for a nationwide move ment to relieve unemployment and to produce food for the future de- mands of this country and of the whole world. To bring back to the land thousands of men discharged from service, to establish agricultural centers and, generally, to interest and aid unemployed war veterans in in creased farm production, S30O,oOO Is soon to be spent by this orEanIza- ton.
 Rev. Edward V. O'Hara, the econ omist known as the father of the minimum wage in this country has just arrived from service overseas in this city to take charge of the Catho- lie colonization campaign, that is al ready being undertaken in many Of the dloceses throughout this country. Soldiers and sailors with some small capital to Invest in farming will be transported to the new colonies as soon as they arc opened during the next few months. There, every eff fort will be made to successfully f. nance and advise their agricultural undertakings. Irrespective of creed the whole countryside about these colonies will be interested in their work, through the cooperation of the National Catholic War Councils agents with all other agricultural, civic. and war welfare organization.
 ''We are confronted by the likeli- hood of unemployment on a. lSrgs scale fin the year directly ahead of us," 1t is declared in q pamphlet on Land Colonization" issued today by the National Catholic War Council We are urged to produce food for the world for the immediate future and to prepare to produce for our selves on a larger scale than hither- to for the years that lie beyond the immediate future. The rich prairies of the Civil War period no longer remain in government possession to be granted to returning soldiers; but we have hundreds of millions of acres of equally rich soil at present unused which. at a cost in labor not at all prohibitive, may be made into productive farms.
 What would be more reasonable procedure than to apply the surplus
 
 duce the needed food ?''
 After asserting that the United States Is the only English-speaking country that has not passed soldier settlement legislation, and reviewing the various undertakings of this sort in other countries, this pamphlet gives the following reasons for group settlement:
 The government was able to offer to the soldiers returning from the Civil War fertile prairie farms in what are now the rich agricultural states of the Northwest. But, for the soldiers returning from the pres ent war, there are no fertile prairie lands to be given away. Instead, there are the swamp lands, and the dry lands and the cut-over lands and the lands with wornout soils. The early settlers of the Western farms often underwent severe hardships that settlers of today would shrink from m,-hardships that would have been often unnecessary if saner methods of settlement had been adopted. The sons and grandsons of those settlers know of the early trials and disappointments only by hearsay, if at all; but the valuable farms which they have inherited ara real. And so 1t Is not to be won dered at if they are slow to see the need of giving greater assistance to the soldier farmer of today than was Eiven Co the veterans of the Civil War
 The individual settler can make a farm out of a cut-over area, but if is Q back-breaking operation. Power
 
 stumps, but they represent a con siderable investment of capital. They can be used to advantage only when large areas are to be cleared of stunps. They are too expensive for the individual settler to employ. And so clearing cut-over land is a mat ter for group rather than individual action.
 Where the soil. once cultivated has been allowed to deteriorate and cultivation has been abandoned, il may. require two or three years of building up before profitable crops can be obtained. Here again the in dividual settler without capital is un- able to cope with the situation. He needs guidance and credit in order that he may plan wisely and N2it patiently, and these can most profit ably be furnished to settlers ir groups.
 But even after the land is pre- pared for cultivation and crop grow inP, there are many advantages ac cruing to the settlers who act 1T unison. Houses and farm building! must be planned and bought an built and this planning and buyine and building can be done much more cheapIy and satisfactorily when it i! done wholesale.
 Better grades of livestock will b produced if the breeds are standard ized for the whole community. Bette prices will be obtained for Livestock and crops If cooperative marketin: Is practiced.
 Farming is a seasonal occupation At certain times of the year tn farmer needs outside assistance. / great deal of the extra labor which the farmer calls in Is casual labor hobo labor. The hobo Is withou family ties He Is a social outcast He fs a social menace. But in prop erly organized farm communities place is reserved for farm labor. La borers' allotments of an acre or tw ara ,,r,oxyidAJ for the laborer where