Evening star., 1919-07-27
FARM HOMES ON EASY TERMS OF PAYMENT
MAKE A GRIPPING APPEAL TO FIGHTERS
WHO HAVE TASTED THE SMELL OF EARTH

waste spaces if the machinery is
provided by Congress!
The organization and training of
the Army did more than anything
else in the last fifty years to fit
the yong men of the nation for
with outdoor life. Hands that
never handled an edged tool larger.
than a penknife learned to swing
an ak with enviable accurary. The
saw, the spade, the hammer, the
motor truck and innumerable other
devices, simple and intricate,
played major roles in Army rou-
tine.
Like Smell of Earth.
know of one little Italian from
New York's ghetto that became
an expert ''muleskinner'' (driver)
in a few months, and his name is
legion. The open road, the great
woods, the smell of the earth and
the inspiration of the stars, all
had their effect on thousands and
whom the war found as bellboys.
minor clerks, casual laborers, or
youths just out of school and cast
ing about for a place to put their
shoulder to the wheel of industry.
Since demobilAation began there
has appeared one influence to
counteract this tendency Of the
of outdoors, and it is unfortunate
that if any provision is to be
made by Congress for reclaiming
farm lands through the medium of
ex-soldiers it was not completed
at the time the men were dis
charged.
The bureau Of war risk insurance
hoS fOu n chnyu that a nnn1hQr of
soldiers who originally came from
farms are moving to the cities.
Most of them are moving to the
nearest large city, those in eastern
Pennsylvania going to Philadelphia,
those in northern Ohio going to
eastern Kansas or western Missouri
going to Kansas City, etc. This con-
dition. it is thought by many OBJ
servers, is a temporary one, for the
returned soldier is always more or
less restless and finds the quietude
of country life pals after the excit-
ing days in camp and in the field.
Like Villages in France. -
This tendency brings up a matter
already touched on by Secretary
Lane Of the Department Of the In
terror. in discussing Work and
Homes for Our Fighting Men,"
I'VE must turn. as Europe has
in her centuries of experience, to
the farm village, the settlement Of
farmers around center which is
their home, in which can be gath
cred most of the advantages of the
city-the good school, the church.
the moving picture, the well out
fitted store-and these, with good
roads, the rural express, the tele-
phone, the automobile and the post
office will make life on the farm
thing of far different meaning from
the isolated life it has been"
BY virtue of having travelled
through France, and in some in
stances through England. Belgium
and Germany as well, the returned
soldier is peculiarly fitted for the
work Of reclamation of farm lands,
for he has observed methods diff
ferent from those usually followed
in this country, some of them
worth following and some not so
good. He has stood on a hill and
seen from three to seven or eight
French villages clustered among
the little valleys. possessing the
advantages outlined by Mr.. Lane in
the foregoing paragraph. OF
course, an American village would
differ widely from those sleepy
little stone settlements that were
moss covered when Napoleon oc-
cupied Moscow, but the gregarfous
instinct that is deeper that racial
lines would be satisfied in America
as it is in France
Obviously only a part Of the SOL
diers returning to civil life will be