Graham guardian., 1919-01-31

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dress made before it's members
last fall in Kansas City, by DR..
Elwood Mead, personal repre-
sentative of Mr.. Lane, to the
Congress. In the course of his
remarks we CLEAN the following:
How We Learned the Wishes of
the Soldiers
There will be a million and a
half men to leave the United
States service and return to civil
life at the close of this war, who
have been drawn from the farms
of this nation. We have the
problem before US of dealing in
a generous and sympathetic way
with those returning soldiers
who want to take up rural life.
How many are likely to desire it.
Having been out in the open for
many months, these returning
soldiers will want to stay out in
the open. The greatest problem
today before the nation, is to
provide for the returning SOL
diers. We were anxious to know
how the soldier himself felt
about this situation. and we took
a census of a thousand soldiers
who had returned to this coun-
try from active service as conva-
lescents. We asked one of the
bureaus at Washington to obtain
thiSSinformation for us and they
have interviewed 978 returned
soldiers, and Of these A per cent
wished to go into the open, into
the country to live after the war.
If even 20 per cent desire to re-
turn to the land, it becomes a
stupendous problem. After the
Civil War we had plenty of land;
all we had to do was to give a
man a homestead, for we had
millions of acres open for settle
ment, but we have not that to-
day."
To Develop the Greatest Use
fulness of the Arid Regions of
the United States
The fundamental idea of the
farmers of the Irrigation Con-
gress and of the Dry Farming
Congress was to develop the
human structure necessary to
develop to it's greatest usefulness
the arid regions of the United
States; trying to create broader
opportunities for man; to pro-
duce a better society in the farm
ing district. That purpose was
wide and broad, but today We
are confronted With an opportun-
ity to deal with these questions
in a new aspect; an opportunity
that comes before this Nation to
show to the people of the world,
and especially to the Allied Ma
tions, what we can do in war
work. Before this war is over
we will have four million people
withdrawn from the usual walks
of life; and from the farms a
million and a half, and in addi-
ton to those actually in service
at the front, there has been a
large influx of people drawn into
the industries allied with and
necessary to carry on the war.
History Repeats Itself
Every country has found itself
face to face with this situation
at the close of a great war.
From Rome, under Caesar, to
France, under Napoleon, down
even to our own Civil War, the
problem arose as to what could
be done with the soldiers to be
mustered out of military service.
At the close of the Civil War,
America faced a somewhat simi-
lar situation. But fortunately
at that time the public domain
offered opportunity to the home
returning soldiers.
Mr.. Baker and General Marsh
on demobolization say: We
have in the United States now
something like 100000 men,
and to muster out a force of that
kind, of course will take some
time. The orders that have al
ready been issued affect some
200, 600 men. Expect to muster
them out in two weeks. When
the machine is in full operation,
expect to release 10000 men a
day. We propose when the divis-
ions come back from France to