The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1920-04-06
RECLAIMING WASTE LAND

RECLAIMING WASTE LAND
There has always been opposition to at
tempts on the part of the government TO
reclaim waste land whether in the form
of irrigation or drainage. There has been
such an abundance of good land open and
unused until the last few years that the
public has looked upon the despoilation OF
the public domain much as it has looked
upon the despoilation of the forests. With
startle the whole world has awakened to
find that the population is becoming Sc
great that supplying it with foods IS be-
coming serious struggle instead of side
issue. n-productiveness in a small area
of the earth results in a world shortage.
The policy of retaining and conserving
every acre of land is only laying the foun-
dation against a constantly increasing short
age of food. Canada has decided to stock
the vast stretches of frozen prairie lying
north of the wheat growing regions with
reindeer, so that their flesh may be added
to the meat supply of the earth. No other
food producing animal could thrive IN that
region. But it is the natural home OF the
reindeer. That is only retaining the
waste land of the north.
Holland is retaining portion OF the
Zuyder Zee The land was once above the
surface of the ocean. The Romans cult
waited the land during their occupation of
the country and flourishing commercial
cities stood on sites now submerged. The
lowland barrier has been washed away by
the storm tossed waves of the North sea
and the once projecting land is now below
the surface. Between that former land bar
rier and the mainland is deeper section
which once was an inland lake. A great
breakwater is being constructed around the
portion to be redeemed following the sub
merged old time barrier. When the wall is
completed the area, which comprises 827
square miles, will be pumped dry and the
land, though below the level of the ocean,
will be devoted to intensified agriculture. 1t
is estimated that it will support a popula-
ton of 100000.
Great areas of land are unoccupied by
civilized man. This is especially true in
Central and South America and in Africa,
while portions of northern Asia are I'M
touched. But the rapidity with which the
open west has been settled since Lewis and
Clark made their way through that then
unexplored region in 1903 is an indication
of the manner in which the unoccupied
places are occupied, once the attention of
the world is conferred upon them. A CEN
fury and a quarter is a small part in the
life of the human race. What will it do
for breathing space and food producing
land twenty centuries hence? The swamps
will be drained, the deserts irrigated and
the mountain sides terraced. Even the
ice locked north will be utilized for the
support of man. Reclamation now is prep
araton for the future.
In our own state of Georgia there are
thousands of acres of swamp land which
could be reclaimed and made to yield mil
lions of dollars in food supplies-land which
would be much more productive and worth
many times the price of the average acre
now under cultivation. The people of Geor-
gia are beginning to awaken to the I'M
portance of draining swamp land In
number of counties projects of this kind
which have been completed abundantly JUS
tify the movement.