Newark post., 1921-09-07
Ex-Service Men
Want Opportunities
For Land Settlement
and New Farms

and New Farms
LAND for soldiers" is the slogan Of
the renewed drive being made by ex-
service men to secure Congressional
action for the opening up Of large
tracts of new irrigated lands in the
West. The few farms which are avail
able to returned soldiers under pres
ent conditions, has but whetted the
appetite of the would-be home MAX
ers, says the Stars and Stripes, form
erly the official newspaper of the
American Expeditionary Forces. One
of the bills now in Congress, known
as the Smith McNary bill, contains a
complete reclamation plan with a
preference clause for veterans. The
soldiers are eager for the passage of
this bill.
Arguments in favor of the bill for
opening up farm lands in the West to
give occupation and homes to ex-
soldiers are extremely interesting
Both the pioneer spirit, if there is any
left in this generation, and interest in
national conservation are appealed to.
The service men are practical in their
presentation Of the plan, as the fol-
lowing shows:
A National Benefit
"Plenty of statistics are available
to show what the opening Of new irri-
gated lands does for the whole nation.
In Yakima Valley of the State of
Washington, for example, about 300,-
900 acres of irrigated land is under
cultivation. The produce from this
area in 1920 sold for S37,21S,79 and
out of this amount, the sum of $780,
100000 was sent eastward to buy
manufactured goods from the eastern
States. This example is one of many
offered to show that the reclaiming of
new land by Government irrigation
projects means just as much wealth
to the East as it does to the West.
"Similar statistics taken from the
irrigated land area around Boise,
Idaho, show that 22O carloads of au-
tomobiles were shipped to Boise last
year from the cities of Lansing, Flint,
Alma and Detroit alone. Evidently,
irrigation of arid lands means some-
thing to Michigan as well as to Idaho.
The western statesmen believe that if
facts like these can be brought home
to the manufacturing interests Of the
east, that eastern Congressman and
Senators will soon be won over to
vote for a general reclamation bill
which will provide millions of acres
in new farms.
"a rough estimate taken from the
Yakima Valley figures would indicate
that if 20,000,000 acres of new farms
can be opened up, as would ultimately
be done by the Smith, McNary bill,
the increased market for eastern
manufactured goods alone would
amount to fully one billion dollars a
year.
"Some of the larger items of the
purchasing power of an irrigated
farm region are shown in the data
from Boise. The irrigated farms, be-
ing safe from crop failures, are more
highly productive than farms in the
natural rain belt, and hence are big
ger buyers. Here are some of last
years carload shipments, to Boise:
"Anniston and Bessemer, Ala, pipe
fittings, 10 carloads.
bridgeport, Conn.,, ammunition, 6
car loads.
Arcadia, Fla, grapefruit, 12 car
loads.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, cereals, IL
car loads.
"Chicago, ILL.,, furniture, 12 car
loads.
"Kansas City, Mo-, automobiles, 80
car loads.
Baltimore, Nd, oysters, 3 car loads
Other supplies from the East in
cluded such items as car loads of