The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-08-03

thOrity on government lands can be
found than William Spry, Commits
siOner Of the General Land office He
has known the life Of the farmer fro Il
actual experience and witch this for a
base his continued Investigations
have enabled him to secure a wide
knowledge, a viewpoint that is jus: to
both produce" and consume. and also
a sound economic knowledge of
general conditions.
There are today approximately 2lG,-
600, 900 acres Of public lands in Uncle
Sans domain open for settlement.
All Of this can be utilized for some
purpose or another, from the making
Of happy, contented homes and COM
munities, to the grazing of sheep upon
deserts hat can only be. utilized dur
ing the winter months, when there is
sufficient snow to furnish the herds
and herders their drinking water. In
addition to this, there are nearly 20O,-
900 900 acres more in our Forest Pre-
serves, $500 Of which is public land,
and perhaps 500 Of this is more valu-
able for agricultural than for other
purposes.
1t is also estimated that the swamp
lands of the United States show an
area Of 8 1000, 900 acres Of wet or over
flow lands, and in addition, $50, 900 900
acres Of what is know as farm land
but too wet for profitable cultivation.
the production of which could be in
creased at least 300 by proper drain
age
The United States Reclamation
Service, during the last twenty years,
have been engaged on various pro-
jects, with the purpose in view of re-
claiming the so-called waste places
by a careful distribution of water, and
wherever they have pushed their
work, the desert has been reclaimed
and made to blossom. For the year
1920 crops were produced on 1,153,820
acres to the value of $66,171, $50. Up
to March 81, 1922 water has been
made available for 1888, 41O acres, and
thO totdi SOot UP " IhdI lux LdO
been about $110, 600, 900. The Service,
however, is doing but little else just
now but mark time, owing to a lack
Of money to complete projects already
undertaken. In addition, there are
many perfectly feasible prof e c t s
which must await action until Con-
gress has provided the money to COM
mence operations. Many bills are be-
fore the national body, looking to-
ward the reclamation Of lands, per-
haps the most comprehensive being
the so-called Smith-McNary bill, which
creates irrigation and drainage dis
tricts, and authorizes the issuance of
bonds as in school and other districts.
The feasibility Of every project, in
Guiding the estimated cost, must first
be presented to the Secretary Of the
Interior, who, if interested, provides
for an inspection by the department
engineers. If convinced Of it's practi-
bility, and there is money available,
the project is undertaken. When it
is so far advanced as to represent a
value of two dollars for every one
dollar of construction cost the bonds,
up to an amount representing cost,
are ordered sold, and the money de-
rived from the sale is turned into the
reclamation fund for use in the devel-
opment of other projects, the man.
agement Of the completed project is
turned over to it's wners, and the an
nual payments for both principal and
interest on the bonds are collected as
all other taxes. No default need be
anticipated, for the bonds are a lien
against the project, as are the bonds
of any district or municipality.
Now the argument arises with some
why the necessity for more farms?
Isn't it difficult to sell the produce
from the farms we already have?
Well, perhaps prices for farm prod
ucts may not have been altogether
what the farmer has thought they
should be, but to the laborer in the
~congested cities they have been decid-
edly more than they should have been,
so much so that it has started a move
ment to the country from the city
that no power can stop. Of the 400
farm units created since the passage
Of Public Resolution No. 20, approved
February IA. 1920, giving former serv-
ice men a sixty-day preference right
of entry, 467 have been taken by the
soldiers and 7,445 of these boys made
application for a chance to draw for
the 400 units; $4,000 Of them made in
quiries concerning the openings. In
the General Land Office, for the fiscal
year ending June 80. 1921, there wers
received 63,S16 applications for home
stead and kindred entries, and STA
desert land applications. Since the
date Of the Act to June 80. 1921. there