Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1922-09-14

undertaken. In addition, there ar
many perfectly feasible project
which must await action until Con
gross 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 beins
the so-called Smith McNary bill, whicI
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 praeti.
bility, and there is money available
| the project is undertaken. When Il
is so far advanced as to represent q
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-
opn1ent of other projects, the man
agement of the completed project is
turned over to it's owners, and the
annual payments for both principal
and interest on the bonds are col
lected as all other taxes. No default
need be anticipated, for the bonds are
lien against the project, as are the
bonds Of any district or municipality
Why More Farms.
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
utcs 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-
eddy more than they should have been,
so much so that it has startled a move
ment to the country from the city that
10 power can stop. Of the 400 farm
units created since the passage of
Public Resolution No. 20, approved
February "A, 1920, giving former serv-
ice men 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. III
the General Land Office, for the fiscal
year ending June 80, 1921, there were
received 63,816 applications for home
stead and kindred entries, and 6,744
desert land applications. Since the
date of the Act to June 80, 1921, there
were 81, 401 stock-raising homeste9ds
entered. To keep. pace with this de
mand there are approximately 10000
900 acres of land being surveyed ey-
cry year under the direction of the
General Land Office. So that, regard
less Of statements to the contrary
there is land hunger everywhere
and men show their willingness tt
grapple with the soil and make their
fight under the most adverse condi-
tions in order to establish homes arc
build communities that there may ex-
ist a happy and contented people.
And why should they not be happy?
The average thrifty farmer is the
most Independent citizen in the coun-
try today. What if his crops have not
paid him all he should have received?
He has had an abundance to eat, in
both quality and quantity infinitely
better than the average man in the
city, no, by the way, must pay cash
for everything he puts in his mouth
until by the time he has met his daily,
weekly, or monthly expense, finds
his salary vanished and himself un-
der the necessity Of hustling continu-
ously to keep the supply from stop
ping. Well, the farmer must keep
hustling too, but while doing so, he
can't lose sight of the fact that his
partners are always on the job lend
ing a helping hand, and should he
want to visit the parks or the beaches
in his automobile during the ripening
season, old Dame NATURES keeping a
watchful eye on what is going on, and
when harvest time is on, the goods
are there to deliver. Hard work, of
course, it's hard work for I've tried
it; so is, railroad section work, and
I've triedHhat too, but confess I have
never felt nearly so Independent do
ing section work as l have felt on the
farnl.g The sense of proprietorship
was not there.
Does reclamation pay? Go ask the
people of the South, what the drain
age of their lands have done for them
Go to the Everglades of Florida,
which the school children of the copn-
try have been taught was a dismal
swamp, and witness the redemption
that d,-a mo o,a has h1.o170bf IN +o ,roi9,,