Evening star., 1932-06-17
URGES
VETERANS FARMS
Proposes Back to the Land
Movement to Care for
B. E. F. Members.

Again stepping from the conventional
role Of police superintendent to play
| the broader humanitarian part de-
! manded by an unusual police problem,
| Brig. Gen. Pelham D. Glassford,
! guardian of the entrenched bonus army,
has come forth with a back k-to-the-
farm" plan for evacuating and caring
for the B. E. F."
In a statement issued last night the
soldier-police chief calls on Congress
to inaugurate a homeSteading move
ment for the benefit of unemployed
veterans. With the present army"
| more than 10000 strong, according to
late estimates, as nucleus, Glassford
would have the Government cooperate
in organizing the veterans into agricul-
tural units to turn vacant lands into
productive soil.
The Plan as Outlined.
Glassford's plan, as outlined in the
statement, follows:
The bonus bill is doomed to defeat,
but it is well within the power of the
Congress now in session to enact leg
islation before it adjourns that would
turn the needs of the soldiers of the
World War into motive force that
would transform the bonus expedi-
home making movement in every agri-
cultural State
THE breakdown of American in
dustrialization which extended even
to agriculture, required a return to
individual independence. This can be
accomplished by one means only-a re-
turn of large part of our urban popu-
lation to rural communities.
The thousands of veterans in Wash
ington, organized into the Bonus Ex-
peditionary Force, have demonstrated
their discipline, their loyalty to the
flag, and their ability to take care Of
themselves under very adverse circum-
stances. They are repeating the acts
of our ancestors, the pioneers in this
country. They have demonstrated their
ability to provide eXtemporized shelter
and to subsist on the most simple and
inexpensive food. They should be
given the opportunity to devote their
selves and communities.
The Heroes of 1919.
They were heroes cheered in 1919
Today they are without employment;
without visible means of support, home
less and outcast. They cannot find
work. Surely they are entitled to an
opportunity to acquire a decent liveli-
hood. Land is available and cheap
Through Federal channels large areas
are falling under Federal control. The
States are acquiring vast tracts through
non-payment Of taxes. Instead of re-
naming idle in Washington camps,
these veterans returning to their re-
spective homes should be organized
into new rural communities within
t1,air ytofa
farms with facilities for cultivating
them; firstly for their own food supply,
and secondly for a surplus that could
be exchanged through the channels of
trade to provide for their personal
necessities.
1T is obvious that the veterans will,
organized as they would be to carry
out this plan, build their own simple
shelters, such as they have erected in
Washington, and as soon as circum-
stances would permit, they will build
better homes for themselves, and all
improvements in their condition will
react favorably on commercial, indus
trial and agricultural interests. They
will gradually, as our forefathers did
who first conquered the American will
derness for our benefit, improve their
standard Of living.
Senator Bankhead Quoted.
"A few days ago Senator Bankhead
| Of Alabama said: Food and shelter for
all who are willing to work and for all
| who cannot secure gainful employment
| is the paramount slogan in the heart
of every true American
There are several bills before Con.
gress which include elements of this
plan, and one of them in particular
| formulated several years ago and intro
duced in the House Of Representatives
| by the Hon. William B. Bankhead.
Should Congress turn to this idea
as means of relieving the necessities
of the veterans now in Washington
and all such other veterans who may
desire to acquire self-supporting rura
homes in organized communities, thi.
plan of rural development initiated by
these organized groups Of veterans soor
could be extended to take in vas
number of the unemployed of thi.
| country"