Evening star., 1934-12-09
COLORADO BEGINS
MOVE TO DEVELOP
INDUSTRY IN STATE
Governor Hopes to End
Program of Land
Settlement.
PROFITABLE FARMING
ADMINISTRATION GOAL
Planning Commission Would Be
Taken Over by immigration
Unit Under Plan.
special Dispatch tn The Star

Special Dispatch to The Star.
DENVER, Colo. December s.-Con-
vinced that careful planning Of State
and regional development means
much in the way of economy and
effective progress, Gov. E. C. john
son will suggest to the next session
of the Colorado Legislature that the
State Planning Commission, named
under authority of joint resolution
of the last Legislature, be taken over
by the State immigration Depart
ment, in addition to the duties already
invested in that department, and that
the immigration Department become
the State Planning Commission.
MY idea is that the old days OF
land settlement, during which the
immigration Department was organ
lied, are gone, for our generation at
least" the Governor said this week,
in explaining the move. "Our prob
lem now is not to find more settlers
for our lands, but to find some way
by which all Of our people can make
a living. We are devoting every
ounce of our strength toward making
farming more nearly profitable, and
to do that successfully We must find,
not more farm land or more farmers,
but better markets for their produce.
Industrial Development Sought.
1.-THE first step in that direction is
to develop the States industries. II
we can get our mines and manufac-
turing plants going, attract more tour
lists to Colorado and in general build
up the buying power of our people,
the farmers will prosper. With that
in mind we are organizing the State
Planning Commission. Through that
agency we expect to determine all the
basic facts which must underiie in
telligent development Of our natural
resources and to establish co-ord1-
mated, intelligent and well considered
program Of public Improvements. We
want to get away from the hit-or-miss
methods of the past, and to see that
each highway project and other public
works ties into the whole scheme for
the development Of Colorado.
IF this plan is accepted by the
Legislature we will be in step with
the national plan, for State Planning
Boards have been urged on us by the
National Resources Board, which is
composed of members of the Presi-
dents cabinet. 1t will be only mat
ter of year or two, if not Of months,
before every State in the Union will
be operating under this plan, and we
will have more economical and much
more effective development than is
possible, as long as each community
is doing its own planning"
Gathers Farm Statistics.
The State immigration Department
was organized in 1909 by legislative
act. In 1919 the Legislature imposed
on it the additional duty of taking ag-
ricultural statistics, and since that time
the agricultural figures have been
taken by the department under con-
tract with the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture's Bureau Of Agri-
cultural Economics, of which H. l..
Collins is the Colorado chief. In addi-
ton, the department publishes the
Colorado Year Book and other pub
lications, designed to attract people
from other States to live in Colorado.
THE immigration Department,
Gov. johnson said this week, has
much Of the basic information needed
for a comprehensive plan for State
development, and I believe it is wise
to consolidate the two agencies into
one. BY so doing we can abolish one
department and create another with
broader authority and without ma
terial additional expense TO the tax
payers, and I think 1t will prove well
worth while, both from the stand
point of immediate economy and from
the additional viewpoint of eventual
progress and development"
Under the Governors plan all of
the personnel of the present Immigra-
ton Department will be transferred to
the new Planning Commission. which
will take over all Of the duties and
authority now vested in the Immigra-
ton Department.