Evening star., 1934-04-15
BY OWEN L. SCOTT.

DA wv 1' wv -
The new American revolution-as
| it is pictured by DR.. William Writ,
brain trust battler-is on the verge
Of its big push.
This revolution, if such it be, is not
an intangible thing. The voters are
going to see it develop. If they wish,
they are in a position to stop it by
writing to their Congressman and by
expressing their disapproval in the
elections that lie just ahead.
For what is involved in the revolu-
ton, to take DR.. Wirt's description,
is the planned use of land. the de-
velopment Of projects under Federal
guidance to try to demonstrate to the
! people what they can do with the
countrys natural resources.
The voters may read about those
plans in the statements OF Henry WAL
lace, Secretary of Agriculture; Rex
ford Guy Tugwell, Assistant Secretary
Of Agriculture; M. L. Wilson, director
OF subsistence homesteads, and H. R.
Tolley, assistant administrator of the
Agricultural Adjustment Administra-
tion. These officials are real members
of the brain trust.
Or the public can keep its eyes
open this Spring and see what is hap
pening in its own district. There
need be no mystery about the prof.
ects.
The National Government is con-
fronted with these facts:
Nearly $780, 900 farm families out Of
5000 900 farmers in the country are
or recently have been on relief rolls,
drawing help from the local or the
National Government Even in Pc
riods of high prices for farm goods
about 1000, 900 farm families barely
subsist because of the poor quality of
their land or their remoteness from
markets.
In the cities are 100000 unem-
ployed, with students of the subject
estimating that nearly 100000 of
these are likely to be out of work
in the cities even when prosperity
returns unless new ways are found to
help them get new start.
Relief for these families is costly
Over s200,000,000 has gone to desti-
tute farmers in the last year. About
81, 900, 100000 was poured into the
| cities by the Federal Government
alone.
What the brain trust did was to
recognize that situation. 1t now is
experimenting with long-range solu-
tions. Those experiments are about
to be launched on a broad scale
There is time to stop them if the
public wants to do so.
The revolution" as DR.. Writ sees
it, is in attempting to show people
what can be accomplished in these
cooperative enterprises. This, he says,
is the first step toward communism.
That step is being taken in the
following form:
Around cities, the Federal Gov
ernment is providing credit to be
used in creating what are called Sub
sistence homesteads. Thirty-three of
these projects already are approved
Some have been started A fund of
25,000000 has been set aside for
their promotion. Requests have been
submitted by communities for allot-
ments that total 4,5OO,OOO,00O.
In the country the Government,
with a $25,000,O00 fund, plans to
purchase poor lands, now used for
farming, that even in the best times
leave their workers virtually desti-
tute. The farm families, if they agree
voluntarily, will be moved to new
and better land and loaned enough
money to get a fresh start on a Sub
sistence" basis. AS many as 50,00O,-
900 acres might be purchased under
this program.
Down in the valley of the Tennessee
River, the Tennessee Valley Authority
is busy building dams for waterpower
development, surveying the resources
Of the area, seeking to provide low
cost electrical appliances to the pub
lic-planning on a broad scale for
the population of a whole river basin.
Just at this time, the Government
is pushing rapidly ahead on its plan
ming projects. So that voters may
know what Is involved and what the
attitude of the brain trusters is to-
ward these experiments, a brief
sketch may be in order.
Take the case of subsistence home
steads. The thought behind them is
that in the cities, in the mining dis
tricts and in some farm areas there
are stranded families, which are like
ly to be on relief rolls for years un-
less they can be adjusted. So instead
of accepting an endless relief burden,
the officials here decided that by US
ing the money that would have to be
used anyway to support the families,
they might be given a new start.
The experiments in this type of
planning are Just getting under way
on a rather broad scale. What is
being done is this: Corporations are
being formed, to which the Federal
Government loans money. This
money goes to buy tracts of three to
five acres on which homes are built.
Each homestead costs about $4,000,
with repayment spread over from 20
to 80 years. These homesteads are
sold to families which can combine
living on q small tract Of good land