The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1935-05-31

| tire personnel and funds of the land
program of the Federal Emergency Re-
| lief administration. This land program
has already been extended into % of
the states and includes in its opera
lions the movement of farmers and
of Alaska.
Never Tried Before.
No projects such as these have been
carried out by any other nations, ac-
cording to NJ. L. Wilson, assistant Sec
rotary of agriculture.
This only nationwide planning with
the conscious idea of removing land
too poor to farm from cultivation is
being done in the United States" he
asserted.
Commenting on the resettlement pro-
gram, he said that there are approx
imately half million farm families
who are unable to produce anything
to be exchanged. Their homes, which
often average three persons to a room,
are on the poorest grade of submar-
ginal land.
1.-THE land must be shifted to better
uses. 1t has been tradition in this
country to get land into ownership,
but the land on which families are fail
ing because of its poorness is partly
cut-over timber land, areas in the semi
arid plains, land whose surface soil
has been washed away by erosion, etc.
1t is largely land which Is not adapted
to private ownership. 1t is breaking
it's private owners. The thing to do
is to bring it back into the hands of
the government.
1.-THE solution is the gradual transfer
of people on it to what we have been
calling ruralindustrial communities"
Assistant Secretary Wilson esti-
mated that three-f1fths of the people on
this kind Of land have some idea in
mind concerning what they would like
to do about it and have little money
with which they might carry out their
plans. The other two-fifths will re-
quire assistance from the Resettlement
administration.
"Some families will be moved to
better land" Mr.. Wilson explained.
"a richer farm may be cut up into
smaller tracts. For instance, a 800
acre farm may be divided into 30 ten
acre farms. Such a move will be made
only where it will not particularly in
crease agricultural production for SALE
Then We'll try to get an industry
located whereabouts. The people who
have been relocated will find employ
ment and will earn wages. The gov
eminent will sell them land and houses
We can let them put their common
labor in on the building of the houses.
Farmers have their option. They make
their own decisions whether to stay
or CO."
New Kind Of Community.
Mr.. Wilson even went so far as to
say that there must be a great deal of
shifting of population to maintain the
democracy, adding that considerable
economic planning would be required
He said that a new kind of COM
munity, the like of which this nation
has not had, will be created.
"They will furnish a life akin to
that of European villages where they
raise their own food and work for
wages" he declared. 1T is new type
of industrial setup, in which industry
to quite an extent is decentralized."
Mr.. Wilson said that the economic
system was developing more leisure
time, and that some constructive use
of 1t must be devised or we will de-
generate.
"There are spiritual and ethical val
ues which come from contact with the
SOIL" he said. II don't believe you can
find anything to which everybody is
adapted save gardening and flowers.
Practically everybody is interested in
growing things There is value in this
process of raising a garden. You
produce something used by the family.
If we develop in this direction, all the
workers can be absorbed into indus
try at five or six-hour day.
This is not socialism. 1t goes coun-
ter to great many elements of social
ism. Most of the working people
would own their own homes and plots