The nonpartisan leader. [volume], September 23, 1918, Image 5

About The nonpartisan leader. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1915-1921

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
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Washington Bureau,
Nonpartisan Leader
NEW frontier, within the boun
daries of the continental United
States, is to be opened to the
returned soldiers and sailors
when the war is done. That is
the decision made by Franklin
K.Lane, secretary of the interior
and custodian of the vast pub
lic lands of this nation, which
he announces in a letter to Speaker Clark of the
house of representatives.
It is the first definite step in the land program
to which the. government is now turning its atten
tion, having in view the land-hunger of the return
ed soldiers in Canada, Australia and England, and
the necessity of a greater food production after
the war than in many years past.
Speaker Clark and the house of representatives
have responded to the call of Secretary Lane by
making a preliminary appropriation of $200,000 to
get ready for opening new lands. The .project is be
coming a reality.
"I believe the time has come," wrote the secre
tary to Speaker Clark, "when we should give
thought to the preparation of plans for providing
opportunity for our soldiers returning from the
war. Because this department has handled similar
problems I consider it my duty to bring this matter
to the attention of yourself and congress.
AN OUTDOOR LIFE
FOR THE VETERANS
"Every country has found itself face to face with
this situation at the close of a great war. From
Rome under Caesaj to France under Napoleon,
down even to our Civil war, the problems arose
as to what could be done with the soldiers to be
mustered out of military service.
"At the close of the Civil .war^America faced a
somewhat similar situation. But fortunately at
that time the public domain offered opportunity to
the home-returning soldiers. The great part the
veterans^ of that war played in the development of
the West is one of our epics. The homestead law
had been signed by Lincoln in the second'year of
the war, so that of our wealth in lands we had
farms to offer the millions of veterans. It was
also the era of transcontinental railway construc
tion It was likewise the period of rapid, yet broad
Here is a government dredge at work In thfe swamp, lands of Mississippi. Some
'*%of the richest-acres in the world are to be drained* by the. government and
offered for the rise .of men.who have survived the grfeat war.
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Irrigable lands in the rolling country of the North Platte project in Nebraska.
New Frontier for Veterans to Conquer
Returned Soldiers Who Clear Western Lands for Cultivation Will Be Given
Farms for Their Own Use—Title Would Remain to the Nation
and full, development of towns'and communities
and states.
"To the great numtier of returning soldiers
land will offer the great and fundamental oppor
tunity. The experience ofwars points out the les
son that our service men, because of army life
with its openness and activity, will largely seek
out-of-doors vocations and occupations. This fact
is accepted by the allied European nations. That
is why their programs
and policies of relocat
ing and readjustment
emphasize the oppor
tunities on the land for
the returning soldier.
The question then is,
what land can be made
a a a a
homes for our sol
diers?"
LEASES INSTEAD
OF TITLES
This is not the first
step taken toward de
veloping an American
policy of land settle
ment for the period to
follow the war. Secre
tary of Labor Wilson
has likewise been study
ing the problem,"- and
the experts under his
direction have go lie
even'' farther than the
Lane plan, by pointing
out a method by which
the highest efficiency
shall be secured from
the use of the land at all times. Briefly, they ad
vocate the Australian method, which gives a life
time lease to the land to the settler, provided only
that he continue to cultivate it. He can not sell it,
hence the element of land speculation, which is pos
sible under the old system of land laws in America,
is shut but. The settler and his family have all
the advantages of ownership, except that they can
not sell their monopoly of the use of that particular
land to any one else.
While the department of labor is working toward
action by congress which will establish the Aus
tralian plan here, the
T'".-
I#, '.Sill-
secretary of the inte
rior has taken up the
first element of the
land settlement difficul
ty—the putting of the
ljtnd into condition for
use. He wants to build
he a to re
bringing the factory
hands to the site. He
will probably adopt the
labor department's
terms of employment
later on.
S re a an
Statement on the "fact
accepted by the allied
European nations," is
of the utmost impor
tance. It refers es
pecially to the land
programs worked out
by British government
is on a
•th,.e British Labor jparty,
and it points to the' \^r
PAGE, FiyE
a
i. iX ^"W* v*"
atfMI
most significant change of mind on the part of the
masses of allied soldiers during the war—their de
cision that they will never again go back to the old
servile conditions in the industries. President
Wilson gave warning of it in his letter to the New
Jersey Democrats when he said that these soldiers
would refuse to go back to the "economic serfdom
to which many of them have been accustomed."
In his outline of what can be done, in the next
Land skinned of its timber and burned over after lumbering, and later heavily
grazed by sheep. This is in Montana, and gives an idea of the obstacles that
must be cleared away before installing returned soldiers on the land.
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few years, to satisfy the land-hunger of our. mil
lions of soldiers, Secretary Lane says: "We have
arid lands in the West, cutover lands in the North
west, the Lake states and the South and also
swamp lands in the Middle West and South, which
can be made available through proper development.
THE LESSON OF
PREVIOUS MISTAKES
"It has been officially estimated that more than
15,000,000 acres of irrigable land now remain in
the government's hands. This is the great remain
ing storehouse of government land for reclamation.
The amount of swamp and cutover lands that can
be made available for farming is extensive. Prac
tically all of it has passed into private ownership.
For that reason in considering itsv use, it would
be necessary to work out a policy between the
private owners and the government, unless the land
was purchased. It is estimated that
6f
.and overflowed lands in the United States about
60,000,000 acres .can be reclaimed and made prof
itable for agriculture. The undeveloped lands lie
chiefly in Florida, in the states along the Atlantic
and Gulf coasts, in the Mississippi delta, and in
Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota
and California.
"The amount of cutover lgtfids in the United
•States is, of course, impossible even in approxima
tion -to estimate. These lands lie largely, in the
South Atlantic and Gulf states, the Lake states, and
-the Northwestern states. A rough estimate of
their area is about 200,000,000 acres—that is, of
land suitable for agricultural development. Unless
a new policy of development is worked out in co
operation between the federal government', the
states.and the.individual
a
the swamp
fjfo»ers,:a
it w?ll remain unsettled and- uncultivated/
tie lays down tfee nile for this new^policy:
(Continued on pteftpSsf)
great part of
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