ADVOCATE AND GUIDE. 131 



of the secretaries of the Departments of Agriculture, Interior and Labor 

 to supervise the general plan of colonization and to effect its operation 

 should the necessary legislation be forthcoming. The report emphasized 

 that legislation authorizing such a plan should include the following 

 provisions : 



"1. The possibility of commercialized speculation should be elim- 

 inated. 



"2. Colonists must be given access not only to land but to farms, 

 not only the bare soil, but fully equipped agricultural plants ready to 

 operate. 



"3. The farms themselves must be welded together into genuine 

 communities by provisions for roads, schools and markets, under the 

 general supervision of the Federal government. 



"Secretary Wilson points out in the report that the necessity of aug- 

 menting the world's food supply for many years to come necessitates a 

 more extensive and more intensive cultivation of American lands. The 

 soil must be the chief working opportunity for great numbers of the 

 nation's wage earners, he said. 



"The grants of land in former years to soldiers were of almost no 

 value to them, Secretary Wilson said, because of the extensive evils of 

 land speculation. The land granted to the soldiers was speedily trans- 

 ferred to persons who resold it at higher prices. For this reason the 

 Secretary recommended that legislation that may be enacted on this 

 subject will lay less stress on titles and more upon the actual use of the 

 land by the soldiers and other colonists. 



"Previous grants of land to soldiers were found unsuccessful for 

 another reason, the Secretary said. Frequently the efforts of the former 

 settlers, many of them not used to frontier hardships or familiar with 

 agriculture, and disliking the monotony, resulted in failure, and an 

 exodus back to the cities. Secretary Wilson, therefore, recommends 

 that the Federal government make provision for farming communities 

 and agricultural equipment. 



" 'I recommend the early enactment of such legislation as may be 

 necessary to permit the preparation of the public domain for this pur- 

 pose. Such legislation should provide for the purchase of such pri- 

 vately owned areas as it may be found desirable to add to the public 

 areas,' he said." 



There you see how the representative of labor is advising 

 the government to provide and equip farms for millions of 

 soldiers at public expense for the double purpose of prevent- 



