208 City Homes on Country Lanes 



by private capital, under contracts that furnish abso- 

 lute protection to the Government. The supporters 

 of this bill told the whole story when they said: 



"Instead of asking Uncle Sam to carry us on his 

 back, we only ask him to show us the way." 



The Rural Homes Bill brought forth several inter- 

 esting debates in the Senate, in the course of which its 

 sponsor encountered a steady fire of searching ques- 

 tions from several of the most prominent members of 

 that body. In the end, it passed the Senate without 

 a dissenting vote. In the House, it went to the Com- 

 mittee on the Irrigation of Arid Lands, of which Hon. 

 Moses P. Kinkaid, of Nebraska, is Chairman. It could 

 not have fallen into better hands, although its broad 

 national purpose might have justified its reference to 

 any of several other committees. After full discus- 

 sion the Committee reported it favorably, even enthus- 

 iastically, to the House, by unanimous action. 



It came before that body for debate on December 

 21, 1920 — the three-hundredth anniversary of the 

 Landing of the Pilgrims — and friends of the measure 

 had hoped it might pass on that day. While prevailing 

 by a good majority on the test vote, which came on 

 the adoption of the special rule permitting its consid- 

 eration, it nevertheless encountered strenuous opposi- 

 tion — almost entirely from the South — and so went 

 over as unfinished business. It was not possible to 

 bring it up again before the expiration of the 66th 

 Congress, owing to the crowded condition of the cal- 

 endar. It was promptly reintroduced in the 67th Con- 

 gress, by Senator Smoot. 



The essence of the bill is National leadership in the 

 building of homes for the American people — that qual- 



