OPENING UP THE LAND 131 



resold, to prevent monopoly and insure utilization. 

 If the purchaser does not obey these requirements 

 his farm will be taken away. Resumed lands, al- 

 though not sold in freehold, are sold on "lease in 

 perpetuity/' and everything is done to make this 

 sort of purchase attractive. Such a leasehold may 

 be passed on by the farmer to his children or may 

 be leased by him, sold, or mortgaged, but it always 

 remains under state restrictions regarding use, the 

 prohibition of speculation, and sale to other specu- 

 lators. The land may not be kept idle. The lease- 

 holder owns all the value he puts into the ground, 

 and all the improvements he makes, for the state 

 guarantees him this value even if he has to give 

 up his lease through some fault of his own. The 

 whole scheme is designed to promote home owner- 

 ship by poor men, who can in this way get land 

 without a cash payment. Of course, each appli- 

 cant is investigated as to character and financial 

 status. He must have enough capital to work the 

 holding for a year. Distribution of the land to be 

 parcelled out is made by lot. 



The state proceeded cautiously in working out 

 the plan. Only $250,000 was asked from Parlia- 

 ment as the appropriation for the first year's pur- 

 chases. Within a very few years the sum appro- 

 priated had risen to $2,500,000 annually. In re- 

 suming lands small estates are not taken. And in 

 breaking up the large estates those who have been 



