12 THE GREAT WAR 



soil and in reclaiming the waste lands of this 

 country. In accomplishing this result the soldiers 

 who return would, for the most part, find con- 

 genial employment one which would give them 

 the outdoor life to which they had been accus- 

 tomed, and for which their experience with the 

 spade, their improved physique, and their dis- 

 cipline will have made them specially fit. Of 

 course, inducements would have to be held out 

 to them, which are questions for the Government 

 of the day. Grants (on easy terms) both of land 

 so reclaimed and cultivated, and sufficient capital 

 to work it, would be highly attractive to those 

 disbanded soldiers, who would thus become a 

 great addition to the security of the nation. 

 From an economic point of view, moreover, the 

 undertaking would be a sound one. The first 

 outlay, in fact, would be recouped to a tenfold 

 extent ; and besides this what is most impor- 

 tant our denuded countrysides would be 

 repeopled, thereby adding to the strength and 

 security of the nation. 1 Suggestions are made 



1 In the days of the Republic of Rome before Latifundia 

 prevailed, the Roman soldier when his military career was 

 over had a farm provided for him in some part of Italy to 

 enable him to make a living and spend his days in produc- 

 tive work. 



