210 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



commission was willing to go on the land. Out of 346 soldiers who 

 had returned to Alberta only six had signified a willingness to take 

 up farming, although a number of the returned men had been farmers 

 before they enlisted. Mr. Kidner had personally questioned fifty 

 returned men and only one of them wanted to farm.* 



In regard to this matter it is of little use to argue from past 

 experience, for no correct analogy can be drawn between the condi- 

 tions in this war and in any previous war. What is certain, however, 

 is that the number of men attracted to the land will depend on the 

 conditions of settlement offered to them, and that it will be folly to 

 use pressure or offer financial aid to men who have no liking for 

 farming. It is difficult enough for the man who has capital and ex- 

 perience, and to whom farming is a congenial occupation, to make 

 the business pay under present conditions ; and it is not to be expected 

 that the returned soldier who does not possess all these advantages 

 will succeed. To force the pace of land settlement by soldiers who 

 do not want to become farmers will be undesirable both for the sol- 

 diers and for the country. 



To give a man some capital and training and a free farm in a 

 remote rural area may be a simple way to meet the obligation of the 

 country to the returned soldier. If he turns out a success he may be 

 content and the country will have met its obligation without cost 

 to itself, for a good permanent settler will be worth the investment 

 it has made. If he turns out a failure the country will only have lost 

 what may be regarded as part of the cost of war, but the man will 

 not consider that he has received his due reward. But the problems 

 of the returned soldiers, like that of immigration after the war, can- 

 not be solved in a satisfactory manner unless we first apply more 

 science and intelligence to the problem of land settlement. It is 

 futile to go on with the schemes for placing men on the land without 

 regard to the social and industrial organization which is needed to 

 make land settlement a success. The settlement of land should, 

 however, be dealt with as a distinct and separate problem from any 

 other, and the problem of the returned soldier should not be confused 

 with the question of getting people on the land. 



Whatever obligation the country may have to the returned 

 soldier should be determined on principle without regard to whether 

 he is going on the land or to remain in the city. Having determined 

 that principle it may be necessary to make exceptional provisions 

 for the man who wishes to take up farming, but these should merely 

 be extensions of the kind of provisions available for any good settler. 



* Canadian Finance, March 7th, 1917, p. 209. 



