THE IKKIGATION AGE. 



107 



brothers on the basis of what is reasonable and just. 

 Though there may be some among you who have 

 hoped that eventually the Government would not 

 collect its due, I believe that most of you have never 

 entertained a thought of escape from your obliga- 

 tions to the Government. 



I have given many months of close personal 

 study to the problems involved. I have visited you 

 in your homes, in your fields and in your meetings ; 

 I have taken counsel and advice of men long in the 

 service, of representative water users, and what fol- 

 lows hereafter is the result of this study, advice 

 and serious consideration. 



After personal contact with thousands of set- 

 tlers on our reclamation projects, I find that we 

 have gathered together from all parts of the United 

 States a class of men and farmers above the average 

 in ability and intelligence ; they are generally men 

 of high purpose, resolute, self-dependent and de- 

 termined. These men are companioned by superior 

 women. I have no sympathy with that view which 

 attributes to you, and to your shortcomings only, 

 whatever in your present situation may be uncom- 

 fortable or unpromising. 



With the admission that the past conduct of af- 

 fairs has not been unqualifiedly without error and 

 that future policies are subject to correction when 

 found erroneous, I think we may fairly proceed 

 upon common ground to reason together to the end 

 that we may now agree as to what, in the light of 

 present knowledge, appears to be just and equit- 

 able, as between you and the Government. 



The Farm Unit The most difficult duty im- 

 posed upon the Secretary of the Interior is that of 

 determining the "area of land necessary for the 

 support of a family." The law wisely requires this 

 to be done, not only to prevent speculation in lands, 

 but in order that there shall be farms for all who 

 desire them. By law and by tradition, 160 acres 

 have been considered necessary for the support of 

 a family in tfye United States. But land was plen- 

 tiful when this unit was established, transportation 

 was difficult and conditions of farm life burden- 

 some. Seldom in the pioneer days was a quarter 

 of the 160 acres farmed. There was the woodlot, 

 the pasture and the fallow ground. Even in humid 

 regions good farm practice retired one-half the cul- 

 tivated area each year for recuperation by summer 

 fallowing. So that 160 acres of land even in the 

 humid prairie regions was equivalent to an annually 

 farmed area of only 80 acres. In wooded countries 

 the labor and cost of clearing and subduing the 

 land was greater than in the desert regions today 

 under irrigation, nor could the acreage subdued 

 in one average man's lifetime equal one-half his 

 holdings. Even today in the states of Wisconsin, 

 Oregon, Washington, California, Alabama, Louisi- 

 ana, Mississippi and in other Southern states, the 

 cost per acre of clearing and grubbing "logged-off" 

 timber lands is greater than the cost of reclaiming 

 desert lands by irrigation. Much of this land is 

 lying idle and unproductive for that reason. Few 

 men would take 160 acres of such land conditioned 

 upon clearing 80 acres and subduing it by cultiva- 

 tion within 10 years' time. So that by every meas- 

 ure of comparison with which I am familiar I can 

 find no justification for a farm unit greater than 80 



acres on any reclamation project, even under the 

 least favorable of climatic conditions. There are 

 hundreds of thousands of citizens willing to take 

 up farm units of 80 acres or less. Every man to 

 whom 160 acres is given deprives some other man 

 of a home. 



I must, therefore, decline to yield to the demand 

 from many quarters to fix farm units at 160 acres of 

 irrigable land. In no case will I approve greater 

 than 80 acres, except where existing contracts with 

 private land owners made previous to my incum- 

 bency have been made upon a larger basis. The 

 80-acre farm unit will be fixed only in those regions 

 where climatic, soil and market conditions make so 

 large an area appear to be necessary, and even in 

 such regions 40-acre tracts lying near to towns or 

 prospective towns are deemed ample for the sup- 

 port of a family. 



One great need of agricultural regions is agricultural 

 laborers and artisans. If possible, I would establish a 

 few 5 and 10-acre homesteads for such to relieve them of 

 the disadvantages of tenantry and to encourage them to 

 settle in the vicinity of the larger farms. The cost of 

 reclaiming 160 acres by irrigation is too heavy a burden 

 for the average farm family to labor under. Thousands 

 of farmers of modest means now renting eastern lands 

 could be located on these small tracts and could, with their 

 labor, earn enough to pay reclamation costs and at the 

 same time acquire a home of from 5 to 10 acres, but would 

 probably fail if they attempted to acquire an 80, a 40 or 

 even a 20-acre tract. The riian who undertakes to pay the 

 cost of reclaiming 160 acres must needs be a man of large 

 capital to start with. Less is required for 80 and less for 

 40 acres, so that as the size of the farm unit is reduced, the 

 number of families on the land may be increased, so 

 also is reduced the amount of the capital required of 

 that family to start with, and through larger population 

 making easier many of the problems of pioneering. 



In those fertile and hospitable southern regions where 

 the growing season is almost continuous, there is no 

 defense whatever for farm units in excess of 40 acres. 

 In California the Little Landers are demonstrating even 

 an acre to be sometimes enough, long ago in the citrus 

 belt men have shown the world that 10 acres is enough. 

 In the Salt River Valley I have recently fixed the farm 

 unit at 40 acres and I am now besieged with demands to 

 reconsider and fix this at 160 or some other larger unit. 

 I cannot concede the justice of these demands nor the 

 force of the arguments submitted. Forty acres well tilled 

 in the Salt River Valley is larger than I believe to be 

 absolutely necessary for the support of a family. I have 

 conceded 40 acres, but in doing this I feel that I have 

 virtually deprived one or more other families of an 

 opportunity for a home on each 40. If I were to name 

 160 acres it would virtually be letting one family have 

 land I believe to be sufficient for the support of several 

 families. I believe you would not have done otherwise 

 had you been in my position. 



Though I am convinced that the farm unit should 

 not exceed 80 acres on any reclamation project, it does 

 not appear to me to be just that entrymen who filed on 

 government lands subject to the Reclamation Act should 

 be compelled to surrender their holdings in excess of 

 the established farm unit without compensation. These 

 men are entitled to consideration on account of the hard- 

 ships they have endured while waiting for the projects 

 to be opened and for water to be delivered, and each such 

 should be allowed to hold one farm unit and be permitted 

 to dispose of the remainder in such way as to fully 

 remunerate him. But it should be required that, within 

 one year after making proof of residence, cultivation and 

 improvements, as required by the homestead law, or 

 within one year after the farm unit plats have been 

 approved, the entryman should be compelled to sell the 

 excess land in farm units as established, or in parcels of 

 less area. By this means every man who now claims a 

 quarter section could retain 160 acres for one year after 

 {Continued on page 118) 



