The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 105 



to be overcome, and give him a frank statement of what he might 

 expect, you will not get very much development or utilization 

 of these lands; but when you are able to do that, and you can 

 tell by experience and' facts that the land might do this or that, 

 you will do well in selling lands. 



In formulating your plans I hope you will lay a broad foun- 

 dation ; work out a plan by which the men that are permanently 

 in this kind of work may correlate their efforts with the Federal 

 authorities and state authorities and the people who have their 

 money in the land, so they can work together on a permanent 

 basis. Until we make such arrangements we will work with a 

 dissipation of our energies and loss of money and time; and so, 

 in formulating your plans I hope you will make ample provision Much Prelim- 

 for experimental data to be obtained by impartial men, to extend ^^^^^U Work 

 over a sufficient period to eliminate great variations in seasons, ' ^c^ssary 

 so that due attention will be given to selecting original areas 

 that will be as typical of large areas as possible ; that that infor- 

 mation shall be given without restriction and without limitations 

 to those that will be interested in it; that it will be financed 

 on a basis that will not make anybody feel under obligations to 

 keep something back. I believe when we do that we will work 

 out a plan by which these lands will offer very attractive propo- 

 sitions for a great many people. 



I only want to giv.e you one illustration of what I mean. We 



have been talking today about rich lands and poor lands. Rich 



land and poor land are simply relative terms. We say poor land 



when we arei thinking about the production of cotton, and it 



means one thing; and we say poor land when we think of the 



production of sweet potatoes, and it means another thing. If I 



were to go to Alexandria, for instance, which is on the border ,,_ „ , ^ 

 ,. r 1 1 1 r • , T 1 Poor Lands 



Ime of the long leaf pme country and I wanted to grow corn ^^^ "Rich" 



on the north and the alluvial land on the south, and I would Lands 



say, "Which is the best land, over there on the hills or over here 



in the bottoms" and everybody would say, "Over here in the 



bottoms; you can't grow any corn on hilly land." But suppose 



I wanted to raise sweet potatoes, and I ask, "Where can I raise 



the best sweet potatoes — ^over here in the sandy loams or over 



there in the Red River bottom land," and the man would say, 



"You can raise much better potatoes on the hill land than you can 



on the stiff soils," and therefore that pine land is richer for you 



than the Red River bottom. That is simply an illustration of the 



