The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 167 



Before closing, I will say, in a brief way, that I have been 

 watching these cut-over lands very closely during the past three 

 years, and in my opinion they are a splendid agricultural re- 

 source, with wonderful possibilities. I do not mean to say 

 they will compare with our richer lands in Louisiana or Mis- 

 sissippi, but I do say they are valuable agricultural lands that 

 are quite capable of sustaining a large population and capable Wonderful 

 of producing an immense amount of wealth by a production Possibilities 

 which will compare very favorably with the average lands of _ , " 

 the South ; and I trust that the examples already set by many 

 concerns and individuals in demonstrating their possibilities, and 

 bringing them into practical use, especially at this stage of the 

 great crisis, will not be delayed longer than is absolutely neces- 

 sary, and that you will bend your efforts towards making them 

 contribute their part towards the support, not only of the Gov- 

 ernment in times of peace, but more particularly at this eminent 

 crisis. I thank you. (Applause.) 



S. F. Morse : I just want to drive home a very important 

 point made by Dr. Nesom, by a concrete instance. The point I 

 mean was, that there was, to a large degree, enough practical 

 experience and demonstration to enable us to determine what can 

 be done and to formulate a plan for the development of these 

 lands. 



The experience which I wish to state is this : About three 

 vears ago, in the State of Arizona, when they started the agri- 

 cultural extension work, we found ourselves covering a large 

 area of land about which we knew nothing. At the outset, as I 

 just stated, we found we had no experimental data for the de- 

 velopment of these large areas of land. What were we to do? 

 These lands had many settlers on them and they were crying out 

 for information. We didn't bother with the experiment sta- 

 tion ; we cut loose and got busy and found out what they were 

 doing in other states and in other parts of the country where 

 conditions were similar. We investigated the live stock business 

 and got different experiences, and then we worked with the 

 farmers and gave them this experience. The result is that to- 

 day, where we were previously shipping in sack lots, we are now 

 shipping in carload lots ; and that has only been within a period 

 of three years. 



That was done, as Dr. Nesom has suggested, by taking the 

 different conditions in other parts of the country, and of the dif- 



