Lands that are valuable for their timber and mineral resources are disposed of on different terms, but on somewhat the same principle.

RECLAMATION OF LANDS BY SOLDIERS

At the close of the war in 1918 a plan was proposed by the Secretary of the Interior to secure the occupation of land by returning soldiers.  Since the lands suitable for farming in their natural state have practically all been disposed of; the plan contemplates the reclamation of arid and swamp lands, and of land from which the forests have been cut but which are still covered with stumps.  It is proposed that returned soldiers shall be employed by the government in the work of reclaiming the land, and that those who desire to become farmers may buy their farms in the reclaimed lands at a reasonable price, and with a period of thirty or forty years in which to pay for them.  The Secretary of the Interior said:  “This plan does not contemplate anything like charity to the soldier ...  He is not to be made to feel that he is a dependent.  On the contrary, he is to continue in a sense in the service of the Government.  Instead of destroying our enemies he is to develop our resources.”  Much of the land whose reclamation by and for returning soldiers is thus contemplated is not now public land, but is lying idle in the hands of private owners.

LAND SETTLEMENT IN CALIFORNIA

The state of California has recently enacted a law known as the Land Settlement Act, which provides for “a demonstration in planned rural development.”  “Its first idea is educational, to show what democracy in action can accomplish.”  Under the terms of this act the state acting through a Land Settlement Board and with the cooperation of experts from the University of California, has purchased several thousand acres of land at Durham, in Butte County, which it sells to settlers on easy terms.  It also lends money to settlers for improvement and equipment for the farmers.

The California Land Settlement Act is significant, because it eliminates speculation, it aims to create fixed communities by anticipating and providing those things essential to early and enduring success.

Another feature is the use it makes of cooperation.  The settlers are at the outset brought into close business and social relations.  It reproduces the best feature of the New England town meeting, as every member of the community has a share in the discussions and planning for the general welfare.  This influence in rural life has been lacking in new communities in recent years.  In the great movement of people westward with its profligate disposal of public land, settlement became migratory and speculative.  Every man was expected to look out for himself.  Rural neighborhoods became separated into social and economic strata.  There was the nonresident landowner; the influential resident landowner; the tenant, aloof and indifferent to community improvements; and, below that, the farm laborer who had no social status and who in recent years, because of lack of opportunity and social recognition, has migrated into the cities where he could have independence and self-respect, or has degenerated into a hobo.