Author: United States Bureau of Reclamation

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2015-07-04

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 9781330699041

Excerpt from Development of Unused Land Dear Mr. Speaker: Herewith I transmit a report upon the development of the unused lands of the country made under authority of the last Congress. This report in much detail gives the possible projects which are available in the various States. The field has not been fully covered because the appropriation made was not sufficent to go further. We have, however, gone far enough to demonstrate that in most of the States, North, South, and West, there, are great bodies of unused lands which with drainage or clearing can be made available at a comparatively small cost for farms. This work has been carried on in the prospect that the Congress would see fit to give to our returned soldiers and sailors an opportunity to go upon these lands under proper guidance and convert them into home farms for themselves. There are one or more bills pending before Congress having this end in view. It is a work that must in my opinion be undertaken soon if we are to maintain our position as a self-supporting people. And surely no other group deserve this opportunity more than the soldiers in the late war. I would not urge this as an exclusive method of stimulating and recognizing the ambition of our soldiers, but I believe it to be one method that carries good and no harm to the country and to the men themselves. If the objection is raised that the Federal finances will not support the drain proposed. I beg to advise that I am authoritatively informed that there will be no difficulty in selling $500,000,000 in Government 33/4 per cent nontaxable bonds which would be sufficient to cover the expenditures contemplated under the Smoot-Mondell bill. This would be in the nature of a reimbursable fund, the whole being repaid over a long period by the farm owners. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.