hem out of the
returns from the settlers, and (2) the Federal government advances money
for reclamation through irrigation, drainage, and clearing, and for
preparation of the land for immediate farming through the providing of
buildings, implements, seeds, live stock, etc. The total cost of the
land and improvements, with interest at 4 per cent on capital invested,
will be repaid by the settlers during the course of, approximately,
forty years by an annual payment of 5 per cent of the total cost.

A bill was introduced in Congress by Senator Myers (S. 4947, 65th
Congress, 2d Session) in October, 1918, and backed by the Department of
the Interior, which provided for a survey and classification by this
department of all unentered public lands and all privately owned unused
lands for the purpose of finding out what lands can be reclaimed and put
to productive use by returning soldiers who would like to settle on land
and engage in agriculture. After such an investigation the Secretary of
the Interior was required to report to Congress and to propose a plan
for the settlement and cultivation of such lands.

There were two bills (S. 5397 and H. 15672) introduced by Senator W. S.
Kenyon of Iowa and Representative M. Clyde Kelly of Pennsylvania,
respectively, which, among other features, made possible development of
rural districts. Although differing in details, the bills both appropriated
$100,000,000 to be expended in providing employment primarily for returning
soldiers. This was to be done through the authorized public construction
work, or through the organization and extension of useful public works, in
the development of natural resources. Only in localities where the
Secretary of Labor reports extraordinary unemployment to exist shall public
works be carried on from this fund.

The House bill provided for the building of new post roads; for the
transfer of war material no longer needed by the army, the same to be
used for the construction, improvement, and maintenance of the post
roads; for supplementing the public school equipment where public school
buildings are or shall be designated as postal stations, for the use of
the construction service; and for other purposes. The bill provides for
the establishment of motor transport and postal routes; for the
organization of a system of marketing facilities for the collection and
delivery, through the postal service and public school buildings, of
farm products from pro