, or credit, or
in other terms purchasing power, but lacks access to sources of supply
in which to buy seeds, breeding stock, and implements, he still is
unable to make use of his land. If he has at hand all the needed
implements, seeds, and stock, but lacks knowledge and experience in
farming, he might entirely fail in his enterprise. Even if he possesses
the necessary knowledge and produces grain, milk, beef, and other
agricultural products, he must have a market for his products, be it a
domestic or an international market. This involves transportation
facilities, trade organization and regulation, tariff, and other forms
of organized international relationships, economic and political.

Moreover, land cultivation requires social stability, security, and
order, for an investment in land improvements must wait long for its
returns. If a man does not know who is going to harvest his fields, or
who is going to get the product of his toil, he will be disinclined to
sow anything. A striking illustration of such a state is the case of the
western provinces of the Russian Empire, where the battle lines for
several years were surging back and forth. First the Russian monarchy
collected the farm products, then came the Germans, then came the civil
warfare. When there is no security for a land cultivator, neither for
his products nor his very life itself, there can be no production. There
is land enough and there are cultivators enough, but the population
starves because of unsettled political and international conditions.

PLENTY OF LAND

In considering the land situation as it exists, it is true that the
ownership of land or, rather, the access to land, is of primary
importance. The question arises, Is there enough land in the United
States for all citizens who desire to become cultivators?

The Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Lane, states[17] that more than
15,000,000 acres of irrigable lands remain in the hands of the United
States government. There are between 70,000,000 and 80,000,000 acres of
swamp and overflowed lands in the United States of which about
60,000,000 acres can be reclaimed for agricultural purposes, and there
are about 200,000,000 acres of cut-over or logged-off lands which are
suitable for agricultural development.

Although it might be questioned how much of these unused lands are
economically available under normal conditions--for no rigid
investigation has been made--still the fact remains that