NATIONAL G^ONTZATION BILL HEARINGS BErORE THE COMMITTEE ON LABOR HOUSE OF REPEESENTATIVES SIXTY-FOURTH CONGRESS First Session ON H. R. 11329 A BILL TO ATJTHOEIZE THE SECRETARY OF LABOR TO COOPERATE WITH OTHER DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT IN FOSTERING, PRO- MOTING, AND DEVELOPING THE WELFARE OF THE WAGE EARNERS OF THE UNITED STATES, BY CREATING NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOE PERMANENT AND PROFITABLE EMPLOYMENT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES MAY 18, 22, 25, JUNE 5 and 15, 1916 f WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1916 COMMITTEE ON LABOR, House of Representatives, Sixty -foueth Congress. DAVID J. LEWIS, Maryland, Chairman. JAMES P. MAHER, New York. J. M. C. SMITH, Michigan. WALTER A. WATSON, Virginia. EDWARD E. BROWNE, Wisconsin. EDWARD KEATING, Colorado. JOHN I. NOLAN, California. W. C. HOUSTON, Tennessee. JOHN G. COOPER, Ohio. H. W. SUMNERS, Texas. EDWARD E. DENISON, Illinois. EDWARD B. ALMON, Alabama. METER LONDON, New York. CARL C. VAN DYKE, Minnesota. Chas. T. Clayton, Clerk. 2 CONTENTS Testimony of witnesses: i'as«- Grosser, Hon. Robert 10 Holder, Arthur E 80 Howe, Frederic C 97 Magnusson, Leifur 77 Marsh, Benjamin 14 Additional statement 27 Post, Hon. Louis F 109 Stewart, Bthelbert 38 Wilson, Hon. William B 32 Copy of the bill, H. R. 11329 5 3 '^. Cornell University Library The original of tiiis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014042265 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. Committee on Labor, House of Representatives, Thursday, May 18, 1916. The committee this day met, Hon. Edward Keating presiding. Mr. Keating. The committee will come to order. We are here to- day to consider H. E. 11329, a bill introduced by Mr. Grosser to " au- thorize the Secretary of Labor to cooperate with other departments of the Government in fostering, promoting, and developing the wel- fare of the wage earners of the United States, by creating new op- portunities for permanent and profitable employment, and for other purposes," which reads as follows: TH. E. 11329, Sixty-fourth Congress, first session.] A BILL To authorize the Secretary of Labor to cooperate with other departments of the GoTernment in fostering, promoting, and developing the welfare of the wage earners of tne United States, by creating new opportunities for permanent and profitable employ- ment, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of Labor be, and he is hereby, authorized to cooperate with the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior for the purpose of extending the present work of the division of information of the Immigration Service of the Department of Labor in the dis- tribution of workers and in finding and creating new opportunities for perma- nent and profitable employment for such workers, and for the purpose of as- certaining the measures which may be necessary for relieving unemployment throughout the United States and making recommendations regarding the same to Congress ; and the Secretaries, respectively, of Agriculture and Interior be, and they are hereby, authorized, at the request of the Secretary of Labor, to place at the disposal of said Secretary of Labor any information as to the activities, duties, and powers of offices, bureaus, and services under their re- spective jurisdictions, so far as they relate to labor and its conditions, in order to harmonize and unify such activities, duties, and powers, with a view to further legislation to further define the duties and powers of the said Secre- tary of Labor ; and there is hereby created a special administrative board of three members, to be known as the national colonization board, to consist of the Secretaries of the Departments of Labor, of the Interior, and of Agri- culture, of which the Secretary of Labor shall be the chairman, and said board is hereby empowered, authorized, and directed to carry out, through the personnel and other means of said departments, the provisions of this act ; and to this end the said board may employ, through the Civil Service Commis- sion, such additional force as may be necessary: Provided, That either of the said Secretaries may designate an Assistant Secretary in his department to act on the said board in his stead, and the acts of such Assistant Secretary or Sec- retaries shall be in all respects as valid and binding as if they were the acts of the Secretary himself. The term " board " or " colonization board " as used in this act shall refer to the national colonization board herein created. 6 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. Sec. 2. That the board shall examine, or cause to be examined, areas of land embracing portions of the public domain and reservations owned by the United States and adjoining lands not so owned, said areas including agricultural, desert, grazing, or forest lands, for the purpose of determining the possibilities of organizing on all or any portions of such areas or locations, and in conven- ient units, projects for colonizing communities of workers in the industry or industries, whether farming, grazing, lumbering, or other, being conducted on or suitable to the particular area ; and the board may at any time through the President, and upon his approval, recommend to the Congress the purchase of lands not owned by the United States which are needed for any colonizing project. The colonization board may, at any time in its discretion and upon the approval of the President, set apart and withdraw from settlement, location, sale, or entry any of the public lands of the United States, including the District of Alaska, and reserve the same as farm-colony reserves for the purpose of colo- nizing thereon families and persons, in accordance with the provisions of this act. No land now reserved by the United States, in irrigation or other withdrawals, in national parks, in national forests, or other reservations, shall, by elimination or otherwise, be restored to the public domain nor opened to settlement, location, sale, or entry until after the examination of such lands by the board and its approval of such restoration. Sbc. 3. That the colonization board, after the examination of any area or locations as provided for in section two, shall select therefrom such locations as in the opinion of the board would be most suitable and practicable as colo- nization projects ; and the said board shall make, or cause te be made, for each such location a detailed plan for developing and colonizing the same. Said plan shall in each case provide for the necessary clearing of land ; for the con- struction, maintenance, and operation of the roads, ditches, and other recla- mation works necessary to make the land accessible and cultivable; for devel- oping and supplying timber, coal, power, telephone and other services to set- tlers for their domestic use; for organizing facilities for purchasing, market- ing, and other cooperative activities ; and for securing any other improvements or services necessary for the efficient organization and development of any community to be colonized on the location. And said plan shall include esti- mates of cost of all contemplated works and operations, of the quantity, location, and value of the lands and the number of people which can be colonized, and all facts relative to the use and practicability of each colonization project. Upon completion of the plan, with estimates of each project, the same shall be submitted by the board to the President for his approval, and he shall report to Congress at the beginning of each regular session as to the use and practi- cability of all projects approved by him during the previous twelve months. The board is hereby empowered, authorized, and directed, in connection with any project, to set aside and reserve from settlement, location, sale, or entry so much of the timber, coal, water-power sites, or other resources owned by the United States as may be necessary to the settlers in said project for their domestic usa No project shall be undertaken by the board nor submitted to the President for approval which does not offer a reasonable presumption that the soil and other physical conditions and the markets and other economic conditions in- volved in such project will permit of Immediate, continuous, permanent, and profitable employment for the settlers being located and colonized therein. ' Sec. 4. That the title to all lands whatsoever retained or acquired by the United States and Included In farm-colony reserves or in irrigation or other withdrawals, or in national parks, national forests, or other reservations, the same being included in any colony project, shall remain forever In the United States Government; and the colonization board is hereby authorized, under such rules and regulations as it may establish and subject to the provisions of this act, to issue to any person over twenty-one years of age who is a citizen of the United States, or who has declared his intention of becoming such a termin- able permit or lease for the use of agricultural or grazing land owned bv the United States Government. No permit or lease for the use of any parcel of land shall be Issued excent to the person by whom said land shall be actually used and occupied and durin- a period only in which said land shall be used and occupied by said person or the designated heirs or assigns thereof; and the question of Met in anv nar- ticular case of what Is actual use and occupancy within the spirit and purpose NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 7 of this act shall be determined by the colonization board, subject to appeal to the district Federal court in the district in which such land is located, which court shall proceed in the same manner as in cases for the condemnation of laud ; and any permit or lease of land decided as not being used or occupied as aforesaid shall be subject to cancellation by the board. The total area of land, agricultural, grazing, or both together, the use of which is allowed by the board, under one or more permits, leases, or both, to any one person during atiy period, shall not exceed that which, in the opinion of the board, is sufficient to support one family ; and in no case shall such area exceed three hundred and twenty acres of agricultural land or six hundred and forty acres of grazing land: Provided, That two or more persons holding per- mits or leases under this act may operate their holdings under cooperative agree- ments approved by the colonization board. Sec. 5. That the aggregate cost of all improvements involved in any coloniza- tion project for making lands therein accessible and cultivable, as provided for in section nine, together with the cost of surveys and examinations therefor and of all organization work in connection with said project, shall be assessed by the board against each farm, ranch, or other parcel of land (owned by the United States within such project and opened to use under permit or leave) upon the basis of benefits and damages thereto ; and a charge to be known as the " improvement charge " shall ho collected each year by the board from the permittee or lessee equal to four per centum of the total cost of improvements assessed against the parcel of land in question plus a fraction, fixed or variable, of said total cost sufficient to reimburse to the Government such cost in a period not exceeding fifty years, to be determined in each case by the coloniza- tion board: .Provided, That the permittee or lessee may, at any interest-paying time, pay the balance remaining unpaid of the total cost, including interest charge, or any proportion thereof: Provided further. That whenever the total cost of improvements assessed against any parcel of land shall be paid to the Government, with annual interest at four per centum on balances previously unpaid, no further improvement charge shall be collected. All Improvement charges collected shall be paid in to the " colonization fund " of the Treasury of the United States hereinafter provided, to be used as provided for in section eight. A charge to be known as the "tax charge" (in addition to the improvement charge hereinbefore provided), such tax charge to be a reasonable percentage of the assessed value of the land, shall be collected each year by the board from the permittee or lessee. From the tax charges so collected there shall be paid by the board equitable proportions thereof to the State, county, and other local governments rendering services within the area of the colonization project, corresponding to the local current tax rate, but not to exceed three per centum of the said assessed value ; and the remainder of the said tax charge shall be paid into the " colonization fund " of the Treasury of the United States, to be used as provided for in section eight. All improvement charges and tax charges shall be paid in annual installments to such local officers and under such rules and regulations as the board may determine, and a failure to make payments for two successive years shall render the permit or lease subject to cancellation by the board, with the forfeiture of all rights under this act : Provided, That in no case shall the board allow any permittee or lessee to continue in occupancy after three successive installments shall be due and unpaid : Provided further, That the board shall ascertain the total amount paid by the permittee or lessee toward the cost of improvements, and deduct therefrom the amount of depreciation of said im- provements and siiall pay the balance to the said permittee or lessee (whose right of occupancy is so forfeited). The permittee or lessee may appeal from the decision of the board to the district Federal court in which such land is located, which court shall proceed in the same manner as in cases for the con- demnation of land. Sec. 6. That there is hereby created in the United States Treasury a fund to be known as the " colonization fund," to be expended by the board for carrying out the provisions of this act, and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby au- thorized and directed, upon request of the colonization board, to transfer from time to time to the credit of the colonization fund such sum or sums, not exceeding in the aggregate .$50,000,000, as the said board may deem necessary, to be used from time to time for carrying out the provisions of this act ; and such sum or sums as may be required to comply with this authority are hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated : Provided, That 8 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. the sums hereby authorized to be transferred to the colonization fund shall be so transferred only as such sums shall be actually needed by the board: Pro- vidad further, That all sums so transferred shall be restored to the Treasury from the improvement fund, as hereinafter provided. Sec. 7. That for the purpose of providing the Treasury with funds for such advances to the colonization fund the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to issue certificates of Indebtedness of the United States In such form as he may prescribe and in denominations of $20, or multiples of that sum ; said certificates to be redeemable at the option of the United States at any time after ten years from the date of their issue and to be payable fifty years after such date and to bear interest, payable semiannually, at not exceeding three per centum per annum ; the principal and interest to be payable In legal tender of the United States. The certificates of indebtedness herein authorized may be disposed of by the Secretary of the Treasury at not less than par, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, giving all citizens of the United States an equal opportunity to subscribe. therefor, but no commission shall be allovred and the aggregate issue of such certificates shall not exceed the amount of all advances made to said colonization fund, and In no event shall the same exceed the sum of $50,000,000. The certificates of indebtedness herein author- ized shall be exempt from taxes or duties of the United States^, as well as from taxation in any form by or under State, municipal, or local authority; and a sum not exceeding one-tenth of one per centum of the amount of the certificates of indebtedness issued under this act Is hereby appropriated, out of any money in' the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to pay the expenses of prepar- ing, advertising, and Issuing the same. ' Sec. 8. That certain proportions of the receipts of the colonization fund shall be paid into the general fund of the Treasury of the United States, until pay- cents so made shall equal the aggregate amount of advances made by the Treas- ury to said colonization fund, together with Interest paid on the certificates of indebtedness issued under this act and any expense Incident to preparing, adver- tising, and issuing the same : Provided, That said transfer of receipts shall be made at such times and in such proportions as the President shall direct : Pro- vided further. That all receipts of the colonization fund in excess of the amounts of advances made by the Treasury, as heretofore provided, to said colonization fund which shall have been restored, shall be used by the board in accordance with the provisions of this act for instituting new colonization projects and for developing projects which shall have been established, and any sum or sums from said colonization fund used for making lands accessible and cultlvatable, or for making surveys and examinations therefor, or for any organization work in conneection with any project, shall, together with annual interest at four per centum on unpaid balances of said sum or sums, be assessed by the board against the appropriate land and collected as an Improvement charge, in accordance with the provisions of section five, and when so assessed and collected the said sum or sums shall be returned by the board to the colonization fund, to be used over again indenfiltely by the board for like purposes. Sec. 9. That upon the determination by the national colonization board that any colonization project is practicable, and upon approval of such project by the President, the said board shall let contracts, in definite portions or sectioias of the operations to be undertaken (providing the necessary funds for such por- tions or sections are available in the colonization fund) for clearing the land of timber or stumps and for constructing necessary roads, drainage ditches, and other reclamation works and improvements, and shall maintain and operate the same for the purpose of making the land accessible and cultlvatable. The board shall thereupon, through the Labor Department, give public notice of the lands ready for settlement within such project, and the limits of area of single farms or ranches, and the improvements and tax charges thereon per acre and all other facts necessary to properly inform any prospective settlers as to the project ; and the board shall, through said Department of Labor and as soon as possible, bring together, colonize, and locate upon the land a body or group of persons or families as settlers, in the requisite number, who are pre J^^, 325 Value of farm lands in the United States P^o. ^'°' °'*' ^°° Number of farms in the United States °' *1' °"^ Size of farms. Number. Acreage. Per cent. Total ■ land. Assessed value per farm. Average value, total. Per acre of land. 839, 166 1,414,376 1,438,069 1,618,286 978,175 125,295 50, 135 8,793,820 45,378,499 103,120,868 205,480,585 265,289,069 83,653.487 167,082,047 0.1 5.2 11.7 23.4 30.2 9.6 1.9 11,812.00 2,103.00 4,175.00 7,313.00 13,955.00 23,208.00 56,757.00 $956.00 2,284.00 2,649.00 5,021.00 10,291.00 17,644.00 43,047.00 1172.89 . 65.55 58.22 51.07 51.45 34.76 17.03 $91.22 36.94 (4) 100 to 174 acres 37.05 31. h 28.43 12.92 It will be observed, first, that 28.5 per cent of the farm lands— nearly one-third— is held in tracts of 500 acres or over. As is well known, these large tracts are held by a relatively few very wealthy people, who, with the present low tax rate on land values, can afford to hold their land out of use, and can charge heavy rentals or prices therefor. The United States Commission on Industrial Relations refers to such holdings as follows: The condition of agricultural laborers can not, however, be dismissed with- out referring to the development of huge estates which are operated by mana- gers with hired labor on what may properly be called a " factory system." The conditions upon such estates are deplorable, not only because these estates, embracing within their boundaries entire counties and towns, are a law unto themselves and the absolute dictators of the lives, liberties, and happiness of their employees. It is industrial feudalism in an extreme form. Such estates are, as a rule, the property of absentee landlords, who are for the most part millionaires, resident in the eastern States or In Europe. Second, that the selling price per acre — which has increased ma- terially since 1910 — renders it very difficult for the average small farmer to acquire a farm, and even more difficult for a peasant in a city, who wants to get on the land. During the past year, the congestion committee investigated in every State of the Union what is being done to distribute popula- tion. State officials were asked, among other questions, " What is the greatest hindrance to farm ownership ? " The following are typical answers : California: Customary failure of new farmers to retain sufficient working capital after the land is brought to pay expenses until returns on the land can be secured. Connecticut: Opportunities in cities for better living conditions for employer and employee. Indiana: In the first place the high prices of land makes it difficult for a young man to purchase a farm. He must work on a salary or rent for a number of years before he can make a first payment on a piece of land. A second difficulty is the lack of long-time loans on easy conditions so that a young man can purchase a farm and pay it out on a series of payments through a number of years without paying practically double for his farm by reason of the high rate of interest. Illinois: Rising land values; present credit system; dearth of Government land. NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 29 Kansas: Tlie same difficulties as those in getting people to work on farms apply with greater force. Those who have sufficient capital to rent a farm and properly equip it are usually able to save enough to purchase a farm of their own within a few years. The greatest hindrance to this is the fact that so many are obliged to borrow the necessary funds to get their first equipment, and the Interest on such funds, together with the rent of their farms and living expenses, sometimes reaches such an amount as to take them a long time to save sufficient money. Kentucky : Lack of funds and inability to borrow on long-time notes. Louisiana : Aversion to living In the country ; rural conditions are, however, i«.5 30.2 40.4 22.3 27.4 30.5 49.4 33.2 57. 7 67. S 4) 43.7 54.4 60.9 48.4 77.8 41.1 59.3 66.0 59.8 58.4 61.3 53.4146.6 40. 3|59. 7 56.4 43.8 5.?. C'42. 29, S 70. 2 24.1 44.2 15.4 55.0 43.7 25.4 61.5 19.5 69.8 59.6 77.7 ■2.6 69.5 .50.6 66.8 42.3 42.1 -,s.s 56.3 45.6 39.1 51.8 22.2 58.9 40.7 34.0 40.2 41.6 38.7 46 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. EXHIBIT B. Number of farms operated bij owners, tenants, and managers, and number and per cent of farms operated by owners that were mortgaged. [From Thlrteentli Census of the United States, 1910; Abstract, p. 294, and Tol. S, Agriculture, pp. 129-132.] State. Alabama.. Arizona... Arkansas.. Calitomia. Colorado.. Connecticut.. Delaware District o f Columbia. Florida Georgia Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa J Kansas Kentucky Louisiana.... Maine Maryland Massachu- setts Michigan Miimesota Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hamp- shire New Jeresey. New Mexico.. New York. . North Caro- lina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Bhode Island South Caro- lina South Dakota Tennessee.... Texas Utah Vermont Virginia ■Washington.. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Number ot farms operated by owners in 1910.1 Total. 103,929 8,203 106,649 66,632 36,993 23,234 6,178 118 35,399 98,628 27,169 145,107 148,501 133,003 111,108 170,332 52,989 56,454 33,519 32,075 172,310 122,104 92,066 192,285 23,365 79,250 2,175 24,493 24,133 33,398 166,674 145,320 63,212 192,104 85,404 37,796 164,229 4,087 64,350 57,984 144, 125 195,863 19, 762 28,065 133,664 47,505 75,978 151,022 9,779 Free from mortgage 74,504 7,038 82,321 39,368 26,822 13,080 3,817 29,614 78,004 17,933 86,713 89,847 63,234 60,582 135,505 42,011 41,309 21,084 18,768 88,705 65,038 60,543 102,514 18,014 47,435 1,805 18,119 11,983 31,382 93,118 117,028 30,651 135,616 46,889 24,855 112,156 2,811 47,535 35, 101 118,285 128,082 15, 131 14,851 111,474 30,979 68,093 72,941 7,815 Total.. 3,948,722 2,588,596 1,312,034 Mort- 27,457 1,043 22,374 26, 749 9,636 9,958 2,264 21 5,160 18,257 9,010 55,792 56,914 68,045 49,249 33,039 9,834 14,948 12,127 13,014 82,631 56,145 29,693 88,486 4,820 30,839 361 6,234 11,793 1,775 72,311 26,642 31,727 64,997 36,036 12,632 50,699 1,180 15,020 21,691 24,006 64,008 4,492 13, 140 21, 182 16,026 9,525 77, 129 1,923 Not re- ported. 1,968 122 1,954 515 535 196 97 4 625 2,367 226 2,602 1,740 1,724 1,277 1,788 1,144 197 308 Percentage ol farms operated by owners reported as mortgaged. 2 Number of farms operated by— 974 921 1,8 1,2 531 976 140 357 241 1,245 1,650 834 1,491 2,479 1,795 1,192 1,834 3,773 139 74 1,008 500 360 952 41 48,092 12.9 21.4 40.6 26.4 43.2 37.2 18.4 14.8 19.0 33.4 39.2 38.8 51.8 44.8 19.6 19.0 26.6 36.5 40.9 48.2 46.3 21.1 39.4 16.7 25.6 49.6 6.4 43.7 18.5 50.9 28.9 43.5 33.7 31.1 24.0 38.2 16.9 33.3 22.9 46.9 16.0 34.1 12.6 51.4 19.7 19.2 6.0 14.3 32.2 27.0 40.7 36.5 18.9 10.3 14.7 18.4 39.3 36.6 53.0 41.8 16.2 17.7 26.7 48.3 44.8 27.1 42.4 14.0 45.4 19.3 26.5 51.9 15.8 31.4 29.8 39.2 25.2 32.3 27.1 20.6 36.7 11.5 23.4 11.1 46.9 14,7 21.7 14.1 45.8 12.2 31.1 4.4 6.8 4.2 32.6 25.5 31.1 29.4 4.1 2.9 3.4 16.3 36.7 33.1 53.3 55.5 4.1 4.0 22.1 30.0 30.5 49.4 46.4 7.7 36.4 15.6 52.0 17.2 21.8 48.9 3.0 44.2 4.9 48.7 23.4 27.4 19.1 8.0 62.4 3.2 5.7 5.5 44.3 3.2 26.8 13.0 42.9 13.1 Tenants in 1910. 158,326 861 107,266 18,148 8,390 2,632 4,535 84 13,342 190,980 3,188 104,379 64,687 82,115 65,398 87,860 66,607 2,563 14,416 2,979 32,689 32,811 181,491 82,958 2,344 49,441 333 1,879 8,294 1,957 44,872 107,287 10,664 77,188 104, 13r 6,859 61,105 954 111,221 19,231 101,061 219,675 1,720 4,008 48, 729 7,726 19,835 24,654 897 28.2 2,354,676 Managers in 1910. 646 163 763 3,417 787 949 123 15 1,275 1,419 450 2,386 2,297 1,926 1,335 993 950 1,863 1,961 1,222 825 2,001 505 987 181 681 1,060 321 4,061 1,118 484 2,763 651 847 3,961 261 863 429 826 2,332 194 636 1,625 961 872 1,451 311 58,104 I Includes those whose owners rented additional land = ttcludesTdWe^i&*;!""^'°^ '™*""'"' ™-^^8e and mortgaged. NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 47 EXHIBIT O. TENANCY IN THE UNITED STATES. For the United States as a whole the census of 1910 (5 Thirteenth Census, 97) reports that 62.1 per cent of all the farms In the United States were operated by their owners, less than 1 per cent by managers and 37 per cent by tenants. Based not on more numbers of farms but on total farm acreage and an Improved acreage, the results show up as follows : Per cent of farms in the United States operated by oioners and tenants, re- spectively, in the United States in 1900 and 1010. [Thirteentli Census, 1910, vol. 5, p. 98.] Number of farms. AUlandin farms. Improved land m farms. 1910 1900 1910 1900 1910 1900 Farms operated by owners and managers 63 37 64.7 36.3 74.2 25.8 76.7 23.3 67.3 32.7 69.8 TeTiftntfiS 30.2 If these figures mean anything, they Indicate that, looked at from three points of view, tenancy in the United States has Increased steadily between 1900 and 1910. Tenant farmers constituted a larger proportion of the number of farms, the amount of all land In farms, and the amount of Improved land in farms In 1910 than In 1900. This indeed marks the lengthening shadow of tenancy in the United States. In fact, the amount of tenancy has increased steadily between all the censuses from 1880 to 1910 lor which figures are avail- able. Here is the result, showing the continuous Increase of tenancy over a period of 30 years: Number and per cent of farms of specified tenure in the United States, 1880-1910. [Source: Thirteenth Census, 1910, vol. 5, p. 102.] Number of farms operated by- Per cent of farms operated by- Year. Owners and managers. Tenants. Owners and managers. Tenants. 2,984,306 3,269,728 3,712,408 4,006,826 1,024,601 1,294,913 2,024,964 2,354,676 74.5 71.6 64.7 63.0 25.5 28.4 1900 35.3 37.0 > Not inoluding farms with areas of less than 3 acres reporting sale of less than $5 of produce during the year. Thus, since 1880 farms operated by tenants have increased more rapidly than farms operated by owners. During these 30 years it is also shown (5 Thirteenth Census, 102) that the number of tenant farms Increased 129.8 per cent, while farms operated by their owners and by managers increased only 34.3 per cent. It should, however, be said, by way of extenuation, that this increase in tenancy has not been accompanied by a parallel increase in the concentra- tion of land ownership (compare 5 Thirteenth Census, 102). On this point no figures were gathered by the census of 1910, but a casual examination of 48 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. the farm schedules of the 1900 census showed in one instance that 1,934,346 tenant farms, representing 95 per cent of all tenant farms, were owned by 1,257,716 seperate owners. Furthermore, the average size of farms has de- creased between 1900 and 1910 from 146 acres to 138 acres. (5 Thirteenth Census, 37.) EXHIBIT D. The Disteibtjtiox of the Public Lands of the United States. "The present public domain of the United States Government is distributed among 25 different States and consists of 279,544,494 acres, as reported by the General Land Office.' Of this amount, 172,987,912 acres is surveyed land, while 106,556,582 acres is still unsurveyed. This does not include Alaska, the amount of the unappropriated lands in which is not definitely reported by the General Land Office. The total area of Alaska is 378,165,760 acres, of which about 20,898,000 acres, or 5.5 per cent, are reserved. The public-land States comprise 69 per cent of the total area of the United States. The amount of unappropriated and unreserved land, title to which is still in the United States Government, amounts to approximately 15 per cent of the total area of the United States. In the 25 public-land States the reserved area as given in the table which follows is, in round numbers, 209,000,000 acres, or approximately 11 per cent of the area of the United States, thus making the total Government land distributed among 25 different States of the Union equivalent to approximately 26 per cent of the total area of the United States. Concerning the amount of unappropriated and unreserved public land of the United States, about 5J per cent will be required to satisfy the remaining land grants to those States in which these lands are located, as estimated in the Annual Report (p. 10) of the Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1915. No recent information is available to show the character of the available public lands of the United States ; that is, what proportion is capable of agri- cultural production, how much Is grazing land, how much is forest land, and what proportion is desert land. An estimate'' made by an expert in the Agricultural Department, in 1898, based on calculations by the Director of the Geological Survey, at a time when probably twice as much or more public land was available as at present, showed that about 12 per cent was arid, 66 per cent was adaptable for grazing, and 22 per cent was reported as woodland. Since that time the proportion has undoubtedly changed so as to increase the amount of arid land and the wooded and forest tracts. The table which follows shows the distribution of the present Government lands of the United States, as of June 30, 1915. The data has been prepared from the Annual Report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, sup- plemented by figures obtained through special correspondence with the Interior Department. The item for reserved land does not probably include all the reserved area, title to which is in the United States Government, as reserves are located in other than the 25 public-land States. Therefore, the total for the item " Government land " is not complete as shown in this table, except as far as the 25 States indicated are concerned. The same is true of the item headed "Appropriated land." 1 There is a slight discrepancy between the figures reported by the General Land Office as to the area o£ unappropriated and unreserved land in Utah, and the data reported by the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1915, p. 10. ^ Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture, 1898 p 33 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 49 Distribution of the Oovcnimeni lands of the United States as of June SO, 1915. States and Territories. Unappropriated and unreserved. Acres. Per cent. Reserved. Acres. Per cent. Total Govern- ment land. Acres. Per cent. Appropriated. Acres. Per cent. Total area. Acres. Per cent ol land area of United States. Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Florida Idaho Kansas Louisiana Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Mexico... North Uakota. Oklahoma Oregon South Dakota. Utah Washington... Wiscon'^m Wyoming Total.... 47,940 36,810,3271 278, 155I 20,635,923 17, 236, 114 268, 484 16, 212, 273 75, 214 101,016 76,030 943, 831 19,065 121 192,358 55, 417, 746 27,788,857 493,667 42, 177 15,442,178 2,934,609 33,363,837 1,144,605 6,758 30,92.^,969 0.15 50.54 .83 20.72 25.98 .76 30.39 .15 .35 .21 1.82 .12 w 20.37 .39 78.85 35.45 1.10 .09 25.24 5.97 63.43 2.68 .02 49.52 1,777 29,430,831 1, 210, 420 21,211,425 13,959,623 339, 084 18,412,496 441,419 4,957 239, 144 2,486,899 1,326 3,160 23, 127, 162 590, 742 5,999,516 13,157,461 1,907,263 19, 700, 251 15,097,568 7,572,037 9,110,021 13,232,192 583,361 11,237,768 (') 40.40 3.60 21.29 21.04 .97 34.52 .84 .01 .65 4.81 .01 .01 24.72 1.20 8.53 16.78 4.25 44.35 24.67 15.39 17.32 30.93 1.65 17.99 49, 66, 241, 1,488, 41, 847, 31, 196, 607, 34, 624, 616, 105, 315, 3,430, 38, 4, 42, 192, 783, 61, 417, 40,946, 2, 400, 19, 742, 30,539, 10,506, 42, 473, 14,376, 590, 42,167, 32,768,843 6,697,242 32, 127, 425 57,769,932 35,145,483 34,503,472 18, 721, 791 51, 818, 727 28,965,787 36,472,026 48,318,390 29,633,472 43,981,197 61,376,357 48,374,020 8, 868, 178 37,455,602, 42,516,190, 24,682,632 30,648,734 38,688,8741 10,123,902 28,398,243 34,773,721 2D, 292, 423 99. 85 32, 9.06,72, 95. 57 33, 57.99 99, 52.98 98.27 35.09 99.01 99.64 99.14 93.37 99.87 99.99 54.91 98.41 12.5270; 47. 77178, 94. 65 44; 55.56 44, 50. 09 61, 78. 64 49, 19. 25 52, 66.39 42, 98.33 35, 32. 49 62, 53, 818,560 838, 400 616, 000 617,280 341, 120 111, 040 346,560 335,360 061,760 787, 200 749,120 671, 680 985 280 568, 640 157, 120 285,440 401,920 917, 120 424,960 188,480 195,520 597, 760 775,040 363, 840 460,160 1.72 3.83 1.77 5.23 3.49 1.85 2.80 2.75 1.53 1.93 2.72 1.56 2.31 4.92 2.58 3.69 4.12 2.36 2.33 3.21 2.59 2.76 2.25 1.86 3.28 279, 544,994 »14. 69 209, 057, 803 "10. 98 488,602,797 ,326, II I I 67 833,012,563 . » Less than 0.01 per cent. ' Per cent of total area of the United States (1,903,289,600 acres). An examination of tlie area of public land granted by the Federal Govern- ment under different public land acts shows that 440,773,382 acres have been disposed of, or the equivalent of 23 per cent of the area of the United States. This figure does not include all lands granted, but only tlio"se under certain acts, as shown in the table which follows. It does, however, account for prac- tically all public land disposed of by the Government. This table shows that 35 per cent of the acreage disposed of under the different acts was allotted under the homestead law ; 30.2 per cent consisted of educational grants to the States; and approximately 28 per cent of railroad and road grants, either to the States or directly to corporations (18.4 per cent). The table follows : Public lands disposed of by the Federal Government under certain specified acts. Homestead law (1868-19151 Timber and stone (1878-1915) De.'sert-land entries (1S77-1915) Coal-land entries (1873-1915) Timber-culture entries (1873-1915) . E ducational grants to States Railroad and road grants: Grants to States Corporation grants Wagon roads Total. Number of entries. 1,063,534 102,919 37,797 4,178 65,264 Area. Acres. 154, is: 7; 9. 133, 37, 327,812 289,907 210,665 602, 865 856, 104 270,428 82,841 193,005 239, 867 440,773,382 Per cent of total. 35.0 3.0 1.6 .2 2.3 30.2 8.6 18.4 -.7 100.0 48644—16- 50 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. EXHIBIT E, Inteeiob Colonization in Cebtain Foreign Counteies. This exhibit consists of an outline of efforts made by certain foreign countries in the promotion of Interior or home colonization. The term is applied to the endeavors made to settle independent farmers, laborers from the city or country, handicraftsmen and others, either in collective colonies or as isolated settlers on separate small holdings. It is difficult to say v^hich method has been the most important or the most productive of results. Probably, however, settlement through a system of creation of small holdings has proceeded with the greatest success. The system of collective colonization is, however, more generally sipplied in the . reclamation and regeneration of waste lands, such as swamp lands, or moorlands. Collective colonization is most extensively practiced in Itussia as community life is the traditional form of settlement with the peasant. The South American countries incorporated the theory in their general land laws, but found it unvs'orkable until special legislation with State subsidies and active promotion was tried. The countries included in this exhibit are by no means considered as com- pleting the list of those engaged in collective colonization, but are given either because typical or because data concerning them has been readily available. Commonwealth or Australia' INTEODUCTION. The public lands of Australia — or Crown lands, as they are termed — are ad- ministered in each of ehe States by a land department under the direction of a responsible minister. The administrative functions of most of these land de- partments are to some extent decentralized by a division of the States into land districts, in each of which there is a land office under the management of a land officer. In most of the States public lands are classified according to their situation, the character of the soil, etc. The modes of tenure under the acts, conditions as to improvements or residence, amount and method of payment of purchase price or of rent, vary between the different States. The administration of certain special acts relating to public lands has, in some instances, been placed in the hands of special boards. Mining leases and the general administration of min- eral lands is usually in the hands of a special department. The public lands in the several States of the Commonwealth may now be alienated (1) by free grant (in trust for certain specified periods)"; (2) by direct sale and purchase, which may be either by agreement or at auction; (3) by conditional sale and purchase. Public lands in the several States may also be occupied under a variety of forms of leases and licenses, issued both by the land department and by the mines department. In Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and the Northern Territory per- petual leases are issued for an indefinite period upon payment of an annual rent, while in all the States leases or licenses of comparatively large areas may be obtained for grazing. Provision is also made in all of the States for convenient forms of leases and licenses for special purposes and for special classes of land. Those tenures which relate more particularly to the subject of home colonization are those In existence under the closer settlement acts the village settlement acts, and the small holdings acts. closer settlement acts. The following statement has been taken practically verbatim with a few editorial changes, from the official Yearbook of the Commonwealth of Australia (No. 7, 1914, pp. 242-253) : .n-usiraua CLOSER SETTLEMENT. In all the States acts have been passed authorizing the Government to re- purchase alienated lands for the p urpose of cutting them up into blocks of for tfe'pJri^y mt-?Ol's ' N^'t^iTu*'' t^'^^h'VSI;"- %T^^'K^S "ithorltatlve statistics mte for^'home affairs! M^eibour^nJilQll]; pS' 222?223l'238r242i?53°' *^^ ""°'^'" *" NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 51 suitable size and tlirowing tliera open to settlement on easy terms and condi- tions. Special acts have also been passed in several of the States authorizing the establishment on particular lines of cooperative communities, village set- tlements, and labor colonies. Lands may be acquired either compulsorily or voluntarily in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and Tasmania, but only voluntarily in South Australia and Western Australia. The follovcing table gives particulars up to the latest available date of operations under the closer settlement acts for each State and the whole Com- monwealth : Closer settlement — Total areas acquired and allotted up to June SO, 1913. Area acquired. Acres. PurchaEe price. Farms allotted. Number. Acres. New South Wales. Victoria Queensland South Austra'ia. . . Western Australia. Tasmania Commonwealth . . , 676,439 563,554 664,363 619,668 144,333 49,2 6 2,717,463 $12, 288, 185 20,363,611 8,337,117 9,19P,748 703,336 661,1 8 51,563,145 1,654 3,r03 2,423 1,705 16 197 9,831 724,924 43s, 321 525, 168 48?, Oil 10,835 42,649 2,223,808 The following table shows the areas of private lands acquired in each State for the financial year 1901, and for each year from 1908 to 1913: Closer settlement — Areas of private lands acquired, 1901 and IDOS to 1913. Year. New South Wales. Victoria. Queens- land.! South Au- stralia.* Western Au- stralia. Tas- mania. Common wealth. Acres. 1901. 1908. 1903. 1910. 1911. 1312. 1913. 142,503 321,209 461,723 676, 278 6 6,438 676,439 Acres. 23,533 211,1-10 237,400 343,829 455,954 515,604 663,554 Acres. .IS^TOO 456,742 497,095 3 497,095 "537,449 '661,363 661,363 Acres. 354,454 500,464 •527,501 « 592,972 619,469 619,568 Acres. 46,624 170,881 215,822 249,522 297,391 303,469 144,333 Acres. 25, 177 » 33,079 » 34,441 « 34,448 » 45, 731 > 49, 206 Acres. 207,937 1,360,797 1,80 1,069 2,114,111 2,591,492 2,825,074 2,717,463 1 Partio'ilars are for oilendar years. > Including 4,581 acres of Crown lands. > To the preceding 31st December. « To 30th June. GOTEBNMENT LOANS TO SETTLEBS. For the purpose of promoting pastoral, agricultural, and similar pursuits, and with the object of assisting settlers in erecting buildings and carrying out improvements on their holdings, general systems have been established in all the States, under which financial aid is rendered to settlers by the State gov- ernments. * * * In many of the closer settlement and similar acts, however, special provisions have been inserted with the object of lending money to set- tlers taking up land under these acts, with which to build homes or eflEect im- provements. * * * NEW SOUTH WAIES. Under the closer settlement act of 1901 provision was made for the acquisi- tion of private lands or of Crown lands held under lease for the purpose of closer settlement. No power of compusory resumption was conferred by the act, which was consequently practically inoperative. Under the closer settlement act of 1904, as amended in 1906, 1907, and 1909, and the closer settlement promotion act 1910, the Government is empowered to resume private lands, either by agreement or by compulsory purchase, and to alienate them o.-i favorable terms to persons who desire to settle and make homes for themseh ss 52 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. and their families on the soil. The administration of the closer settlement acts Is in the hands of a board. Land acquired under the acts is subdivided into blocks or farms, and by notification in the Government Gazette is declared to be a settlement purchase area available for application. The Gazette notice also gives all necessary information as to the class and character of the land, and the capital value, area, etc., of each block or farm. CLOSES SETTLEMENT PUBCHASB. Under this tenure a settler may acquire the freehold of the land under a system of deferred payments. A deposit of 5 per cent of the notified value of the settlement purchase must be lodged with the application, and a similar amount by way of installment, paid annually until the purchase money, to- gether with interest at the rate of 4 per cent, la paid off. Under this system the balance due to the Crown will be paid ofC in 38 years, the holding then becoming a freehold. A condition of residence for 10 years attaches to every settlement purchase. Under the amending act of 1909 postponement of the payment of installments may be granted by the minister, subject to the condi- tions (a) that additional improvements to the value of the amount postponed be made on the land within 12 months, ■ and ( 6 ) that Interest at 4 per cent per annum be paid on the amount postponed. CLOSEK SETTLEMENT ANNUAL LEASES. Leases for areas not exceeding 320 acres may be obtained under the closer settlement acts at a rent fixed by the board. They may be renewed from year to year on payment of the yearly rent in advance. The land held under this form of lease may be applied for by the lessee as a settlement purchase. SALES BY AUCTION. Areas within closer settlement districts necessary for township settlement may be set apart by notification in the Gazette. Allotments each of which may not exceed half an acre in extent, within such areas may be sold by auction. PRIVATE SUBDIVISION. An important feature of the amending act of 1909 is the power which is given to owners for private subdivision of lands which have been notified by procla- mation for resumption. Under the owner entering into an agreement with the minister to subdivide the land and to sell or lease in such areas and sub- ject to such terms as may be agreed upon, the minister is empowered to sus- pend the power of resumption for a period not exceeding two years. THE CLOSEE SETTLEMENT PKOMOTION ACT, 1910. Under this act any three or more persons who are qualified to hold settle- ment purchases and who desire to purchase from the same owner any pri- vate lands may, upon entering into an agreement with the owner and sub- ject to valuation by the advisory board and the savings bank commissioners acquire such lands through the minister on closer settlement conditions. The maximum sum which may be advanced for the purposes of this act mav not exceed £1,000,000 ($4,866,500) in any financial year. The following table shows the number and area of farms allotted since the passing of the act: New South Wales — Closer settlement promotion act, 1910. Year. Farms allotted. Number. Area. Amount advanced 1910-11 1911-12 1912-13 --iii"i;;;!;;;; ;;!;;;; Total 26 209 274 Acre.t. 10,785 84,279 107,791 $263,429 2,038,776 2,915,739 509 202,855 5,217,944 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 53 AREAS ACQUIRED AND DISPOSED OF. Up to Juiie 30, 1013, 10 areas had been opened for settlement under the closer settlement acts. The following statement gives particulars of the aggregate areas opened up to June 30 in each year from 1909 to 1913 : Neir South M'alcs — Closer settlement areas, 1909 to 1913. Year ended June 30— Areas. Acquired lands. 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 Acres. 321,209 461, 723 591, Slil 676, 43S 676, 439 Adjoin- ing Ccrown lands. Acres. 28,064 83,045 86,127 87,760 87, 759 Total. Acres. 349,273 544,768 677,988 764, 198 764,198 Capital values. Acquired lands. Adjoin- ing Crown lands. 56,066,131 S20S,6ti6 7,907,371 720,130 11,160,826 i 723,629 12,976,600 ! 763,0-.8 12,979,943 ! 778.509 Total. $6,274,797 8,627,501 11, 884, 455 H, 739,658 13, 758, 452 The total area thus set apart has been divided into 1,608 farms, comprising 738,876 acres, the remaining area being reserved for recreation areas, roads, stock routes, schools, etc. The following table gives particulars as to the disposal of the farms by closer settlement purchase for each year ended June 30, 1909 to 1913 : Xew South Wales — Cloaer scttlciiicitt aJloliiicnts. 1909 to 1913. Farms allotted by board to date. Total amount received in respect of settle- ment pm-eliases. Total Year. Number. Area. Value. of appli- cations received. 683 941 1,316 1,485 1,554 Acres. 312,075 471,639 604,319 673,610 724,924 $5,802,245 8,426,247 11,777,100 13,249,358 13,467,406 $355,902 719,974 1,074,134 1,335,562 1,768,608 953 1909-10 1,209 1,328 1,555 1912 13 1,568 labob settlements. These setrlementt; were foundetl by the labor settlements acts of 1893 and 1894, which have now been amended and repealed by the labor settlements act of 1902. Land may be set apart for lease for a period of 28 years as a labor settlement under the superinrendence of a board of control. The functions of the board of control are to enroll members of the settlement : to make regu- lations concerning the work to be done; to apportion the work among the members; and to "distribute the wages and profits. The minister is empowered to tfiant financial assistance to the board of control. 54 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. SETTLEMENTS ESTABLISHED. Only two settlements had been established under the act up to June 30, 1913. Particulars are given in the following statement : New South Wales — Particulars of labor settlements, June 30, 1913. Date ol estab- lish- ment. Area. Population. Value of improve- ments. Loans advanced Settlement. Men en- rolled. Wom- en. ChU- dren. Total. by the Govern- ment. Be?a 1893 1893 Acres. 1,360 435 26 10 29 9 95 22 150 41 $15,135 7,056 $11,777 12,064 Wilberforce Total 1,795 36 38 117 191 22, 191 21,841 The Murrumbldgee irrigation act, 1910, provides for the acquisition of 1,668,000 acres near Narrandera, in Riverina, (or irrigation and other purposes in connection with the Burrinjuck irrigation scheme. Part of this area has since been made available. VICTOKIA — CLOSES SETTLEMENT ACTS, 1004 TO 1909. The closer settlement acts are administered by a board consisting of three persons appointed by the governor in council, and intrusted with power to acquire, either compulsorily or by agreement, private lands in any part of the State for the purpose of closer settlement. The board may dispose of all lands acquired, either Crown lands or repurchased lands, on conditional purchase leases either as (a) farm allotments not exceeding £2,500 ($12,166) in value; (6) workmen's home allotments not exceeding £250 ($1,217) in value; and (c) agricultural laborers' allotments not exceeding £350 ($1,703) in value. The price of the land must cover the cost of the original purchase and the cost of all improvements. Land acquired by the board may also be sold in small areas in fee simple as sites for churches, public halls, butter factories, cream- eries, or recreation reserves. The board may approve of an agreement between an owner and one or more persons to purchase a farm or farms not exceeding £2,500 ($12,166) in value. On the property being acquired by the board, the applicant obtains a lease under closer settlement conditions. Closer settlement leases. — Every conditional-purchase lease is for such a term of years as may be agreed upon by the lessee and the board, and payment must be made with interest at 4J per cent per annum by 63 half-warly install- ments, or such lesser number as may be agreed upon! Under the amending act of 1906 postponement of payment of installments mav be granted by the board up to 60 per cent of the value of improvements. The lessee must per- sonally reside during eight months In each year on his allotment, and for six years he must carry out prescribed improvements. Thereafter he may with permission, transfer, assign, morta;a.2;e, or sublet his allotment. After 12 years If all conditions have been fulfilled, a Crown grant, with the same residence condition as that contained in the lease, will be issued. In the case of work- men's homes allotments the land must be fenced within one year and a dwell- ing house to the value of at least £50 ($243.33) must be erected within the same time ; within two years further improvements must be made to the value of at least £25 ($121.66). As regards agricultural laborers' allotments, a dwelling house to the value of at least £30 ($146) must be erected within one year, and within two years the allotment must be fenced Advances to settlers. —The board may make advances for the purpose of fenc- ing and building dwelling houses, and is empowered to erect dwelling houses, ?^i o",'i^'^^^' °^ improvements on any allotment at a cost not exceeding £250 ($1,210 for any one allotment. Any sum so expended is repayable by install- ments extending over a prescribed period not greater than 20 vears. Pro- vision has also been made for deferring payments in cases of hardship, as well as for advances (to the extent of 60 per cent of the value of the improvements) NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 55 to enable work to be carried on. Special advances may also be granted to purchase wire netting in rabbit-infested districts. Loans to municipalities.— Vmer tlie amendment act of 1907 loans may be made out of the closer settlements fund for the purpose of carrying out any road making or other public works within the boundaries of an estate. Areas acquired and made arailablc for closer settlement. — The following statement shows the operations which have taken place in Victoria under the provisions of the closer settlement acts, 1898 to 1910, up to June 30, 1901 and 1008 to 1913 : rictoria — Closer settlement, 1901 and 190S-101S. Total area ao- quird by tiov- ernment to date. How made available for settlement. Total receipts to date. Repay- m'*nts ot principal to date. Year ended June 30— Farm allot- ments. Work- m?n's homes allot- mejits. Agri- cultural labor ers' allot- ments. Town allot- ments. Roads and re- serves. Num- ber of appli- citi^ns cranted to date. Area avail- able for settle- ments. 1901 Acres. 2S, .i.i3 211,140 237, 400 1 :54:i. S29 455.954 515,li04 563,554 Acres. 2<, 4S1 186.9(1 193; 015 237,670 363.676 474,41(1 49^, 701 Acres. 69 473 243 571 512 512 Acres. ' "9i7 660 1,659 2,761 3,6iil 3,608 Acres. 44 724 610 617 Acres. 240 1.70< 2. 242 2,242 193 1,470 1.645 1,880 2,708 3,354 3,306 S-6,640 1, 192, 755 1,643,918 1,906,432 2,951,S15 3,72i.242 4,491,011 Acres. 1908 416,091 590,049 748,906 1,138,946 1,549.192 1,935,908 10 549 1909 1910 5; 789 9 302 19U 54^214 71 "67 1912... . 1913 3,564 6.334 64,550 1 Includes 8 estates (97,315 acres) not yet made available for settlement- Areas alicn^iled and in process of aliemttion. — The following table shows, so far as available, particulars of areas alienated absolutely and in process of alienation on the 30th of June, 1901. and from 1908 to 1913 : Victoria — Closer settlement, areas alienated and in process of alienation, 1901 and 190S-1913. Alienated absolutely. Year. i Condi- i ( tional pur- 1 Sold for ] chases cash, etc. ! completed. Total. In process of alien- ation. 1901. 1908. 1909- 1910. 1911- 1912- 1913. Acres. 2.504 4,924 ' 8,705 9, 770 : 9,804 ' 12,560 ' Acres. I 183 28S i 1,307 I 1,320 i;3S2 1,450 i 8,694 j Acres. 183 2,772 6,231 10,025 11,152 11,254 21,254 Acres. ' "i74,'8i2 190,784 221,565 303,024 397,402 425,761 THE SHALL IMPEOMJD HOLDINGS ACT ll'ilS. Under this act, which has been repealed, i^.SHi acres at a cost of £53,568 ($260.659 J, allotted to 260 settlers, were purchased close to towns where indus- trial employment could be obtained by the settlers. These settlements are now under the control of the closer settlement board. VELLAGE COMMUNITIES. The settlement of laud by village communities is now provided for in the land act 1901 but is not availed of to any extent Certain unalienated Crown lands were "surveyed into allotments of 1 to 20 acres. The price Is not less than 20 ■iliillin'^ (S4 8665) an acre. Additional areas may be acquued by conditional purchiSe The rent is a nominal one for three years. The total amount of 56 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. monetary aid advanced up to the 30th of June, 1912, was £67,379 ($327,900), of which sum the amount repaid to date was £40,300 (.$196,120). After three years a lease may be obtained. * * * On the 30th of June, 1913, there were 928 settlers actually residing and 109 not residing, but improving, making a total of 1,037 In occupation. Including wives and children the thotal number in residence was 4,310. At the same date the area under cultivation was 11,257 acres ; the value of live stock £56,596 (.$275,424), and of Improvements, £166,217 ($808,895). CLOSER SETTLEMENT IN THE IRKIQATED DISTRICTS. The movement for closer settlement in the irrigated districts started about four years ago. The State had expended between three and four million pounds (.$14,599,500 to $19,466,000) on irrigation works which were not being used to their full extent. Under the Goulburn scheme, the largest of the State works, more than half the available water was being wasted. The reason was lack of people to cultivate the land as irrigation requires. Previously in the various districts the average size of farms varied from 400 to 600 acres, while under irrigation from 20 to 80 acres will now give employment to a good-sized family and furnish them a comfortable living. The large farrns of the irrigation dis- tricts could not be properly cultivated by their owners, and the only way to make irrigation a success was to subdivide these holdings and bring in farmers to cultivate the smaller areas. To this end the State offered to buy suitable land in any district having a reliable and ample water supply at a price fixed by impartial expert values and has now purchased about 111,000 acres for this pur- pose. This land is sold to settlers on 31J years' terms with 4i per cent interest on deferred payments. These payments are calculated on the Credit Foncier basis and are equalized through the whole period. As a result the settlers by paying an additional IJ per cent, or 6 per cent in all, on the cost for 31^ years pay off both principal and interest. To help the settler of small capital the State will build him a house and give 15 to 20 years to pay for it, will prepare a part of his area for irrigation, and allow payments to be extended over 10 years, the cash payments required are as follows : On houses costing less than £100 ($486.65), £10 ($48.67) ; from £100 to £150 ($486.65 to $729.98), £15 ($73) ; while on houses costing more the cash payment varies from 12 to 30 per cent of the estimated cost. A cash payment of one-fifth the estimated cost of preparing land for irrigation is required. The State also makes loans to settlers equal to 60 per cent of the value of permanent improvements, these loans to be repaid in 20 years. Five per cent interest is charged on all advances, whether for houses, preparing land, or money furnished the settler. In the past four years 914 irrigated blocks, averaging 62 acres, have been taken by settlers, of whom 335 were from oversea, chiefly from Great Britain, and 579 were Australian. At Shepparton, one of the oldest of these settlements, there are now 100 families living where there were originally 6. In Koyuga there are now 46 families with good houses, many young orchards, fine crops of lucerne and vegetables where in November, 1910, there was not a house, a family, or an acre of cultivated land. Under three years ago there were 27 houses in the Rochester district; now there are over 230. In Tongala there are now 180 houses where two vears tgo there were 30. Similar progress has been made in the other settlements. Houses now being erected are of a better type than the original ones. This has been made pos- sible because the settlers now applying have as a rule more capital than the earlier ones and desire better homes. Queensland. Under the provisions of the closer settlement act of 1906 private lands may be repurchased by the Crown, either by agreement of compulsorily. COMPULSORY ACQUISITION. The owner of an estate in possession, the whole of which is proposed to be taken compulsorily. has the right to retain in one block, land of the value of £10,000 to £20,000 ($48,665 to $97,330), according to the value of the whole estate. The maximum sum which may be expended on the acquisition of land for the purpose of closer settlement is £500,000 ($2,433,250) in any one year. NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 57 DISPOSAI, OF LAND; A sufficient part of the land acquired must be set ai^art for roads, public reserves, and townships, and the remainder is proclaimed open for selection as agricultural farms under the land act of 1910, which repealed the land acts of 1897 to 1909 ; the term of the lease is 25 years. The rent to be paid for the first year is equal to 10 for every 100 of the purchasing price ; and (no payment being required during the second, - third, or fourth years) an annual payment of £8 2s. 7d. ($39.56) for every 100, continued from the fifth to the twenty-fifth year, will, at the end of the term, have paid off the principal sum together with interest. AREAS ACQUIRED AND SELECTED. The following table gives particulars of the operations under the above acts at the end of the year 1901 and of each year from 1908 to 1912 : Queensland — Closer scttlemen.t, 1901 and 1908-1912. Year. Number of estates acquired. Total area acquired to date. Total amount of purchase money. Total area selected to date. 1901 15 27 27 27 29 29 Acres. 132,760 466,742 497,095 537,449 644,383 664,363 $1,630,550 5,878,795 6,666,130 7,253,465 8,128,661 8,337,117 Acres. 124,710 1908 ... 364,334 1909 409,381 1910 437, 496 1911 •498,315 1912 525, 168 ' In addition there were at the end of the year 1912, 11.760 acres sold at auction and 3,136 acres retained by the Government for e.xperimental farms and other sales. The total area opened for selection up to the end of the year 1912 was 597,782 acres, of which 525,168 acres had been selected by 2,077 selectors. There remained 72,614 acres uuselected or reserved. The total amount of rent paid up to the same date was £878,855 ($4,276,948), the amount in arrear being £7,320 ($35,623). At the end of the year 1912 there were 2,077 selectors holding 2.177 agricultural farms, 244 unconditional selections, and 2 priclily pear infested selections. In addition, land and improvements to the value of £76,726 ($373,387) has been sold at auition. THE SPECIAL AGRICULTl'RAL SELECTIONS ACTS 1901 TO 1905. These acts Avere partly repealed by the amending act of 1909, which was in its turn repealed by the land act 1910. Under the last act land may be set apart for members of bodies of selectors who desire to settle in the same lo- cality. The terms and conditions are similar to those in force for single selectors. Every group selection shall be subject to the condition of personal residence during the first five years of the term. The especial at;ricultural selections act 190o provides that financial aid may be p-ranted to all oranv of the members of a body of selectors of agricultural home- steads Advances nmv also be made to each selector for a value not exceeding £80 ($389.37) for the'puriiose of buying tools, rations, stock, and poultry. The portions opened for " group settlement " in 1912 numbered 906, and com- nrised a gross area of ."157,346 acres. Up to the end of that year 678 portions, comprising 397,738 acres, valued at £233,914 ($1,138,342) had been applied for bv members of the bodies of settlers for whom they were opened. The greater part of tlie remaining lots have since been selected. South Australia. Under the provisions of the crown lauds acts tlie commissioner may repur- chase land for the purposes of closer settlement at a cost not exceeding £600,000 ($2,919,900) in any two years. * * * DISPOSAL OF LAND. Tlit^ Crown lanils act further amendment act 1910 enlarges the value of the blocks into which estates may be subdivided for closer settlement purposes from £2 000 ($9,733) to £5,000 ($24,333) unimproved value. The purchase 58 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. money with interest thereon at 4 per cent per annum is payable in 70 half- yearly installments, the- first 10 payments being interest only. For the flrst five years. Improvements to the value of £3 ($14.60) for every flOO ($487) of the purchase money must be yearly effected. AREAS ACQUIRED AND SELECTED. The follovying table shows the area of land acquired by the Government in South Australia for the purposes of closer settlement, and the manner in which the same has been disposed of under the provisions of the Crown lands acts for the years 1902 and 1908 to 1912: South Australia — Closer settlement, 1902 and 1908-1912. .' rea of lands re- urchased to Dec. 31. /gree- roents wi'.h cov- enants to purchase. Total area leased as homestead bloolrs. Perpet- ualleases. Miscella- neous leases. Sold. Kemain- derunoc- BiEcht of purchase ^erpetual lease. (includ- roacfi). 1902 Acres. 156,481 354,454 500,464 527,601 622,422 624, 122 Acres. Acres. 2,717 l.SC'O 1,381 1,241 1,077 894 Acres. 3,073 1,953 1,779 1,510 1,414 1,386 Acres. 80, 128 74,651 76,045 62,386 55, 121 43,857 Acres. 309 281 50,056 40,077 40,082 40,101 Acres. 403 9,142 24,641 35, 266 43,969 57,884 Acres. 69,851 1908 261,457 296,013 357,480 411,370 436,038 5,380 1909 51,549 1910 . 29, 541 1911 69,389 1912 38,408 During the financial year 1912-13 one property of 80 acres was repurchased. The total area repurchased on June 30, 1913, was 624,220 acres, the purchase money being £1,918,441 (.$9,336,093). Of that area 544,508 acres had been al- lotted to 2,387 persons, the average area to each being 228 acres. IRRIGATION AREAS. Under the irrigation and reclaimed lands act, 1908, 1909, and 1910, special provisions are made for granting perpetual leases of reclaimed lands. The maximum area of irrigable or reclaimed land one person may hold in any irrigation area is 50 acres. Bach block Is offered under perpetual lease, at a rent not less than a sum equivalent to 4 per cent on the unimproved value of the land, plus the cost of reclaiming. For the first year only one-quarter of the fixed rent is payable ; for the second year, one-half ; and for the third year, three-quarters. Irrigation boards. — Irrigation boards, to whom advances of money may be made by the commissioner for Crown lands, may be constituted in irrigation areas. Government loans to settlers.— Vnder Part V of the act a fund is to be con- stituted, to be called the lessees of reclaimed lands loan fund, consisting of money provided by Parliament, to be advanced to assist lessees to make im- provements on their lands. The total amount owing by any lessee may not exceed £300 ($1,460). In cases of hardship the time may be extended by the commissioner, the deferred payments carrying interest at 5 per cent. During 1910 the Waikerie and Berri irrigation areas were gazetted. No Irrigation areas were gazetted in 1911, but Rameo village district has been added to Waikerie irrigation area. VILLAGE SETTLEMENT. Out of the reserved lands the commissioner is directed to set apart for the purpo.se of village settlement such land as he shall consider fit (a) for horti- cultural purposes, to be termed "horticultural land"; (6) for agricultural purposes, to be termed "commonage land"; and (c) land whereon any irriga- tion works are situated. Land so set apart is to be divided as follows • Hor- ticultural lands into blocks of as nearly as practicable equal unimproved value and of about 10 acres in extent ; and the commonage lands into one or more blocks of such area as the commissioner may determine, and the lands so set apart In each case form the district of the association. No person may hold NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 59 more than two blocks. Commonage lands may only be leased to the association on iierpetual lease, and all unleased horticultural blocljs are under the control of the association. Every member of each association must provide or con- tribute toward the maintenance and regulation of irrigation worlis and the care and cultivation of the commonage lands. As the Waikerie district was proclaimed an irrigation area under the irriga- tion and reclaimed lands acts of 1908 and 1909, and the settlers of Kingston have applied to be dealt with under the same acts, this would leave only the Lyrup village settlement, which is in a better position both financially and as regards population, than the others. HOMESTEAD BLOCKS. Aboriginal reservations, except tliose at Point McLeay or Point Pearce, and other suitable lands may be offered as homestead blocks on perpetual lease or lease with a right of purchase. Each block must not exceed £100 ($486.65) in value, and residence by a member of the family for at least nine months of every year is compulsory. There is now hardly any demand for lioinestead blocks, persons generally preferring small blocks of repurchased or Crown lands on ordinary conditions. The system appears to be of value only in centers of population where work can be obtained, and within a re.nsonnble distance of a school. Advances up to £50 ($243.33) may be made by the commissioner to any home- stead blockholder who has complied with the conditions of his lease or agree- ment, to assist in erecting permanent buildings on the blocks, or other improve- ments. Advances must be repaid, with interest at 4 per cent per annum, by 20 equal installments, commencing 12 months from the date of advance. The com- missioner may, in case of hardship, extend the time of repayment, deferred payments bearing interest at 5 per cent per annum. The total amount advanced up to the 30th of June, 1913, was £40,802 ($198,563), of which £38,382 ($186,494) had been repaid. The total number of leases and agreements of which purchase had been com- pleted to the 31st of December, 1912, was 1,998, comprising 30.238 acres, at a purchase price of £71,112 ($346,067), on an average of £2 7s. ($11.44) per acre, the average of each holding of which purchase was completed being 15 acres. WESTEKN AtrSTEAIIA. Under the agricultural lauds purchase act 1909, which repealed and consoli- dated the agi-icultnral land purchase act 1896 to 1904, sums not exceeding in the aggregate £400.000 ($1,946,600) may be expended on the repurchase of Crown lands near the railways, suitable for immediate cultivation. ACQUISITION OF LAND RY THE r.O\ERNMEXT. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the acts a land purchase board has been constituted. Advised by the report of the board, the minister, with the approval of the governor, may make a contract for the acquisition of the land by surrender at the price fixed by the board, or at any lesser price. SALE OF KEPITECHASED LAND. After reservation of part of the repurchased land for public purposes, the remainder is thrown open for selection. The maximum quantity held by one person must not exceed 1,000 acres ; in special cases 2,000 acres. CONDITIONS OF SALE TO SELECTORS. The maximum selling price of any repurchased land is equal to 105 per cent of the actual cost of the land plus the cost of any improvements made upon it. A lease for 20 vears is issued at a rent, the half-yearly installments of which are to be at the rate of £3 17s."9d. ($18.92) for each £100 ($486.65) of the sellinff nrice Improvements must he made to the value of one-fifth of the Durclmse money every 2 years of the first 10 years of the lease. One-half of the land must be fenced within the first five years and the whole within 10 years. Loans may be granted to selectors under the provisions of the agricul- tural bank act. 60 NATIONAL COLONIZATIOIT BILL. AREAS AC'QTJIEED AND SELECTED. The transactions conducted under the provisions of the agricultural lands purchase acts are shown for 1901 and for each year from 1908 to 1913 in the subjoined table: Western Australia — Closer settlement, l:)01 and 1908-9 to 1912-13.^ Year. Total area ac- quired. Total purchase money. Roads, reserves, etc. Total area made available tor selec- tion. Area se- lected during the year. Total area oc- cupied to date. Balance of area available for selec- tion. Total rev ,„(.„ „* A colony is defined as an assemblage of measured and marked-off lots of choice and fertile land suitable for agi-iculture or cattle raising, salubrious, possessing water enough for the requirements of the population each lot to have enough area to be self-sufficient, properly served by means of communica- tion, occupying generally, in the words of the official regulations, a favor- able economical situation, and prepared for the establishment of immigrants as proprietors." , ^, ^ ^ „ oj..,*^ In the formation of its colonies, if the lands are the property of any State, the Federal Government will enter into an agreement with such btate tor the purchase of the land desired ; if the lands are private property, the Federal Government may acquire them either by purchase or by expropriation. In selecting lots for colonization, a field survey shall precede any selection and a general plan and probable estimate of the cost of the work must be made and submitted to the minister of agriculture for approval before Subdivision into lots is made or any other works are executed, such as irrigation, drainage, or providing means of communication. And where there Is a likelihood of considerable development a carefully drawn town plan must be executed. In each colony center it is proposed to establish schools for primary instruc- tion in agriculture, an experiment farm, and workshops for the instruc- tion of the children of the colonists, while the Government may also supply the colony with breeding stock, maintain warehouses from which to supply j agricultural implements and machinery, and draft animals, etc., to be sold to the colonists at cost price or provided for their use during the first three months of operations on their holdings. The paternal care of the Government extends even further in the case of families intending to settle in a colony. It is proposed to provide these with free food upon arrival for a period of three days; supply them with addi- tional labor for wages for a period ranging up to eight months, if they are not able to maintain themselves on their holdings from the start; provide them with credit up to a certain limit ; and supply free medical care and treat- ment during the first year. The Federal Government from time to time supplies free seed to the col- onists, supervises the organization of an occasional agricultural fair, and pro- motes the formation of cooperative societies. The size of each holding allotted to a colonist does not exceed 25 hectares (61.78 acres) if near a railway or river served by steam navigation, but it may contain as high as 50 hectares (123.6 acres) in all other cases. Those lots located in the town center of the settlement generally are not to exceed 16,404 square feet. The so-called " urban lots " are sold for cash or on credit, payable in three annual installments, counting from the first dy of the third year of the settlement of the colonists, allowing practically a period of six years. No interest appears to be paid on the balance of principal unless the time of repayment exceeds the term prescribed, in which case interest is charged at the rate of 3 per cent per annum on the installments due. A mini- mum and maximum price is fixed on the lots by the Federal Government ranging from 10 milreis to 20 milreis per hectare (,'p2.21 to $4.41 per acre). In 1914 the board of immigration and colonization had established 20 colonies, while the Federal Government had in addition subsidized 3 colonies in the State of Kio Grande do Sul. The departmental report states that the development of these colonies has been very satisfactory. Six of the colonies became independent of Government assistance on April 19, 1913, and one on February 4, 1914. 1 Brazil. Department of agriculture, Industry, and commerce. Decree No. 9081, of Nov. 3, 1911, regulating the service of immigration and colonization. Rio de Janeiro, 1913. KATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 65 r.JJ^L^'iW^^^^V^ of these colonies in December, 1913, was 75,520 persons com- prising 13,600 families. Colombia. The Government of Colombia has taken measures to provide iin adequate agri- cultural labor supply In the country, measures which may be classified under three heads: (1) The encouragement of immigi-ation ; (2) free allotment of uncultivated lands; (3) christianizing and educating the savage tribes' Up to the present in order to promote agi-icultural development, agricultural lots- or homesteads with an area of 10 fanegas (15.9 acres) and more were granted to every native willing to settle on uncultivated land. The laws of 1874 and 1882 gave absolute property rights to any such person willing to cultivate untiUed soil. Recently a bill was introduced in the Colombian Legislature specifying the conditions on which such grants will be made. Provision is made for the estab- lishment of villages and centers of colonization. It is proposed to gl-ant from ^ to 50 hectares (4.94 to 12.36 acres) of uncultivated land to those willing to occupy It on the conditions following: (1) The lot to be occupied by at least three persons under 70 years of age; (2) at least one-third of this holding must be cultivated during the first year of occupation; (3) a house must be buiit within the first three years. Provision is also made for collective settlement by groups of at least 25 families to whom the Government will grant as much as 50,000 hectares (123,550 acres) of unimproved land. The settler accepting the gi-ant must begin working the land not later than one year after the grant ; they must pro- vide healtJiy housing accommodation, adequate board, and medical attendance for their laborers. The employment of children is limited to those over 12 years of age and only for domestic work; and hours of labor for women must not exceed seven per day and for men nine. The colony must provide at least one settler on each 5 hectares of laud (12.36 acres), furnishing him with cer- tain supplies in addition to a milch cow. Other schemes of private colonization are being agitated throughout the country. Peeu." The prevalent method of farming in Peru is tliat of large estates with the payment of laborers either in money or in kind. The Indians are the prin- cipal laborers, and it has been found difficult to attract European labor. Home colonization has been tried as a means to attract to the country an active and productive white population. The Government has centered its efforts in that matter along the coastal region, which is the most favorable- for agriculture. To reach the mountain regions it has been necessary to con- sti'uct railways or other means of communication as a preliminary to the- work of colonization. Liberal concessions have also been made by the Government for carrying on- irrigation projects, and it has occasionally declared the necessary land to be of such public utility as to give right to Its expropriation. In spite of these measures, it is stated that colonization of the coast plain has not proved eminently successful up to the present. European colonists do not appear to have been attracted. In 1913, however, a new effort w-as made by the Government in the direction of home colonization by the law of January 4, 1913, according to the provisions of which the Government is authorized to contract a loan of approximately $10,000,000 to be used only for works of irrigation and colonization. When the work of irrigation is completed the Government proposes to ar- range for the sale of the land to the colonists in lots of not more than 60 hectares (148.26 acres) each, provided witli the necessary water supply. The price will be fixed so as to cover the cost of irrigation and colonization, Inr eluding interest on the investment. The conditions of sale and terms of pay- ment of the purchase price will be fixed by the Government. It is proposed to attract foreign colonization of the white race and require 'them to supplv sufficient capital to prepare and maintain their holding and 1 International institute of agriculture. Monthly bulletin of economic and social Intelli- ^^?InternaflonaI°instttiite'of1^gricuIture. Monthly bulletin of economic and social intelli- gence. Rome. No. 31 (July, 1913). 48644—16 5 66 KATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. its cultivation up to the time of the first harvest. The minimum of capital thus reauired vifill be fixed by the Government. j j 4.- „ «,' Wth the proceeds of the sale of this irrigated land, after deducting the amount necessary for the payment of the interest on the loan the Govern- ment will set aside an " irrigation and agricultural fund," so-called, which will be used to invest in new irrigation works or in making loans to cooperative societies that may be formed among the colonists, and the loans thus granted will be guaranteed by a mortgage on the land improved by means of this capital The Government will control and direct the organization of rural cooperative societies and maintain inspection over their work. Indirectly, the Government subsidizes the colonies by granting exemptions from customs dutie^ on all implements, seeds, plants, trees, farm animals, and other supplies whicn the colonists may need for their work. Also private institutions and societies which propose to carry on work of irrigation or colonization projects may, at the discretion of the Government, be exempted from taxation of any kind for a period of 20 years. Uruguay. An agricultural colony was established in Uruguay as early as 1862.' The Government began active work for the encouragement of such colonies by the law of 1880 which set aside an annual sum of 200,000 pesos ($206,800) for the purchase of land to be distributed among colonists. This law provided that if it was desired to establish a colony in a grazing district the local authorities might buy the necessary land, provided 20 families desired to found such a colony and provided, also, there were no State lands in the locality. If more than 100 families made application, the necessary land might be obtained by expropriation. After two years of unsuccessful application of this law by reason of the high price of land, the small amounts of land allotted, and by reason of other difficulties, it was determined that State lands occupied by tenant farmers should be used exclusively for the formation of agricultural colonies. Here again the difficulty lay in the small amounts of State land available. It was, therefore, found necessary to encourage further private enterprise, and, under the law of 1889, special tax exemptions were granted to companies and indi- vidual proprietors who might found colonies. Export duties on the produce of the colony were also abated for a period of 10 years, and land taxes for a period of 8 years. The area of any colony founded must be at least 20 square leagues (23,517 acres). As these colonies were largely grazing areas, the Government, by the institution of prizes, attempted to encourage mixed farming by the enactment of the law of July 11, 1911. These measures not proving adequate, apparently, the Government, on January 20, 1913, authorized the issue of a loan to be used for agricultural colonization and live-stock Improvement. The amount of the loan was 500,000 pesos ($517,000) and was made at 5 per cent with a sinking fund of 1 per cent. A bond can not be sold at less than 95. The amounts thus raised by this loan are to be used for the purchase and subdivision of land for coloniza- tion purposes. If necessary, the Government may expropriate the land. The parcels of land are to be sold for cash or on an installment basis, running over a period of 30 years. The price of the land is to include the value of the land set aside for the construction of roads and streets, the cost of surveying, and the amount spent by the State for the original purchase price. The hold- ings thus formed will be exempt from the real estate tax for 10 years, pro- vided that at least half the area be maintained under cultivation. These hold- ings are likewise exempt from seizure for debt contracted by the owners during the first five years of possession, except as regards the purchase money. No colonist is permitted to buy more than one small lot. Gekmant.' The problem of home colonization In Germany, particularly for factory work- men in the cities, is noted as of more importance recently than hitherto, on account of the need of placing the disbanded soldiery in occupations at the close of the war. The problem was, however, of importance before this and" one that had been under agitation and discussion, as indicated by the fact of 1 International institute of agriculture. Monthly bulletin ot economic and social Intel- ligence, Rome. No. ,S3 (September. ini3). 2 Abstract of an article, " Dio nnsledlunR von Arbeltern Im Kabmen der inueren Kolonl- eation in Dentschland " In Sonderbellnae zum Ueichs-Arbeltsblntte No. 3, pp. 41 ff. March, 1915. Berlin : International Institute of Agriculture, Rome, Bulletin of Economic and Social Intelligence, No. 26 (December, 1912), No. 33 (September, 1913). NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 67 the existence of special associations Interested in the work, which has for some time published a regular periodical dealing with the problems of home colo- nization. A recent article in the official journal of the Imperial Department of Labor notes that the activities along the line of home colonization all have the object of maintaining an adequate supply of food products for the nation. As a consequence the principal efforts of home colonization have been directed toward the reclamation of so-called moorlands or swamp areas. In its effort to secure the reclamation of such lands, the Prussian Government compelled owners of swamp lands to combine into cooperative societies for the reclama- tion of these areas, and up to April, 1915, 65,000 hectars (160,618 acres), had been so consolidated by 109 societies for purposes of reclamation, while negotia- tions for the consolidation of an additional 120,000 hectares (276,525 acres), were pending. The Diet of Wurttemberg passed a law similar to that of Prussia, providing for the compulsory formation of cooperative societies for the reclamation of swamp lands, while Bavaria provided for State subsidies for the reclamation of land by means of drainage and irrigation. The Prussian Railroad adminis- tration has also pfirticinated in the reclamation of waste Ifinds, and it was re- ported on August 21, 1915, that 7,000 morgen (4,399 acres), of unused land had been planted in potatoes and vegetables. On June 21, 1915, a resolution was introduced in the Prussian Legislature, renuestinsr f^e Government for a memorandum as to what lands and funds were available in Prussia for colonization of war invalids and ex-soldiers on small holdings of an agricultural or agricultural and Industrial character. Associations interested in the project requested the Imperial Government to extend the general laws of 1906 and 1907, relating to the civil employment and pensioning of ex-soldiers, so as to provide for this method of handling the problem of the unemployed ex-soldier. Land reformers have also been par- ticularly interested in advocating this scheme. Furthermore, private associa- tions have already made practical experiments in colonizing war invalids, granting particularly favorable terms of payment for the holdings provided. Recently the budget committee of the lower house of the Prussian Diet passed a resolution requesting the Government to investigate the problem of recon- struction in Eastern Prussia made necessary by the devastations of the war in that section. These measures are already being taken for the resettlement of East Prussia by returning German emigrants wVio had been driven out by the Russian invasion. PTJEPOSES AND METHODS 0¥ COLONIZATION. German home colonization is of four forms: (l)The division of large estates into peasant holdings; (2) settlement of uncultivated land, especially swamp land.; (3) the creation of small settlements, which consists in the development of small areas, either farms or unimproved land, in the vicinity of towns, for settlement by farm and industrial laborers and by Government employees and pensioners; and (4) the erection in rural districts of tenements and small d^'elllngs, provided with adjoining arable land, to be leased to workmen. These four forms may all be really classified under two heads: (1) The di- vision of estates or tracts of already Improved lands for purposes of settle- ment, and (2) the reclamation and settlement of swamp and other waste lands The work in any case is undertaken by the State governments, the most significant work having been done in Prussia, while thus far the Imperial Government has been only slightly concerned. .,^ ,», Interior colonization in Germany may be said to have been begun with the enactment of the Prussian law of 1886. In Prussia the most important work of home colonization had taken the form of the subdivision of large estates and the creation of small settlements of laborers and handicraftsmen In the neighborhool of already existing communities. The decrees of January 8, 1907, and August 10, 1909, prescribe the regulations under which settlement In the colonization of laborers and industrial handicraftsmen the following institutions are engaged: (1) The State, through its colonization commission; (2) large land associations; (3) district and municipal governments ; (4) the land bank in Berlin; (5) private persons, such as large landowners who work either with or without the cooperation of the commission; (6) the society for collective colonization, which brings the unemployed of the cities into the country, uses them to reclaim waste land, and subdivide the cultivated land Into small holdings. 68 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. Also active In the eastern Provinces of Poseu and West Prussia are certain Polish banks and land mortgage credit associations, whose purpose is to colonize persons of Polish nationality. They are more or less in rivalry vclth the existing Prussian governmental and private institutions. The funds placed at the disposal of the home colonization commissiou amounted to 200,000,000 marks ($47,600,000) by the lav? of April 20, 1898, 350,000,000 marks ($90,300,000) by the law of July 20, 1902, and 550,000,000 marks ($130,900,000) by the law of March 20, 1908. The colonization is generally effected through the creation of small holdings, which may be purchased by the colonizer on the installment plan by the pay- ment usually of one-fourth of the purchase price. The sale is also hedged about with conditions Intended to insure the use of the holding as a homestead and for strictly agricultural purposes. The State reserves the right of repurchase on failure to pay the Installments or to fulfill the conditions of the contract of sale. THE HOME COLONIZATION COMMISSION. The home colonization commission is managed by a committee consisting of a president and 10 members, 2 of them being governors of West Prussia and Posen, and the other members are usually representative of agricultural inter- ests. At the beginning of 1911 the president had, subject to his orders, at the head office In Posen more than 30 higher officials and about 500 employees. The local administration of the landed estates subject to supervision Is in the hands of local managers. These assist the settlers in installing themselves on their holdings, and also are active in the promotion of new holdings. The largest part of the work of the commission consists in the purchase and subdivision of large landed estates. It was. also recently given tlie power of expropriating land for purposes of colonization. It selects the land itself which appears suitable for settlement, buys it, Improves it, preparing it for cultiva- tion in small lots, divides it, places settlers on it, and supervises the new set- tlements after their formation. TBMPOKABY ADMINISTRATION OF THE HOLDINGS.' To transform into a peasant village a large landed estate, worked by a central management, necessitates a very great deal of labor. In order to assure the prosperity of the new settlements it Is necessary to Improve the soil and adapt the method of cultivation to the requirements of small farms, establish a plan of subdivision with a view to the distribution of the land, erect new buildings, and regulate the political institutions. Most of this work is performed most satisfactorily while the holdings are not yet divided. This is why the home colonization commission first works them for some time as undivided farms. At first this period of temporary management was very long, on account of the bad condition of the landed estates purchased. Now the period of transition is shortened, owing to the fact that the home colonization commission makes it a point to purchase landed estates already answering the principal requirements of future settlers. The home colonization commission divides the landed estates it settles into four categories, according to the degree to which the settlement is prepared or carried out. This classification serves prin-cipally to facilitate the control of the profits and losses due to the working of the landed estates between their purchase and their complete and final transfer to the settlers. The first class is composed of the landed estates which the home colonization commission has had in Its possession for less than two years. This period Is characterized by large Improvement works executed in order to offer the settlers favorable conditions from the start. However high the degi-ee of cultivation of a landed estate, it can not be transferred to the settlers. To prepare it to be worked by the peasant farmers, the home colonization commission, for ex- ample, spends large^ sums for the purchase of seeds and manure and for works of drainage, Irrigation, and improvement of marshy and meadow land. These works are often of vital Importance for the settlement, and, on account of the area affected, it Is best to undertake them while the lauded estates are still undivided. For example. In many districts where the land is flat, drainage is absolutely indispensable to guarantee the peasants against bad harvests In wet seasons, and would be more costly and render cultivation very difficult if carried out when the land is already in the hands of the settlers. Kome.'''Dec.?1912^,°pp"m*'i5i^'^''™""''®' ^""^""^ "^ Economic and Social Intelligence, NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 69 Generally, the special works just mentioned do not take more than two years. However, a certain number of landed estates remain longer In the condition of large single farms. They form the second class of the landed estates managed by the home colonization commission. At the moment the settlement, properly so called, commences, the holdings pass into the third class. At this stage they have again to support large extra- ordinary expenditure. The managers, while they continue regularly to farm the land not yet handed over to the settlers, must lend these the greatest assist- ance for the organization of their farms, providing them with seeds and sup- plies of all kinds free of charge, and placing" at their disposal the resources of the central management. The average cost of these services and these supplies is calculated at 1,000 marks ($238) per settler. In proportion as the holdings are handed over to the settlers, the direct farm- . ing for the account of the home colonization commission becomes more limited. Gradually the stock and equipment supplied are reduced. In the year 1910-11 their value decreased in the case of 64 landed estates in the course of settlement from 3,347,792 marks (.$796,774) to 2,447,001 marks (.$582,386). METHOD OF PKOCEDUEE. Before undertaking any particular project the home colonization commission prepares a definite scheme of colonization. This scheme includes the prepara- tion of a plan for the new village, method of the distribution of the holdings, details regarding the payment of installments of purchase price, and the organi- zation of the public activities of the settlers, etc. After a long experience, it is stated, the commission has selected a form of village settlement intermediate between the close community settlement and the scattered-settlement system. It unites both systems by the establishment of the new farms at a certain distance from each other along the principal road or special roads radiating from a common center ; and on the site of the buildings of the former landed estates there is established a village nucleus consisting of a town hall, school, church, inn, and artisan shops. This becomes the center of the public life of the settlement. In the distribution of the holdings among the settlers regard is had to an equitable distribution of the land so as to include just the portions of different kinds of soil, and a view to adapting the size of the holding to the character of the soil and the purpose to which it is to be put. Experience shows that small and medium-sized holdings of from 5 to 20 or 25 hectares (12.36, 49.42, 61.78 acres) are the most common. Few holdings have an area of over 25 hectares (61.78 acres). The holdings of an area of less than 5 hectares (12.36 acres) are the farms of laborers or artisans usually granted to them as an in- ducement to establish themselves in the settlement. The holdings are usually granted for purchase on the installment plan, with certain limiting conditions, or they may be given on lease ; but this method is very unusual and is used only as an expedient for securing settlers who have little ready money. The installments of purchase price are fixed at 3 per cent of the value of the land, but this annuity may be redeemed by the payment of a lump sum, except one-tenth of the amount, which may be redeemed only with the consent of the commission. By this means the commission reserves to itself the right of constant supervision over the holdings. After 50 years the commission can force redemption. At its own expense the commission establishes certain public institutions for Its community, such as schools, charitable institutions, town halls, and churches. It further secures the existence of these institutions by means of land grants or by straight subsidies in money. The commission aims to make careful selection of its settlers and the applications by persons desirous of purchasing holdings far exceed the number of settlers finally accepted. Thus, in 1911 the applications numbered over 8,000, while only approximately 1,300 were accepted. Settlers are left free to erect such buildings on their holdings as they deem necessary, but the commission aids them to the extent of plannmg houses, their arrangement, etc., so as to conform to a uniform style. Directly it aids their building operations by transporting materials free of charge; it supplies them with some of the building material at cost price, such as stone, sand, gravel, and bricks made at its own kilns. ^ . ^^ ,j, * .«, The home colonization commission also interests itself in the welfare of the settlers bv providing them when necessary with breeding stock, fruit trees, seeds and other supplies with which to commence operation. It assists in the foundation of cooperative societies of various kinds, and it concerns itself with the institution of agricultural education. 70 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. RESULTS or OPERATIONS. As already stated, juterloi- colonization lias been most actively promoted in Prussia. Tlie Provinces of Prussia in whicli the most work has been done are Posen and West Prussia, East Prussia, Pomerania, Brandenburg, and Silesia. It is frankly stated, however, that interior colonization of workmen in these Provinces has contributed little to the solution of the agricultural labor problem. The lack of agricultural laborers has not been lessened by It. The chief value of the work lies in its effect of repopulating the open country, stemming the tide of emigration, and settling that essential part of the popu- lation which makes its living on a narrow margin of existence. But it should be emphasized that gradual progress is being made, and it is hoped that pending legislation will produce better results in the future. Interior colonization has also been taken up in Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, , Hanover, Westphalia, and Rhine Provinces, Mechlenberg, Oldenburg, and other Provinces. The following table is a summary of the work accomplished for home colonization in Prussia, which in this case includes practically all that is done in Germany. It shows the total number of small holdings purchased on the installment plan, termed Rentenguter. Appare;ntly the colonization of workmen plays a much smaller part in East Prussia than in West Prussia. This is accounted for by the fact that in the eastern Provinces the creation of new communities was until recently the chief object of interior colonization and probably will remain its chief object in the immediate future, and also by the fact that the interior colonization in the east is much older than in the west. In the west the colonization of farmers is not such an urgent necessity as it is in the east, because, with the exception of Schleswig-Holstein, nearly all the land is in the hands of farmers owning small or medium-sized farms. Large colonization enterprises are therefore lacking in the west, and among the workmen colonized are a large number of industrial workers. The statistics of home colonization in Prussia are defective by reason of the fact that different persons and institutions are engaged in the work, while no comprehensive report is made of the activities of all these combined. The classification of those engaged In the work of colonization is not on the lines of the classification already given in this article, for the so-called general commissions are not in the strict sense colonizers, but intermediaries in the securing of loans for that work as carried oij by the direct colonizers — namely, the large land associations, cooperative societies, and district governments and municipalities. In the table which follows the holdings established are classi- fied according as they are holdings for laborers and artisans — that is, small holdings, usually less than 2 J hectares (6.18 acres) in area, and from which a living can not be made without additional work on the part of the owner, and hence its name of holdings for laborers and artisans, and according as they are held by farmers who make their living exclusively on their holding. Number of small holdings created in Prussia up to the end of the year 1913. [Source; Eeiclis-/ rbeitsblatt, Berlin. Supplement to Marcli, 1015, p. S4.] Number created for laborers and artisans 1 by — Number created for farm settlers by- Total Provinces, Colonizar tion com- mission. General commis- sions. Kent charge banks. Total, Coloniza- tion com- mission. General commis- sions. Total. all holdings. 1,411 799 920 167 592 300 215 420 151 302 422 807 26 82 133 18 2,464 984 592 300 215 420 151 302 422 907 26 82 12,304 5,920 1,464 3,144 2,844 3,819 4i8 1,139 163 853 373 571 1 33 13, 765 9,064 2,844 3,819 498 1,139 163 853 373 .571 1 33 16,229 10,048 3,436 4 119 West Frussia Fast Prussia. . .' Pomerania . 1,559 314 Sa''"ony. . . . 795 1 478 Westphalia... . Hesse-Nassau 115' Total 2,210 4,504 151 6,865 18,224 14,899 33,123 39,988 ' These are holdings of rather restricted size, 2 hectares (4.94 acres) for those granted by the colonization commission, 2J hectares (6.18 acres) for those of the general commissions, and are held by persons who are occupied as laborers and arlisans in (he colony, as well as being engaged in the cultivation of their holdings. Hence is deri\ed (heir designation as holdings for laborers and artisans. Their name is not dcri^ ed from the fact that the holders of them were originally laborers and artisans, although in some cases they were such. NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 71 The number of States within the German Empire in which interior coloni- zation and the colonization of worlimen are conducted in a more or less sys- tematic manner and with the aid of the State are exhausted with those dis- cussed above. In the other States interior colonization is, on the one hand, only in its beginning, as, for instance, in the Kingdom of Saxony, while other States by means of legislation have limited free exchange in real estate. Through strict provisions against the breaking np of large estates, i. e., private subdivision of estates with the intent of malting the largest possible profit from such transactions, the governments have created for themselves Hie riglit of supervision or prevention, in pursuance of which they may hold the subdivi- sion in such limits and restrict it to sucli estates that the public weal is not manifestly endangered. The Bavarian law of August 27, 1910, relating to the subdivision of large estates, provides, in case the subdivision of estates is exercised as a business, that commune, public-welfare cooperative associa- tions, and other legal persons to be determined by the ministry of the interior shall have the right of refusal. The framers of this law had especially in mind the loan societies (Darlehnsliassenvereine), which for some time had effected the subdivision of large estates on a considerable scale without profit, guided only by economic viewpoints. In 1913 a Bavarian liind bank was founded in Eegensburg as a cooperative society with limited liability, with the same object as the above-mentioned loan societies, and it is tlie intenti= NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 75 Nofw',v^?hTK'" H -^'If ''"/;, "^"'-tlier, the importance of farming was such in ^m^nvninf nf °""\"'^^°^ "'*' Cultivated farms were of a size to require the cZntr^fi? h/ Pa.'f , =il'w;«--s. and therefore any means for keeping in the wns tn ;m!i.i H ''^'•"^'M"^'"," ^''PP'^' ''""^ "^ ^""^^ moment. The means adopted ^eads agricultural laborers owners, if possible, of their own home- Tlie earliest efforts in Norway toward the encouragement of those witliout capital to become owners of small land holdings or of their own homes were made in 1894 In that year a member of Parliament made a proposal that the Mate create two special funds— a land-purchase fund (jordinkj0bsfond) and u housing loan (huslaanefond)— for the purpose of making loans to those withoal means for the purchase of small landholdings and homes o,^^'i'.n^^''^ matter of the land-purchase fund Parliament granted a subsidy of ^00,000 crowns (!fo3,60U) to be placed at the disposal of the communes for the purchase of ground to be sold in lots not exceeding 500 ares (12i acres j to those of small means. To this loan were attached the conditions' followiug, namely: (1) That no single commune receive over 25,000 crowns (§6,700) ; (2) that it pay interest at 3J per cent annually; (3) that the maximum loan upon any parcel of land be limifed to 1,500 crowns ($402) to a single individual at a rate of 4 per cent and repayable within 25 years. The amounts appropriated as above at once proved too small. The fund was increased in 1895, 1896. 1900, and 1902. Other changes were made in the courlitions fur a loan. Thus the maximum loan to an individual was lim- ited to 1,000 crowns (.926S), and the term of repayment increased beyond 25 years in special instances. The maximum advance to any communi.v is now P.00,000 crowns (-$134,000) annually. The nnnual appropriations for the loan funds is now 4,000,000 crowns ($1,702,000). The act of June 19, 1S82, made provisions for reducing tlie size of the es- tates of State officials, particularly those of the clergy, and for selling the parts so cut off to individual agricultural laborers. The size of the part so sold to any individual was limited to a minimum area of land that would support at least 3 horses and 10 head of lai-ge live stock, and a maximum area that would support 5 horses and 20 head of other live stock, to be determined by a special commission and sold at a minimum price. The terms of sale required that one-tenth of the price be paid in advance and the balance in 20 years, no interest being charged, apparently. Up to the year 1900 about .500 holdings had been thus disposed of, ranging in price from 50 to 1,000 crowns (.?13.40 to $268), and 380 thereover and up to 2,000 crowns ($.536). This, however, is not a statement of the entire num- ber of small holdings disposed of to those of small means, for numerous special royal decrees have set aside other Crown properties for subdivision and sale. The legislation at present in force is the result of a bill drawn by a special commission to investigate the whole subject in 1899, and consists of the act of June 9, 1903, which came into force October 1 of the same year. Later amendments have changed it only slightlv (Feb. 13, 1905; Mav 24, 1907; Aug. 8, 1908; Aug. 20, 1909).' The fundamental idea of the act of 1903 was the foundation of a State credit system to grant loans for home colonization or homestead ownership. The State bank e.stablished began operations with a capital of 3,000,000 crowns ($804,000). It was found necessary to increase this at various times. The latest increase in its capital took place by a decree of Parliament in 1912, when its capital was increased to 10.000,000 crowns (^2, 680,000), thus making its loaning capacity 816.0S0,(K)0 (six times the capital) under the law. Since its organization the bank has placed 22,(300 loans, of which 13,140 were for the purchase of landholdings and 9,460 for the erection of dwellings. On June 30, 1913, there were 12.827 holdings and 8,959 dwellings with State mortgages on them. The total outstaiiding loans on June 30, 1913, were ap- proximately 32,000,000 crowns ($8,576,000). As to occupations, the gieatest proportion of proprietors of these small hold- ings are common laborers and handworkers. 1 .\ full translation of the net may be found in the joint report of the American and United States commissions of 1913 on agricultural cooperation and mral credit in Europe. Washington, 1913, pp. 593-598. (U. S. Senate Doc. No. 214, 63d Cong., 1st sess.) 76 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. Sweden, introduction. Although more of an Industrial country, perhaps, than Norway and Denmark, Sweden Is still primarily an agricultural country. The character of its housing legislation evidences the agricultural interest of the nation. The first attempts to meet city congestion took the form of proposals to provide homesteads in the country districts for persons of small means. The system is entirely a State- aided one, and aims, among other things, to check both migration to the cities and emigration from the Kingdom. The movement began as early as 1874 when it was proposed before Parlia- ment to divide the Grown lands into small estates. In 1891, again a committee was appointed to investigate and report further on the subject still in abeyance. This committee in 1892 recommended the passage of a law to alienate certain Government lands and sell them to prospective buyers of small means as home- steads. This the Parliament of 1894 authorized, but it was not until 1896 that the royal order was issued making this effective. It is suggested that the housing investigation in Stockholm in that year may have been instru- mental in supplying the impetus to the movement. The Parliament of 1899 considered no less than five motions for providing homesteads by the aid of State funds. To clear up the situation, it appointed a homestead committee to examine and make suggestions for amending the scheme inaugurated in 1896. It was finally agreed that the aid of the State should consist of long-term loans at a low rate of interest and repayable In equal annual Installments. The administration in power appointed a com- mittee of investigation which reported In 1901. LEGISLATION IN FOBCE. Upon the recommendation of this committee the Government prepared a bill proposing to set aside for five years a fund of 20,000,000 crowns ($5,360,000) to be loaned to prospective homestead buyers.^ Every Swedish citizen 25 to 50 years of age and earning his living by manual labor could borrow from this fund for building a modest house for himself or for purchasing a ground plat. This sum was reduced to 10,000,000 crowns ($2,680 000) by Parliament, which also provided that loans should be made not directly to the borrower but through Intermediary associations, recognized and controlled by State ex- aminers. The intermediaries so recognized have usually been agricultural associations and cooperative societies. Employers are also permitted to act as intermediary borrowers for their employees. A usual condition for recog- nition by the State has been that the borrowing associations shall limit their Interest to a fixed rate and shall submit their by-laws to State approval. Since 1905 several amendments have been passed fixing the value of property (Including land, houses, and farm buildings) for the purchase of which loans may be used at a higher figure than was at first decided upon. The latest amendment (October 17, 1913) fixes the following limits: An unimproved hold- ing not to exceed 8,000 crowns ($2,144) ; an improved holding 7,000 crowns ($1,876) ; a house 4,000 crowns ($1,072). The fact that the loan value of un- improved holdings is made higher than that of Improved holdings evidences the Intention of the Government to encourage pioneering bv the peasant proprietor. The loans must not exceed five-sixths and three-fourths, respectively of the value of the two classes of property offered in security ; that is to say the purchaser of a farm plat must supply one-sixth of his purchase price while the borrower who wishes to buy a house must supply one-fourth its purchase price The mmimum loan in either case is one-half the value of the property to be purchased. The interest rate is established at 3.6 per cent, to which must be added the amortization charge; the latter is so fixed as to make the annual payment on a dwelling-house loan 7 per cent, and on a ground-plat loan 6 per cent of the total amount borrowed. For the first three years interest onlv is paid, but with the fourth year the borrower begins to pay on the Drincinal in addition to his interest. The borrower Is required to give a first-mortgage security for his loan. '-base [IqSII! m"°290-302.° ^' ^°'"°'«>'^'^<'"eg" atdelnlng for arbetsstatistlk 1904. Stockholm NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 77 5 7o^tn'nnLf J^^-1 •"**' ™?f ^^ purcliased ^vith State advances ranges from undertaken ?;. nT?^-. ^.f "^^"'^, """^ '"'""*• <^"''"S:h and an agitation has been undertaken to permit of the purchase of larger holdings.' SUCCESS OF THE SWEDIHH HOiCESTEAD SYSTEM. me^f thT'demindr„f1. ^^'^'"^^ ^^^--."""^ (!?2,680.000) proved insufficient to S lonSno^ borroYers during the five years for which it was pro- y«9^i^^! iQo^ necessitating an additional appropriation of 800,000 crowns ($214,400) in 1908 Begmning witli 1909 the annual amount made available 25 0W0(X)3«nf,f^fi7^''.^iT'f »;"-e"sed to 5,000,000 crowns (?1,340,000) or th;T;,^n? «9 fioii^'"*^^^.^"*" """ eusumg ..-year period, more than doubling Uie amount ($2,894,400) made available during the previous 5-year period ol^°A^ ^'^^^^^LZ^^ *''""'' "I'^dequate and an appropriation in 1913 of o^f^,SVJ^fJ.f^^'^^ ''"■'^ **'""'l advisable. For Uie year 1914, 7,500.0^ crowns ($2,010,000) were set aside. The largest proportion of the sums advanced at the request of the agricul- tural societies goes toward the purchase of small holdings. The agricultural societies have made 8,.S20 loans during the vears 1905 to 1913 amounting to 22,799,663 crowns ()?6,110,309) to aid in th4 purchase of small holdings. Those already interested in agriculture from the largest group of those bene- titing unuer the law; farmers and agricultural laborers together form over one-thu-d of the total. But factory workers form well over one-fourth and hand workers constitute one-fifth, so that these classes, also are well repre- sented ; therefore it may be assumed that the law is reaching the classes for whom it was intended. Mr. Stewart. Do you desire us to stick to the colonization scheme in this presentation? Mr. Keating. Suppose you consult with Mr. Grosser, and in con- junction with him submit to the committee such facts in support of his proposition as would appeal to you. IVfr. Stewakt. I will do that. The Chair^iax. Mr. Sumners suggests that if you would summa- rize that report it would probably give us what we want. Mr. SuiCNEES. Give us the method of procedure, without reference to the causes. Mr. Stewart. I will be glad to do that. STATEMENT OF ME. LEIFITR MAGNTTSSOK, SPECIAL AGENT, BUEEATT OF LABOR STATISTICS. Mr. Keati>'g. You may proceed in your own way, Mr. Mag- nusson, to give the committee such information as you have in ref- erence to this subject. Mr. MAG>trssox. Mr. Chairman, I have gathered information along this line for the use of the Assistant Secretary of Labor. The sources of my information in reference to the character of public lands are the reports issued by the General Land OiEce. They are very general in terms, and to get at the detailed character of the land requires a field survey. I may state for the information of the committee that there is at present in round numbers, about 280,000,000 acres of surveyed and unsurveyed land, which is unreserved and unappropriated, be- longing to the United States Government. That is, it is land the title to which is still in the Government. Of that amount about ' Departmental committee on tbe equipment of small boldinss. Report. Reprinted from ParUamentary paper (Cd. 6708) of session of 1912-13. London, 191.3, p. 44. NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. i07,000,000 are unsurveyed and about 173,000,000 acres are surveyed "^--^and. The description that is given by the Land OiEce is general, merely stating that it is agricultural, grazing, or mineral land. That is not very specific, and the agricultural land, as suggested by the Secretary, would probably have to be surveyed in very de- tailed fashion in order to determine the character of the soil. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has made some study of the for- eign systems, particularly, as shown by reference to Bulletin 158, of the colonization schemes of the three Scandinavian countries — Sweden, Norway, and Denmark — and to a slight extent of Aus- tralia and France. The purpose that these States had in mind in these projects is the same as the committee has in mind in reference to this particular legislation — that is, the relief of the congestion of employment in the cities. I do not know that I am called upon to express any opinion con- cerning the proposition which is before you at the present time. If I should do that, it would be purely my own personal opinion. I am quite sure, however, that we shall be able to give the informa- tion which has been requested by the committee. Mr. Browne. What States are there where you think there is a considerable quantity of good agricultural lands outside of the irri- gation projects? Mr. Magnttsson. There is not much United States Government land. There is considerable, I believe, in my own home State of Minnesota, where they have a great deal of State land, which they sell practically on long-term credit of 40 years. Mr. Keating. I think, as a westerner, that I might suggest to the witness that most of the public domain still in the hands of the United States Government in the West is arid or semiarid. The extent to which dry farming may be expected to prove a success is an open question. You will find a wide diversion of opinion among western people who are familiar with the conditions in that section of the country. A great many people in the West insist— take, for instance, in eastern Colorado and western Kansas and all through that section of the West — a great many people insist that it wtu eventually prove available for agriculture, and others insist that it must be a combination of agriculture and stock raising. Those questions have not been determined up to the point where any man may speak with authority in connection with them. You can cite any number of instances in that region where farmers have made a very pronounced success of dry farming, and, on the other hand you can produce many witnesses to show that it is a rather pre- carious proposition. Personally, I believe that the so-called semiarid lands can be made available for homes, bflt it must be brought about by a combination or larming, stock raising, and dairying. As a friend of mine expressed it while I was making a tour in my district last summer, a little old cow and a little old hen wiU eventually prove the salvation of the farmers in the semiarid reeion In other words, dairying and poultry raising, combined with a cer- tain amount of agriculture, will do the business. If we have rains at the right season we can raise magnificent crops on those lands, it those crops are conserved the farmer can prosper. NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 79 Mr. StJMNERs. I have been a good deal through the West myself. It does seem to me, if you take a man there who has not got much money and who has not any great farming experience, that you will be putting that man up against a very hard proposition to start into farming in an enthusiastic way, when you put him up against the seniiarid western lands. I do not believe he can make it go. The land on irrigation projects is an entirely different proposition, and that is capable of community development. Mr. I^JEATiNG. As I stated at the last hearing of the committee, in order to show you how attractive the semiarid lands are, in the last two years in my own district alone between eight and ten thou- sand heads of families have come into that district and filed on semiarid lands. Mr. Ceossee. Is it not a fact that some of the forest lands are very fine for agricultural purposes? Mr. IDEATING. There is no question but what there is a very con- siderable area of land in the forest reserves where homes may be made. Mr. Magnusson. You can ascertain the amount in the Govern- ment forests from the Government reports, and you can ascertain the amount that is agricultural land and the amount that is grazing land. ]Mr. Keating. I do not mean when I say there are areas of the forest reserves which can be used for homes that you should cut away the timber and destroy the forest, but what I mean is that in the forests there are open areas now included in the national forests which may be thrown open and are constantly thrown open for homesteads. Mr. Nolan. I have had a little experience along that line with our public lands. We do not seem to have any common-sense method of exchange of lands in the forest reserve adjacent to this agricultural land. The agricultural land is in spots, and they have tried to work cut some scheme whereby they could exchange the lands of private owners, so that those lands could be opened up for development. They are practically inaccessible; there are no roads, and no way to get in on the lands, and for that reason people do not want to settle upon them. But there are others who own private timber adjacent to that land, and if that could be exchanged, acre for acre, it would rather relieve the situation and give the man with the private timber an opportunity to get that land open for develop- ment, and at the same time get lan'd equally as valuable for timber in other sections that would be as valuable to the United States, and that is one of the things the present administration is trying to work out. Mr. Magxusson. I do net think there is any way to determine the amount of agricultural lands in the forests that can be used as such. Mr. Stewabt. How far can we show the cut-over land where the timber has been cleared off that is owned by the State? Mr. Magnusson. I think those can be determined by reference to the State reports. I know in the State of Minnesota you can do that. Mr. Keating. The State of Colorado has approximately 3,000,000 acres of land, the most valuable agricultural land in the State of Colorado, that is now leased in large part to farmers under the leasing system, and the farmer is compensated for the improve- 80 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. ments which he makes. When his lease expires, if he does not desire to renew the lease and another farmer takes up the lease the new man pays for the improvements, and the price he must pay is determined by the State Board of Land Commissioners, and that board always gives the tenant the benefit of the doubt. They place a liberal estimate on his improvements. The amount they fix must be paid by the new tenant, and he goes on and continues to culti- vate the land until his lease expires, and if he does not renew the lease but transfers the lease to someone elese he is compensated for the improvemnts which he has made. ■ I think that system is operative in most of the western States. Then you have the great reclamation projects. The great trouble with the reclamation projects is that the Government has gone about that matter just as it has with all other efforts. It is a case of per- mitting inexperienced people to go on there and allowing them to do as they see fit without any advice from the Government. Practically every other nation goes further than that. Aus- tralia has put in reclamation projects, but they have done more than that. When they put a man on a piece of land they follow him to the point where he is successful. They have a system of rural credits. They explain to the man what crops can be raised on the project ; they show him how to raise the crops, and even go. so far in some cases as to put in the first crops for him, and thert they assist him in the matter of marketing. Mr. Grosser. Mr. Magnusson, do you know anything about the Alaska public lands? Mr. Magnusson. Those are reported upon separately. There is more there in proportion than in the continental United States. Mr. Grosser. They ar« very excellent in quality from an agri- cultural standpoint, are they not? Mr. MagnussOn. I believe they are. (Thereupon, at 11.50 o'clock a. m. the committee adjourned ta meet Thursday, May 25, 1916, at 10.30 o'clock a. m.) Committee on Labor, House of Representatives, Thursday, May 25, 1916. The committee met this day, Hon. Meyer London (acting chair- man) presiding. Mr. London. Mr. Holder, you may proceed. STATEMENT OF MR. ARTHUE E. HOLDER, WASHINGTON, D. C. Mr. Holder. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee I do not represent anyone here to-day but myself. I make this state- ment because of the understanding with the American Federation of Labor that no one should come before congressional committees and represent that organization on a subject upon which the organiza- tion Itself or its officers have not made a declaration. You can Mr Grosser. You do not mean that you do not represent anybody, but that you are not officially representing anybody « j ." •^i!": ^^'fw i ^"^ """^ representing anyone but myself, but I might add that there are a great many men, especially in mv trade NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 81 and the union in which I hold membership — the International Asso- ciation of Machinists — who have similar views to my own, and I believe I will not be overstepping the bounds of discretion in any statement that I may make concerning the propositions contained in the bill Mr. Grosser has introduced. I am going to ask to have incorporated in the hearings the bill H. R; 11329, and it may as well go in with my remarks. I do that for a specific purpose. It used to be the regular rule in all com- mittee hearings that the bill under discussion would be made a part of the record, but of late we have been getting out of that habit, and then in the course of years, when someone will want to know what this Grosser bill was, there will not be any copies in the docu- ment room or in any other archives of the Government, but if we incorporate it in the hearings we can always find it. (See p. 5.) A question was asked several times at the last hearing by a gen- tleman of the committee who is not here now. ilr. Sumners, of Texas, in which, I think, he substantially said that there was no need for any argument to establish the virtues of the principles of this bill, but what was needed were facts, figures, and data as to what had been done in other countries and about what the situation was in those countries before legislation of a somewhat similar character to this was enacted, and what the legislation provides. So, for the benefit of the committee, I am now going to mention the fact that one of the departments of the Government, the United States Department of Labor, through its Bureau of Labor Statistics, made a world- wide research, the results of which have been incorporated in Bul- letin Xo. l.iS. entitled. "Government Aid to Home Owning and Housing of Working People in Foreign Countries." That research covered such countries as Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Ger- many, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy. Norway, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. Mr. Browne. Is that a Senate bulletin^ ]Mr. Holder. No, sir. This is United States Bulletin Xo. 158 of the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. It is an exceptionallr valuable document, and, so far as foreign countries a,re concerned, the last word on the subject has been compiled withm its covers, it having been issued recently, October 15, 1914. I have not had an opportunity to go through this valuable docu- ment, neither am I able to speak clearly upon its contents, but look- ing through the index I find that it covers almost every imaginable subject dealing with Government aid, State loans for workmen's dwellings, housing of State and other employees, loans of pubhc funds to public-welfare building associations, giving the form of administration, the method of raising funds, unearned increment taxes, the purposes for which advances are made, the amounts and conditions of loans, the interest rates, the methods of repayment, the exemption of certain State taxes, foreclosure proceedings, right of construction on Government land, life insurance, etc. With that bulletin before you, readv to consult at. any time, I believe that you will be fairly well informed as to what other countries are doing. I am not, however, so deeply impressed with foreign experiences, or with foreign legislative experiments. I am vam enough to think that we are resourceful enough in the United States to be able to 48644—16 6 82 NATIONAL COLONIZA.TION BILL. handle our own problems in our own way — probably a little better than the people in other countries can show us. Of course their problems are more local and probably are more easily treated than are ours. . Coming back to the question of the need for this legislation, I must say a word, gentlemen, with regard to that, but I will not go into it deeply. I want to say, with all the earnestness that I can command, that there is no greater need before the people of the United States to-day than legislation similar to that which is con- tained in this bill— H. R. 11329. The first need is a fundamental and vital one, to safeguard political liberty and to preserve the economic freedom of the people who work for a living. The economic conditions in the United States, par- ticularly among the employees of the larger corporations, commonly called "trusts," are anything but enviable. The men and women who work for those concerns — I will enumerate them presently — are practically bartering their very lives and their liberties away for the opportunity to have employment by which they can live from day to day. They do not do it willingly; they do it because of the iron law of economic necessity. As a consequence there is a feeling of unrest among the people, the wealth producers, that if you only knew it as I know it you would be thrilled. The people are wonder- ing what they shall do to get from under industrial tyranny, which way they can turn in order that they may have a larger measure of freedom. The freedom of a human being rests upon one substan- tial natural feature, and that is, has he a place upon which he can stand and call it his own? That brings together the elements of human nature and natural opportunity — man and land. In the past the gentlemen who formerly occupied official positions in this building were — either unwittingly or otherwise — ^unduly profligate with the disposition of the natural opportunities of our country. The gave away — ^bartered sometimes for little or no value — millions upon millions of acres of our public lands. I believe that a great many of them were actuated with the idea that encouraging capitalists to build railroads, inducing capitalists to operate mines, making it profitable for capitalists to develop certain tracts of land would eventually redound to the benefit of the people because the benefits received by the capitalists would sooner or later trickle through to the rest of the people in some manner of means, but the benefits have not trickled through quite as plentifully as justice would demand. This bill calls for a change from those circumstances, and I am pleased to call it a bill that would restore, in some small measure at least, the common weal of the people to the people, so that they them- selves could use it for their own economic benefit. I am not going to pretend, gentlemen, to analyze the bill. I have not had the time and I have not the abihty— I am going to be perfectly honest — but if I were the author of the bill, or a member of this committee, I think I should not press too vigorous, at first, the colonization feature which it contains. I say that because of the fact that I have had a very varied experience in a great many States and in a great many industries, and I fijid that the American people are not yet favorably inclined to the cooperative idea, which colonization would in part NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 83 mean. The old individualistic desire to be one's own boss still lives in the hearts of our people, and if you can take the other features of the bill and conserve the public domain which still remains in the hands of the United States Congress so that the people can be reason- ably assisted to reach those spots, with funds to sustain them for a limited period, with an interest charge which would not be excessive, it would quickly come back to the Government a hundredfold. It would not be a loss — it would be a large investment by the Govern- ment for the people, not only from the standpoint of revenue and the standpoint of increased population, but it would have the greater benefit and the one that appeals to me most strongly, it would relieve men who are now chafing under the arbitrary rules of employment in the big corporations that I am now going to refer to. The big corporations in the lumber industry, in the furniture industry, in the meat packing and slaughtering industry, in the agricultural im- plement industry, and in the iron, steel, and blast furnace industry, oppose with every means at their command the organization of their employees. In the industries which I have enumerated you will find, if you choose to examine them, conditions of economic thraldom that the world has never before known the like. Mr. Browne. How dees that condition compare with the condi- tion of the saine laborers, say, 5 and 10 years ago ? Mr. Holder. The condition is worse to-day than it was 5 or 10 years ago. It is gradually getting worse. Our organizations have not been able to make a dent in the armor of the men who control those trust corporations and such as are termed "big business." Most of the working people engaged in them are locked up during the working hours within four walls and, in innumerable cases, are surrounded with armed guards, even in time of peace. They work unreasonable hours and the men are tired and weary when they finish their tasks, and are absolutely unfit to talk to people. Mr. Cooper. That does not speak very well for the labor organiza- tions, then ? Mr. Holder. Yes ; it does. Mr. Cooper. If I remember aright, Mr. Gompers made a state- ment recently before this committee in which he said just the oppo- site to what you have said ; that is, he said that through organized labor conditions, wages, and hours of labor had been much im- proved in the last 10 years. Mr. Holder. Positively; and I agree with him. We can substan- tiate that fact; but it does not apply to the men employed in the industries and trust corporations which I have enumerated. Mr. Cooper. I was referring to the question asked by Mr. Browne. Mr. Holder. I was answering Mr. Browne's question as applying to these industries, but not as applying to the other industries. Take, if you please, some other trades. Take the railroad busmess. There is not a man working for a railroad to-day who is working under such onerous conditions as he did 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25 years ago. And, Mr Cooper, the reason that the conditions have been bettered among railroad employees has been because of the fact that the men who have been so employed have fought like tigers for their rights -and they have made the most tremendous sacrifices. No man knows that better than you, Mr. Cooper. 84 NATIONAL : COLONIZATION BILL. Mr. Cooper. You have reference to the men who are not affiliated with the organized-labor movement ? Mr. Holder. Not connected with it in any shape, manner, or form. Mr. London. Is that because organized labor can not reach them? Mr. Holder. Yes, sir ; not because we have not spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in literature and years of personal effort. I do not want to relate any personal experiences here. Mr. Cooper. You do not want to take in all classes of labor ? Mr. Holder. We do want to take in all classes of labor, but I am not referring to that now. I am specializing. Mr. Browne. I have not had any personal observation upon this subject, but once in a while I get books that illustrate the conditions in different large plants, some of them steel plants, I think, the steel companies illustrating the environments around the plant-— the rest rooms and places of that kind — which would cause anyone to believe that the conditions are fine. Have you ever seen any illustrations of that kind ? Mr. Holder. Yes, sir; I have seen them taken. I have seen them prepared for just such publications to capture the good will of people who have had not had an opportunity to make a personal examination of the surroundings or have a personal first-hand touch with the awful conditions of servitude that prevail, especially where the United States Steel Corporation controls. Time will not permit me to go into those agonies, and I do not even want to call upon my own experiences, because some of them would have to be told in such a personal way that it would appear that I was trying to advertise myself, which I am not. I am going to ask you gentlemen, whenever you have an opportunity, to stop in some steel town and just move around for a day or two or a week. You will not want any better vacation than simply to talk with the men on the corners, if you can get them to talk to you. If you are a member of a fraternity, whether it is the Masonic fraternity the Knights of Columbus, the Knights of Pythias, or the Odd Fellows, so that you can reach the men and expect to get their confidence, I am almost ready to guarantee that you will not be able to ascertain the truth, even then, when you shake a brother by the hand and know that you are exchanging the proper grip. Mr. London. Is that because of intimidation ? Mr. Holder. They will be" found reluctant to talk to you as a stranger because of the fear that you are trying to ascertain some- thing about them that will endanger their jobs, and if they lose a 30b m that locality they are marked men and can not go to another ^v x^i u ^"^^ *^^ ^^^^ concern operates the same business or has an aftihated business connection with it, so that they really have to leave the town or the business and find some other occupation Mr. Cooper. You are speaking of organized labor « Mr. Holder. No ; I am speaking about unorganized labor employed by the trusts and big corporations. xuF^^j'cu . Mr- ^o^°o^/ I^ this condition which you have described due to the impossibility to organize the people? Mr. Holder. Yes, sir ; and every day makes it harder. At the present time we are conducting a campaign in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, wherever the hot-metal industry runs, from ce^ NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 85 tral Pennsylvania to eastern Ohio, where the Bethlehem Steel Co. and other concerns operate, trying to do all we possibly can. Every once in a while there is an industrial eruption. You may probably remember the strike at the Bethlehem Steel Works in 1910. You remember the recent calamity that took place at East Youngstown, only a few weeks ago. At the present time the pot is boiling in the vicinitj' of Pittsburgh, where the Westinghouse concerns are merged along with the large steel companies. The press does not dare to say a word for labor, the public men do not dare to say a word for labor, and there is no one left to fight their battles but our organizations. The men who have already affiliated themselves with the affairs of organized labor have made up their minds that the task is theirs. We are going to continue to keep at it until we can bring about remedies and imtil we secure relief for the men who are willing to act with their associates and who believe in being self-helpful through a labor organization. In other industries we have made tremendous strides, particularly during the last 25 years. We have established freedom of occupation, freedom of representation, we have shortened the hours of labor at least 20 per cent in many occu- pations, and in some cases 25 per cent and 30 per cent, and we have increased wages from 25 per cent to 200 per cent. That is a tremen- dous march of events. We have obtained the right of seniority and the right of representation for the workers before the employers. We have restored the right of a man to belong to himself. We have restored political liberty. We have improved sanitary conditions. We have improved safety conditions; and we promise you that we are never going to quit in our endeavors to lighten the lot of our fellow workers. We are going to keep continually at it until all the natural rights of all men are permanently restored. " Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness " shall yet be a posi- tive actuality and not a mere fiction garbled by the lips of self-seekers in a meaningless, thoughtless manner. Mr. London. You have achieved the best results in those industries which have not been monopolized ? Mr. Holder. Yes, sir. Mr. London. With the exception of the railroads? Mr. Holder. Yes, sir. Mr. London. Where it is possible for the workers to paralyze transportation ? Mr. Holder. Not that so much. I would put it this way : Where we have had an opportunity to get at the workers while they are still awake, where their energies have not been exhausted, and where their intelligence is still alive. When we can converse with them during the waking hours of the day and appeal to their best faculties, we can interest them, but where they men come out of the mill or factory after a long day of driving toil and agony, being driven like mules for 10, 11, or 12 hours a day, they do not want to talk about anything; they are too anxious to lay down and rest their wearied bodies and prepare for the next day's monotonous grind. Mr. Cooper. A great many of them are hard to reach because they can not read ? Mr. Holder. Unfortunately a great many of the foreigners can not read. Under such circumstances we have only one avenue to 86 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. their intelligence and that is through their ears, and if we can not speak their language and they can not understand ours that avenue of intelligence is closed. If they can read, we have that second and best avenue to their intelligence, and we can explain by the written or printed word our purposes and our desires to them in their own language so that they can read and reason it out for themselves. Mr. London. In those industries where you find it hard to or- ganize, what part does the native American worker play, so far as organization is concerned? Does he obstruct the organization of workers and help the employer to keep the others down, or does he help the foreigner to bring himself out of that miserable con- dition? Mr. Holder. In my experience I have found that the American worker is usually helpful to the foreign worker. He sometimes shows impatience if the foreigner does not come along quickly. That is a condition which must not be overlooked. Of course, it is difficult to make the foreigner understand our purposes, it takes time, it can not be always accomplished on the impulse of the mo- ment. I want now to tell you about something that is happening in the United States which is really more interesting than anything con- tained in Bulletin 158 on Government aid in foreign countries, be- cause it is an indication of wonderful progress among our own wage earners here at home. RESOLUTION BEFORE SAN FRANCISCO CONVENTION, AMERICAN FEDERATION OP LABOR. At the last convention of the American Federation of Labor held ill San Francisco, November, 1915, this resolution was introduced by the delegates from the Portland (Oreg.) Central Labor Council, and, with your permission, I am going to read it, because if I merely put it in the record I am afraid you will not have time to read it. Whereas, the Central Labor Council of Portland and vicinity, in an efCort to abolish involuntary unemployment in Oregon, has drawn up for submission to the people thereof by the initiative and referendum a measure designed to accomplish this purpose and make the land and natural resources ac- cessible to the people, said measure being known as the people's land and loan measui-e ; Therefore be it Resolved, That we petition the Thlrty-flfth Annual Convention of the Ameri- can Federation of Labor to aid us in placing this measure on the ballot and passing same at the coming general election, as follows — Of course, you know that they have the initiative and referendum in full operation in the State of Oregon. an^^g?ngX"^tvyu'a^l fu^XTorsa'^V^^^^^^^^ ^"' '""^'''''^ '' «™ finincIa?aJl=r''^' *° ^" ^«^"^*^*^ organizations voluntary moral and (3) By instructing the organizers of the American Federation of Labor who may be in Oregon during either campaign, to aid us in so far as thev may without interfering with their specific dutle<5 ^ ^ (4) That the convention shall urge all affiliated internationals to aid us by instructing the organizers and officers, when in Oregon, to cooperate with US in so far as they may without interfering with their specific duties NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 87 That resolution was referred to the committee on resolutions and the secretary of that committee reported as follows : Your coiniuittee recoumienils that the resolution be referred to the executive council with instructions to take up the subject with the Oregon State Feder- ation of Labor. A motion was made and seconded to adopt the report of the com- mittee, and, after some discussion in the convention, which I will not stop to read to you; but which, I think, should be incorporated in the record, the motion to adopt the report of the committee was carried by a unanimous vote. Since the consideration of the resolution by the convention. I am very glad to be able to report that the executive council of the Amer- ican Federation of Labor took this resolution under consideration at its quarterly session in February, 1916, and they unanimously in- dorsed the measure. DISCUSSION UPON THE OREGON BESOLUTION AT THE SAN FRANCISCO CONVENTION OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR. Delegate Smith, of Portland, said : " This legislation in Oregon is being urged by the Central Labor Council of Portland. It will be presented to the voters. We have the entire support of the labor movement in Oregon, and we would like to have some indorsement from this convention. I would like to ask the committee how long it will take to get action on this proposition?" Secretary Frey said : " The question will probably be taken up by the execu- tive council immediately after the adjournment of the convention." Delegate Bourne spoke briefly in favor of the resolution, and stated that quick action was desired. Delegate Smith, In explaining the measure, said In part: "This measure is th^ direct result of study and investigation upon the part of the Central Labor Council of Oregon of the question of unemployment, and what can be done in a legislative way to abolish that evil. In Oregon, as in many other States, or practically all of the States, the large interests are backed by the money power and they have control to a greater or less degree of the land and of the natural resources. In Oregon we have as our fundamental industry the timber industry, and the Southern Pacific Railroad and the great timber barons have possession of our resources. In studying the unemployement problem we de- cided that there was only one way to get these resources back. We have many men in our State, as you people have in your States, who would like to giet out upon the land. They can not do so without paying the inflated -speculative prices, and, if they do have an opportunity to get upon the land, they haven't the money to do so. This bill is a combination of what is famili- arly known as single tax and State aid. It does not go all the way. The onlv way we can hope to get the land and the natural resources back to the people is through taxation. It seems that the Government has never been able to limit taxation, and we propose to levy as a State tax such a sum per vear as is equal to the land rent, whether it is used or whether it is not used. A third of all of this rental will be placed in a homeseekers' loan fund. From this fund the men and women in the country and in the city can borrow from the State a sum equal to $1,500. They will have 20 years to repay it. The first five vears they will pav no interest except the administrative expenses of the loan ' The nex't 15 years they will pay a small rate of interest. We hope this wUl grow and develop so that in time we will not have any private banks in Oregon Under this bill there can be no tax levied upon personal improve- ments by a mere scratch of the pen. It will have to be done by and through the consent of the people. If property is sold for delinquent taxes the State will pav all the delinquent taxes and the value of the improvements that have been made. When the State once acquires title to a piece of property because of delinquent taxes the title from that time on is vested in the State and it can not be sold to private indiviuals. It must be leased." Delegate Smith described at some length the benefits that would accrue from the legislation and the work that had been done in perfecting the bill. The motion to adopt the report of the committee was carried by unanimous vote. 88 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. I am going to now ask your indulgence to. read a part of the pro- posed new bill of rights and to have the whole incorporated in the record. I know that this will give you more enlightenment than all of the matter contained in Bulletin 158 and all of the other appeals that have been made to you for the necessity of this legislation; it shows the resourcefulness of the working class in the great State of Oregon. There are thousands and thousands of union workmen in other States that indorse absolutely all of the principles that are contained in this proposed bill of rights of the people of Oregon. Mr. Browne. When will that be submitted ; in November, 1916 ? Mr. Holder. Yes, sir; and it will be worth watching. Of course, it is the chief object of public interest in that State now, more than the election of any man or any set of men to fill offices. It is called the bill of rights. Article 1 is entitled " People's power and rights." Pkoposed Bill oi- Rights, State of Oregon — People's Power and Rights. Section 1. (rO^^'i? declare that all citizens have equal rights; that all power is inherent in the people, anrl all just governments are founded on their con- sent and instituted for their peace, safety, prosperity, and happiness ;, that they have at all times a right to alter, reform, or totally change the govern- ment when a majority of those voting believe they can thereby promote the general welfare. citizens' eight to .use of land. (&) We reaffirm our faith in the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence, " That all men are created, equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." In pursuance of these rights all citizens of Oregon are equally entitled to exclusive possession, for their personal use, of land enough for their homes and to yield a living by their labor, without paying any person for the right to live and labor on the land. That is something new and novel to go into the constitution of a State. PUBLIC OAVKEKSHIP OP LAND KENT. (c) Public ownership of all land rent is right, because such rent is created by the presence, industry, and productive power of the whole people. Private ownership of land refit is the chief cause of land monopoly, land speculation and economic oppression — • ' ' Which in my previous remarks I have so vividly referred to. It is therefore right and necessary, in order to promote the general welfare, that all land rent shall be collected by public taxation, whether the land- Is actually used or not. PUBLIC POLICY. (d) It is the public policy of Oregon — First. To abolish all forms of land monopoly so as to prevent anv person from getting a profit by owning land without using it. Second. To abolish involuntary unemployment .and povertv in this State bv enacting such laws as shall insure to all citizens opportunity for the exclusive possession and use of enough land to employ themselves and" make their homes Third. To protect all persons in the absolute ownership of the value of their land nuprovements and the income therefrom. DEFINITION OF THE WORD " LAND." (e) For purposes of assessment and taxation appraisement, the word " land" means the earth, mcludiug soil water, water power, minerals stone natural oils, gases, timber of natural growth, and all other natural resoTc^. before being severed, removed, or withdrawn from their natural position NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 89 I pause for a moment to add that one of the questions before this committee in its previous consideration of Mr. Crosser's bill was "How shall we do it? " I believe that question is answered in the proposition by the Oregon people about as quickly and as definitely as anything that I have seen or heard, and, of course, a great deal better than I could advise. DEFINITION AND METHOD OF APPRAISING LAND KENT. (/) The words " land rent " as used in this section mean tlie fair and just price per year, as appraised by public officers, that a renter should pay for the use of any lot, tract, parcel, or quantity of land on a lease which includes tlie following conditions : First. • That the renter has a five-year lease with the perpetual right to re- new his lease at the end of each five-year term. Please note the inclusion of the words " perpetual right." Second. That the rent shall be appraised and readjusted everv fifth year, when the lease is renewed for the next five years, an(J that " land' rent " shall not include any charge for the use of land improvements. Third. That there shall be no increase of the " land rent " because of addi- tional improvements and betterments made on, in, or under the land. Fourth. That the appraised land rent shall be paid to the public tax collector. Fifth. That there shall be no tax or other charge to be paid hy renter for the use of the land except the appraised " land rent," and there shall be no tax on the market value of the land, except as hereinafter provided in para- graph (ft) of this section. Gentlemen, would you like me to read the rest of this bill of rights, or shall I incorporate it in the record ? Mr. Cooper. It might be as well to incorporate it in the record. Mr. HoLDEE. It is wonderfully entertaining and it is not tiring to me to read it. Mr. London. Then proceed to read it. Mr. Holder (reading) : DEFINITION OF LAND IMPEOVEMENT. ig) The words "land improvements" mean buildings, clearing, ditches, drains, orchard trees, vines, crops of all kinds, fences, and all other useful and ornamental changes, growths, and additions made by labor and capital in or to any natural resources, or on, in, or under any lot, tract, or parcel of land. That definition is pretty sweeping. LEVY or PEBMANENT LAND-KENT TAX. (7t) During the year 1917 the State land board shall cause tlie county asses- sors and State tax commission to appraise the annual land-rent price of every lot, tract, parcel, and quantity of land on the basis set forth in paragraph (/) of this section, except land owned by the National, State, and local Governments. The State land board is hereby granted full authority to manage, control, and direct such appraisement, and to employ such expert assistance as the board may consider necessary and to expend from the general fund of the State treasury the sum necessary for that purpose. Such appraisement shall be made again in the year 1922 and every fifth year thereafter. Beginning on the 1st day of January, 1917, all the apprai-sed land rent of the land of Oregon (except such land as is now exempt by law from tax) shall be collected as a public tax in such manner as may be provided by the rules to be made by the State land board : Prorided, That no such rule shall be contrary to the provisions of any lettered paragraph of this section, nor contrary to general laws for that purpose that may be hereafter enacted by vote of the 90 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. people. The land-rent tax shall be paid whether the land is actually used or not used. This section shall not prevent the collection of taxes levied in 1917, for the year 1916, on the assessment made in 1916, or any previous assessment. After the making of the above tax levy for 1916 no other or further tax shall be levied on the market value of land and the above land-rent tax shall there- after be the only tax on the ovi^nership or use of land in Oregon. Mr. Browne. Is that a proposed amendment to the Constitution? Mr. Holder. Yes, sir. I pause to say that it is an evidence of the intent of some of the people of the United States to have actual, full, and complete home rule by putting all the details into the Consti- tution so that they can not be upset by the courts afterwards. It is a most practical and revolutionary proposition. Mr. Browne. I notice that you mentioned 1917? Mr. Holder. Yes, sir. Mr. Browne. When does that go into effect? Before the citizens vote for it in November, does it not have to go before the legislature? Mr. Holder. I do not know what the complete system is in that State. I believe in Oregon the referendum is complete and final, and that is the reason that they present it in this form. It evidently is for the purpose of avoiding having the legislature even act upon or interfere with it. Mr. Browne. In most of the States a resolution has to pass two legislatures and then goes before the people. Mr. Crosser. They do not have that system in Oregon. This will become effective immediately after being submitted to the people. I thought you had reference to the passage of laws. Mr. Browne. They can amend the constitution by a referendum? Mr. Grosser. Yes, sir ; we do that in our State. Mr. Holder (reading) : PUBLICATION OF ASSESSMENTS. (i) The State land board shall provide every fifth year, when the land rent appraisement is made, for publication and distribution to every taxpayer a copy of the assessment and tax roll for the county in which he owns property, or for any subdivision thereof, including his property, as the board may deem necessary. In such published rolls the names of owners shall be alphabetically arranged, and under each owner's name shall be listed all the land rents and other property for which he is assessed In that county or subdivision. DELINQUENT TAX SALES. (/) The state, land board shall bid the amount of delinquent tax and land- rent taxes, with penalties and costs, but no more, on any land offered for sale at delinquent-tax sales. The title to all land that may be sold to the State for said delinquent taxes shall vest absolutely in the Sate at the expiration of two years from the date of sale, if the land is not sooner redeemed. The title and ownership of improvements on, in, or under any land sold for taxes shall not be acquired by the State or any other purchaser on such sale, unless the improvements are also sold for a tax levied on the improvements. The State~ shall rent its land by leases, including the conditions of paragraph (/), with Such other conditions, covenants, and agreements as the State land board may order. The State shall not sell any land. (t) If any person's land-rent tax, payable in one county, exceeds $12 per year, such tax shall be paid in equal monthly, quarterly or semiannual install- ments, as may be provided by law, or by the rules of the State land board. Failure to pay any installment of land-rent tax when due shall render such tax delinquent and immediately subject to such penalties and process for col- lection as may be provided by law or by the rules of the State land board NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 91 EIGHTS OF PKIVATB PROPERTY MAINTAINED. W One purpose of this section is to restore public ownership of land rent, but it does not change, limit, or abolish any person's right of private property and exclusive possession of land and land leases, as long as the land-rent tax is paid. SEPARATE ASSESSMENT OF LAND KENT. (to) The amount of yearly land-rent tax of every lot, tract, parcel, and quan- tity of land shall be listed in the assessment and tax rolls separately from other taxes and from the assessed value of any personal property, and separately from the taxes and assessed value of any improvements on, in, or under such land. STANDING TIMBER. (n) standing timber of natural growth shall be assessed and taxed as a part of the land on which it grows. ASSESSMENT AND COLLECTION OF TAX. (o) The laws in operation for assessing property and levying and collecting taxes and delinquent taxes when this section is adopted shall continue in force, and shall be applied to the collection of the tax hereby levied on land rent, except as herein provided, and as such laws may be changed by amendments and rulea made hereafter in accordance with this section. DUTY OF GOVERNOR. (p) It is the duty of the governor to enforce all the provisions of this section and all the laws for its application and the rules of the State land board. For that purpose the governor may remove any members of the State tax commis- sion and any assessor or appraising officer for incompetence, failure, neglect, or refusal to do their duty as prescribed by this section, or by the laws or the rules of the State land board, and shall appoint their successors in office for their unexpired terms. DUTIES or THE STATE LAND BOARD. (g) The governor, secretary of state, and State treasurer constitute the State land board. Any two of the members constitute a quorum to do business. The duties of the board are : First. To make, promulgate, and publish all rules expedient to apply and enforce the provisions of this section not in conflict herewith. Second. To prescribe all forms and blanks for use nnder this section. Third. To provide for making all loans as safe and secure as practicable, and to require insurance of all perishable land improvements and other security taken for the repayment of loans. Fourth. To provide methods of appeal, for any person interested, from the decision of a local appraiser who recommends approval or rejection of an ap- plication for a loan. Fifth. To make its forms, blanks, and rules so plain that there will be no need for an applicant to employ a lawyer in preparing or presenting his application for a loan. Every such rule made by the board shall have the force and effect of law until it is changed or repealed by a general act or law adopted by vote of the people at a regular general election. Xo such measure shall be sub- mitted to the people at a special election. SPECIAL TAXES ON PERSONAL PROPERTY AND LAND IMPRO^-EMENTS. (r) A special tax may be levied on personal property and land improvements in any year, for local purposes only, by school and road districts, towns, cities, and counties Every such levy shall be proposed by the usual form of initia- tive petition and shall be made only if it is approved by a majoritj- of those voting on the question. All initiative petitions proposing such tax levies shaU be legally filed with the county clerk not later than the first Monday in Sep- tember and shall be submitted to the people for approval or rejection at the 92 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November next after the filing of such petitions. The question as to each proposed levy phall be printed only on the ballots for use in the territory to vehich the pro- posed special tax levy applies. Special elections-for that purpose may be ordered when there is no general election to be held on said first Tuesday, and in all cases the vote shall be taken at all the regular polling places. The laws gov- erning special and regular elections in the submission of measures shall apply to such special tax-levy election. Every person qualified to vote for governor of the State shall be entitled to vote at any such tax election. DISTEIBUTION OF EEVENUB FROM LAND-BENT TAX. («) Two-thirds of the revenue obtained in each county from the land-rent tax levied in that county shall be divided among the different towns, cities, ports, and all other municipalities in the county, and between that county and the State, by allowing and paying to each the same proportion of this two- thirds that each received from the general tax levy of 1915. The above distribu- tion of two-thirds of the revenue from said land-rent tax may be changed from time to time by law. HOME MAKEES' LOAN FUND. (t) The home makers' loan fund is hereby established in the State treasury. One-third of all revenue hereafter obtained from the State from said land rent tax, and all revenue hereafter obtained from the present inheritance tax rate, shall be deposited in the State treasury to the credit of that account. The amount of this fund may be increased in any manner and from any source that is now or may be hereafter provided or levied by law first approved by vote of the people. This fund shall be administered by the State land board. This fund shall be loaned to home makers, both in town and country, in amounts not exceeding two-thirds of the actual value of the land improvements they may make or liave already made, on any lot or tract of land. Payment to the borrower of portions of such loan may be made at definite periods to be fixed by the board, as such improvements may progress. Every such loan shall be the first lien on the land and improvements, except taxes, and every such home and impovements shall be exempt from execution except only for State loans, and interest, taxes, and the purchase price. One purpose of this section is to help persons with no capital but their labor and character to make homes and farms, but not more than $1,500 shall be loaned for the making of one such home or farm. The board may limit the amount of such loan that any person may draw in any year. This fund is for loan to those who are now trying to develop farms and make homes, as well as to persons who begin hereafter. If the sum total of all the property owned by any family shall exceed $2,250 in value, then no part of such fund shall be loaned to any member of that family. COST, INTEEEST, AND TIME OF REPAYMENT. (M) The average actual cost of making, securing, and administering said loans shall be estimated by the State land board, and a percentage sufficient to cover the same shall be deducted from every loan and charged to the bor- rower as the sum is advanced to him. The loans shall be secured bv first mortgage on the improvements and the land. There shall be no interest on any such loan for the first five years, and thereafter the rate of interest shall not be greater than 6 per cent per annum. Every such loan may be made repayable by mstallments, but the final payment shall not in any case be more ^nded bflaw "^ ^^^ ^*'''"' ''"^^^' '''''^' limitations shall b^ex^ FORM AND PAYMENT OF STATE WARRANTS ON HOME MAKERS' LOAN FUND. (v) The warrants drawn on the State treasury for said home makers' loan fund shall be designated as such; they shall be payable on demand in lawful money of the Urn ed States of America, shall not bear interest, and shall blat all times receivable by all tax collectors at their face value for one-th rd of all NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 93 land-rent taxes, and shall at all times be received by tlie State treasurer in payment of all amounts due the State for such loan fund account. Said warr rants shall be issued in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, and $20. Every such warrant, when received by the State treasurer, shall be canceled and shall not be reissued. Such warrants shall be preserved for five years after being can- celed. The total amount of such loan fund warrants outstanding at one time shall never exceed two years income of said loan account as estimated by the State land board. SELK-EXECtJTING. (w) This section is self -executing in all its provisions and paragraphs, and shall take effect and be in operation as to all assessments made after the 1st day of January next after its approval and adoption by the people of Oregon. The provisions of this section do not apply to any assessments or taxes made or levied before the 1st day of March next after its approval by the people. All provisions of this section relating to the home makers' loan fund because operative and effective on the 1st day of December next after approval of this section by the people. (x) All provisions of the con.stitution and laws of Oregon in conflict with this section, or any part hereof, are hereby repealed in so far only as they conflict herewith. Any lettered paragraph of this section may be amended without resubmitting the entire section. Mr. Cooper. Will the people vote on this amendment next No- vember ? Mr. Holder. Yes, sir. They are conducting the campaign now. With reference to the provisions in Mr. Crosser's bill, of course, I can not speak from a legal standpoint, not being a lawyer, but I do dare to read the Constitution occasionally. Fortunately the study of the Constitution by the common people is not prohibited as yet. I do not think that any man would have the temerity at any time to say that the principle contained in this proposition is an unconstitu- tional one. They might say that it was straining the Constitution, but in the preamble, under the " general welfare " clause, it would be admissible, and, in section 8, the Constitution says : The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general wel- fare of the United States. So I rest my argument, from the constitutional standpoint, upon the " general welfare " clause. Many people felt as though the world was moving rapidly when only two days ago the Senator from South Carolina, Mr. Tillman, said publicly upon the floor of the Senate that the " general welfare " clause of the United States Constitution was broad enough and deep enough for the Congress of the United States to do anything for the people of the United States. That was a strong, sweeping statement, and evidence that we are certainly mak- ing some very rapid progress. I think it has interested you to learn what the American Federa- tion of Labor did at its annual convention about this proposition in Oregon, and I wanted to call your attention to this splendid docu- ment (U. S. Bulletin No. 158, issued by the Department of Labor) , wherein you can find all the information you desire with reference to foreign countries. , j u Mr. Crosser. You made reference to the fact that wages had been increased many times as the result of organization? Mr. Holder. Yes, sir. 94 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. Mr. Grosser. Under our present economic system does it not also happen that the things which labor must buy have increased in price many fold? Mr. Holder. Yes, sir. Just at that point, Mr. Grosser, permit me to interrupt you in order to say this, because the world does not rec- ognize it, and many of the critics of the organized-labor movement do not recognize it. Kemember that the poor employee not protected by any labor organization who is working for one of the trustified corporations is still getting only the former wage rate of $1.25 and $1.50 a day, working 10, 11, or 12 hours per day, and has to pay the increased prices on all the necessaries of life. Such a man has not received any increase in his wages, but the organized workman has received increased wages to meet the increase in his expenses. The world does not recognize that fact. Just imagine what wonderful financiering a man and his wife must do in this day and generation in order to manage to pull through and meet their expenses upon such a pitiable stipend as $1.25 or $1.50 per day, which the trusts I have enumerated are still paying their semiskilled and unskilled laborers. Mr. Grosser. I intended to call your attention to the fact that if the natural resources — in other words, the sources from which all wealth must come, including the compensation of labor— were not monopolized and were open, would not that prevent the unnatural increase of these things, and would not labor get its full return ? Mr. Holder. If the principle of your bill should be enacted into law, it would have this effect : It would enable the independent, self- reliant, resourceful workingmen of the United States to work for themselves and not have to hunt around to find a boss to work for. The workers would then be able to get the full value of the product of their labor, which is really the dream of the ages, and which we are working steadily toward. It would prevent economic oppression; it would limit, maybe prevent, political chicanery ; it would reestablish liberty; and it would make this Nation that which our forefathers dreamed of when they wrote the declaration of Mecklenburg and the Declaration of Independence. Is that an answer to your question? Mr. Grosser. Yes, sir. Mr. GooPER, The only chance that anyone has in this great land of ours to-day, with very few exceptions, is to go into something for themselves ? Mr. Holder. Yes, sir; and the opportunities are constantly becom- mg fewer. •' There is only one feature of this bill that I do not like. I would not want to get some land which would drive me away from mv peo- ple and into the mountains or arid West. Mr. Browne. How would you correct'that? haS.??"'^"^ '^°"^'f use the power of the Government for the benefit of all the people instead of the power of the Government being used for a small part of the people, as in the past. I would make an investment of the United States funds in tracts of land that could be secured by reasonable compensation, secured at bargaii and then let the people of the United States in any State [fanv community, have easy, helpful access to them ^ ' ^ Mr. Grosser. The enactment of this bill would make that possible? Mr. Holder. Yes, sir ; but $50,000,000 is not enough ; it shSTbe a NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 95 billion dollars, because all that money would come back to the people through the Government. It would be a way out, a safe, sane, prac- tical business proposition. In conclusion, gentlemen, and as replies to earlier questions you put to me, permit me to present three tables on wage statistics. I have prepared them with the idea of making them easily read and understood at a glance. That should always be the real, scientific ideal in the minds of statisticians. Unfortunately, however, the ordinary tables on wage statistics require columns of text to explain, and by the time that is read the tables become more confusing than ever. The figures I present herewith only require this simple explana- tion. The first three columns of Table I are taken from the official data in the Thirteenth Census Keports. The next three columns and the whole of Table II are my deduc- tions. A mine of information is disclosed and represents the actual production and wages for all labor — organized and unorganized — ^in our manufacturing industries since 1850. Table III represents the wonderful worth and value of trade unions to the workers of our land. Make your own comparisons; form your own judgments. Table I. — Abstract and analysis of censiis statistics on manufactures. Year. Average number of wage eamers.i Total annual wages.i Total annual value of products.! Average ' per capita produo- tian.» Aterage annual wage.' Percent of product paid in wages.' 1850 957, 059 4,712,763 5,468,383 6,615,046 $236,755,464 2,008,361,000 2,610,445,000 3,427,038,000 $1,019,106,616 11,406,927,000 14,793,903,000 20,672,052,000 «,064 2,420 2,705 3,126 $247 426 477 518 23 21 1900 17.60 1905 17.63 1910. 16 57 1 Data obtained from pages 4 and 5, Bulletin on Manufactures, Thirteenth Census, United States, 1910, issued by the U. S. Bureau of ttie Census. • Analysis of census data by Arthur E. Holder. Table II. — Analysis of census statistics on manufactures, demonstrating that wages fail to increase in same degree as production increases. INCBEASB IN PRODUCTION. Per capita Increase in production : Per cent. In 50 years, from 1850 to 1900 127 In 55 years, from 1850 to 1905 154 In 60 years, from 1850 to 1910 193 INCREASE IN WAGES. Per capita increase in wages : Per cent. In 50 years, from 1850 to 1900 72 In 55 years, from 1850 to 1905 93 In 60 years, from 1850 to 1910 109 Tabm III. — ^Economic Gains Theough Teade-Unionism, Aeeanged by In- dustrial Gboups. bakeet and confectionebt woekees. Before organization the hours for these workers ranged from 10 to 18 per day and wages from $1 to $1.50 per day. Since organization hours have been reduced to 9 and 8 per day and wages have been increased, so that they now get a minimum of ?2.40 for " second and third hands " and $3.60 and over for " first hands." BBICKLATEBSj STONEMASONS, AND PLASTEEKES. Before organization the hours for these workers ranged from 10 or more per day and wages from $2 to $3 per day. 96 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. Since organization hours have been reduced to 8 per day and in many places 44 per week and wages have been increased, so that they now get from $4 to $7 per day in the different localities. BLACKSMITHS, BOELKB MAKESS, MACHINISTS, MOLDEBS, PATTERN MAKBBS, AND OTHEB METAL WOKKEES. Before organization the hours for these workers ranged from 10 or more per day with no increased rates for overtime. Wages ranged from $1.50 to $3. Since organization hours have been reduced to 9 and 8 per day and wages have been increased, so that they now get from $2.50 to $8 and over per day. BOOKBINDEHS, COMPOSITORS, ELECTBOTTPEES, PEESSMBN, IITHOGEAPHEBS, AND OTHEB PEINTING TEADESMEN. Before organization the hours for these workers ranged from 10 or more per day and wages from $1 to $3 per day. Since organization hours have been reduced to 8 and 7 per day and wages have been increased, so that they now get $2.50 to $5.50 per day. BBEWEBY WOBKMEN. Before organization the hours for these workers ranged from 10 to 14 per day and wages from $1.50 to $2.50 per day. Since organization hours have been reduced to 9 and 8 per day and wages have increased, so that they now get from $2.50 to $5.50 per day. BEIDGE AND STEUCTTJEAL-IEON WOEKEBS, GEANITE CUTTEES, STONECTJTTEES, ELEC- TSICAL WOEKEBS, CEMENT WOEKERS, CAEPENTEES, PLUMBEES, MAEBLE SETTEES, SHEET-METAL WOEKERS, STEAM FITTEES, PAINTERS, AND OTHEB BUILDING TEADES. Before organization the hours for these workers ranged from 10 or more per day and wages from $1.50 to $3 per day. Since organization hours have been reduced to 8 per day, and in many locali- ties to 44 per week, and wages have been increased, so that they now get from $3.50 to $6.50 per day. CIGAB MAKEES. Before organization the hours of cigar makers were unlimited, frequently amounting to 16 and 18 hours per day. Cigars were made in tenements, prisons, and under all kinds of insanitary surroundings. Wages were pitifully low, from 50 cents to $1.80 per day. Since organization hours have been reduced to 8 per day. Shops have been made clean and sanitary. Working conditions have been humanized. The general health of the workers has been greatly improved. Tuberculosis has been reduced over 75 per cent. Wages have been increased, so that the or- ganized cigar makers can now earn from $2.50 to $7.50 per 8-hour day. ENGINEERS AND CONDUCTORS ON BAILEOADS. Before organization the hours for these workers were unlimited and wages ranged from $2 to $3 per day. Since organization 100 miles or 10 hours has been made the day's service and wages have been increased, so that they now get from $3.80 to $7 per day's work. RAILROAD FIREMEN, TRAINMEN, AND SWITCHMEN. Before organization the hours for these workers were unlimited and wages ranged from $1.50 per day to $60 per month. Since organization 100 miles or 10 hours has been made the day's service and wages have been increased, so that they now get from $2.45 to $4 per day. TELEGRAPHERS, EAILEOAD AND COMMEECIAL. Before organization the hours for these workers were unlimited; they worked per Sh ^^^'' .'' ^""^^^ ^^ ^' ^^^ P^' '"''''*^' ^^"^^ly ^^^-^ i-^'^^l'^g *60 Since organization hours have been reduced to 9 and 8 per day with a NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 97 GAKMENT WOEKBES AND OTHER NEEDLE TEADES. Before organization these workers were " sweated " and impoverished in the most brutal manner. Since organization their hours have been reduced to 9 and 8 per day, " sweat- shops" have been largely eliminated, and clean, healthy, sanitary workshops have been provided ; they are now able to earn by piecework rates controlled by their organizations from $1.50 for the lower-grade operations to $6 and more per day for cutters and designers. STEEET EATT.WAY EMPLOYEES. Before organization, the wages for these workers ranged from ,$1.25 to $1.75 per day for a 12-hour day and over. Since organization, hours have been reduced to 10 and 9 per day and wages have been increased so that they now get from $1.80 to $3.50 per day. MINE WOEKEKS COAL AND METALLLFEEOUS. Before organization, the hours for these workers were unlimited and wages ranged from nothing to possibly $2 per day in a few rare instances. History has recorded the fact that many unorganized coal miners have died in debt to their employers, which debt was left as a legacy for their children to cancel by hard toil and deprivation, and, of course, all were subjected to many depriva- tions of liberty which we all consider inherent to the rights of man. Since organization, hours have been reduced to 8 per day, and the minimum wage has been set at $2.88 per day for coal and $3.50 per day for metalliferous miners, and the earning power of organized miners on high-price rates per ton for digging permits them to earn as high as $5 and over per day, according to the vein of coal or material in which they are working. Organized mine work- ers in all communities are now rated as high-grade citizens, whereas before they were organized they were universally ignored or mistreated. SEMISKILLED AND UNSKILLED LABOE HOD CAEBIEES, MUNICIPAL EMPLOTEES, BUILDING LABOEEES, SECTION HANDS, FaCTOKY HELP, MIGEATOEY WOEKEKS, TiLiMSTEES, ETC. Before organization, this large class of semiskilled and unskilled labor worked from 10 hours per day up to whatever satisfied the whims of their em- ployers and wages ranged from 75 cents to $1.50 per day. Since organization, hours have been reduced to 9 and 8 per day in hundreds of localities and wages have been increased so that they now get wages varying from $1.50 to $3 per day for unskilled labor. Hod carriers, teamsters, rock drillers, and many others with special training get as much as $4 and more per day of 8 hours. I am very much obliged to you gentlemen, for the opportunity of appearing before your committee. (Thereupon the committee adjourned to meet Thursday, June 1, 1916, at 10.30 o'clock a. m.) Committee on Labor, House of Representatives, Monday, June 5, 1916. The committee this day met, Hon. Edward Keating presiding. STATEMENT OF DE. FREDERIC C. HOWE, COMMISSIONER OF IMMIGRATION, PORT OF NEW YORK. Mr Howe. I am here to speak for the Grosser bill, whose purpose is to promote small agricultural holdings by the advance of pubhc funds to persons desiring to become farmers; the fund to be repaid Speriodi? installments and to be used for further development work 48644—16 7 98 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. as a rotary fund. I understand that this bill provides for the reten- tion of the title of the land by the Government and for the annual collection of ground rents for its use, from which all local, State, and other taxes shall be paid. I believe strongly in the purposes and principle of this bill. I be- lieve in it as a means of encouraging agriculture and of solving the surplus-labor problem as well. It looks to governmental aid in the promotion of agriculture and opens up opportunities for men who desire to become farmers and have not the capital to do so. This is a subject that has been brought to my attention very fre- quently during the last few years, as Comjnissioner of Immigration at the port of New York. A large number of men owning large tracts of land have come to me with plans for making settlements, and in connection with that I have investigated the working activities of the Hebrew societies for the placing of people on the land, and I have to some extent studied the system in vogue in European countries. I have come to the concluson that agriculture is to be an increas- ingly diminishing pursuit in the United States unless the Govern- ment gives it something of the same sort of intensive thought and as- sistance that is given to other lines of industry. Society has changed so much that men prefer to live in the cities rather than in the coun- try. In addition to that, industrial conditions, control of credit, transportation, and marketing by a few agencies has made it very difficult for the farmer to make a living. Modern society has really run away from the farmer and left him one of the" most helpless — possibly the most helpless — individuals, with the exception of labor- ers, under modem industrial conditions. In discussing the general project I have become convinced that several things are necessary in the working out of a real agricultural program in the United States. The first is cheap land. As it is now, land is held at speculative prices all over the United States. The Hebrew societies find that as soon as they locate a few people on pri- vately owned land immediately all the land in that community begins to rise ; it reaches such a prohibitive price that they have to move to some place else. The average farmer assumes that the highest price paid for any land in the colony is the price that should be charged for all land in that community. Therefore, one of the first problems to be solved in an agricultural program is the cheapening of the land in some way so as to make it available on easy terms. Second. Credit is so costly for the farmer that it is almost impos- sible for him to overcome that difficulty. I found agricultural dis- tricts even in northern New York where they were paying 18 per .cent for money, and in the West it ranges between 10 and 15 per cent. In other words, a man has to pay one-tenth of what he produces through a whole year's labor just to convert his produce from one form into another form merely for the right to place that which he has produced in the markets. A third obstacle is the high cost of transportation ; the difficulty of reaching the markets. A fourth obstacle is inadequate market facilities. There is no co- operation; each farmer acts for himself and his losses are colossal. Fifth, there is a psychological fact of very great importance, that a farmer hves m an isolated place, in a lonely place; there is nothing NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 99 there to make it attractive. A farmer does his work during six months of the year and the other six are idle months, during which time he has nothing to occupy his mind. School facilities are in- adequate; recreation is inadequate, and the children want to go to the cities. Sixth, is the high labor cost, and that is a factor in the agricultural question that is going to be increasingly important. Men go to the cities where they can get $2, $2.50, and $3 a day, as unskilled laborers, 12 months in the year, rather than to go on a farm where they get $20 a month and keep, and at the end of the season they are scrapped, turned adrift. Those are some of the things which crowd men into the cities and keep them off the farms. Finally, tenancy is an impossible condi- tion; successful agricultural communities are not found where ten- ancy has become the prevailing type of agriculture, because under such a system the landlord appropriates, in an increasing degree, the products of the farm. In Ireland they call it rack rent. That drove 4,000,000 people out of Ireland to the United States, and England found it necessary to organize agriculture in Ireland in order to prevent the depopulation of the country. It is an interesting fact that immigration to the United States comes almost exclusively from those countries that have land mo- nopoly rather than from those lands where they have peasant pro- prietorship. Wherever people have a stake in the land they stay on it; wherever they have a stake in the land and own their own land they work intensively on it. Wlierever we have tenancy, on the other hand, as we have in the United States, we find careless cultivation, exhausting cultivation, and rents increasing just as rapidly as the output of the farm increases. It prevents the farmer from being ' a good farmer; prevents him from making any improvement and from putting manure on the land and making the farm as good as it could be made. These are some of the obstacles which are militating against agri- culture in the United States. I think it is going to be a decreasing industry, an industry that will drift into larger and larger units unless governmental "aid is given to it of the most careful, scientific, and thoroughgoing sort. I am not sure but what it is one of the biggest problems for consideration in this country, namely, the work- ing out of a thorough-going agricultural program that will put a man on the soil, that will finance him, that will market his produce, that will secure to him cheap and easy transportation agencies and that will do those things in a cooperative way. All of those things must be done in order that the farmer may have education, leisure, and all that civilization means to men in the twentieth century. I particularly want to talk to you about what Denmark has done, ivhat Germany has done, and what France has done. First as to France. The foundations in France are peasant pro- prietorship. The French Eevolution cleaned up the old feudal sys- tem and divided the land into a great many holdings. Ten million people m France own a farm, it is said, or about one-half the popula- tion is directly identified with the soil through ownership. These farms are some of them small and some of them medium sized,, but ahnost all of the land in France was split up into small holdings thTOU<-h the French Eevolution. That was what the French Revolu- 100 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. tion taught to France. Other countries merely changed the consti- tutional form of government but the French people were wise enough and courageous enough to see that the reason they were in servitude, the reason for feudalism, and the reason why they were ruled by the aristocracy and grand seigniors was because the grand seigniors owned the land and, owning the land, they made them servants. The French were not content with abolishing their kings and getting rid of the control of the church, but they got rid of the foundations on which the whole political structure was reared, and entered upon a system of peasant proprietorship. And that made France, and it made France a democracy. As soon as that was done the French armies cleaned out Europe because the people were fighting for their own land. This made France, in substance, a democracy for 125 years. The real underlying fact about French politics is that all the time, in season or out, no matter what minister is in power, the men who own land in France are the ruling class. And the Government Qever gets away from that ; it legislates all the time for the peasants. That is why privilege is not strong in France. That is why the agen- cies that are dominant in Germany, in England, in Austria-Hungary, and Russia, where theyTiave the feudal land system, have never been able to rear their heads in France. That fact is the real explanation of the prosperity of France. They cultivate the soil intensively; they study agriculture ; they cooperate together ; they have great co- operative agencies there; they use their banks to aid the French farmers, and that accounts for the great success and great wealth of France. There is twice as much gold per capita in France as their is in England, because the farmers produce more themselves; they are thrifty and they get all they produce ; they do not turn it over to the landlords. An even more distinguished example of the necessity for the kind of legislation outlined in this bill and what can be done through such legislation is the little country of Denmark, to me one of the most interesting countries in the world. It is ruled by a king and by a parliament, but the king and the old feudal owners have only nominal power. It is the one country in the world that is governed by the peasants, whereas the peasants in other European countries, outside of France, Switzerland, and the Scandinavian countries, are beasts of burden, agricultural laborers, low in intelligence, and low in skill. The peasants of Denmark are the ruling class ; they control the politics of the State, and they frame laws in their own interests. It is a peasant commonwealth, the most intelligent State in Europe. It has no illiteracy, education is universal, and, most important of all to me, theyliave abolished misery and pretty nearly abolished poverty. They have done this not by charity but by law. They have enacted laws which have made it easy for men to get land and hold land, and then market their produce after they produce it. Fifty years ago Denmark lost Schleswig-Holstem to Germany. They were the richest parts of the country. The lands of Denmark prior to that time had been owned in great estates, and the people were downcast. Then they began to devise means for reclaiming Denmark and for making the country mean something to the people there. They were poor and illiterate, and the ruling classes at that time were the feudal aristocracy and the king. At that time they had a very reactionary king. Now here are some of the things that NATIOKAL COLONIZATION BILL. 101 have been done through peasant proprietorship: In the first place, 89 per cent of the farmers in Denmark are home-owning farmers, while only 11 per cent are tenants. In the United States the percentage of tenants on the farms, I believe, is 45 per cent, and each decade shows a marked increase in tenancy. Home ownership has given the Danish peasant, first, an interest in agx'iculture, and it has then given him an interest in politics and in all that politics means to him. It is through the home- owning peasants that the wealth of that country has increased by leaps and Doimds in the last 35 years. Denmark is not a country of big estates, and it is the only country I know of in which the drift to the cities has been checked and where the people stay on the land gladly. Children succeed their parents in the management of the farms, because farming gives back to the pro- ducer everything that he produces. The Industrial Commission made some investigations of tenancy in Texas, Iowa, and some other States, and the stories which the ten- ants told about their condition were like the stories told by the sweat- shop operatives of New York. It appears that the rents were in- creased as fast as they made the land productive, and many of them said that they were not able to produce enough by their labor and the labor of their families to feed themselves and clothe and send their children to school. Where tenancy supersedes home ownership, there we immediately get in a modified form the conditions that prevailed in Ireland, and there is no country in the world, except Belgium, where tenancy prevails that you do not have all of the evil conditions of the tenancy system which were exemplified in the highest form in Ireland, which led to famine and the depopulation of that country and which required drastic remedial legislation to reestablish agri- culture there. They saw that in Denmark and immediately formu- lated plans to break the old feudal estates up into small holdings, and, as I said, to-day 89 per cent of the farmers there own their farms. Many of them are very small; they may be 1 acre in extent, 2 acres, or 4 acres, but the average farm contains less than 15 acres. Now, having gotten the land into their own possession, the other things flowed from it naturally. Democracy came just as it did m France— that is, a real democracy, a democracy m legislation, a democracy in education, and, more than that, a democracy m the relationship of the people to one another. I have never been m a country in which the fear of to-morrow, the fear of bemg out ot a iob, and the fear of being foreclosed were absent, except m Denmark. AU of those fears that beset the people in other countries have been banished from that country. There is no great wealth there, no monopoHes, and there are no colossal fortunes, but there is a wide- spread, uniVersal prosperity that has banished fear and substituted in its Dlace dignity and confidence, and everyone shares m the finest Snd o? e«ionIl, social, and cultural life ^^at ^ YA^crtolS anywhere. All of that, to my mmd, is agam deducible back to the sXm of land ownership. The fact that the people own land and fS that their sons and daughters can get a piece of land if they want '* In'S ihe pSsants said, " This has worked well for us, so, now, w/will open it up to others." So they passed a law making an ap- nroPrktiJn of $10,000,000, I think; they created a commission and authorized that coiUi^ioA to lend to anyone who wanted to borrow 102 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. it and who was approved as to character, to cover nine-tenths of the cost of a farm and its improvements. They limited the amount of money that could be loaned to a man, and provided that h^. must furnish one-tenth of the cost as an assurance that he was serious in his purpose. Then the commission acquired large estates and divided them up into small holdings and sold them off to the workingmen or the younger sons of farmers who wanted to buy them. They were really grubstaked by the nation. They paid for the improvements and enabled them to start off with a ready-made farm. That law has been taken advantage of very widely, and millions of dollars have been advanced by the State, and thousands of men have been put back on the farms. Now, that, again, has had a very remarkable effect industrially and psychologically. I went through the streets of Copenhagen with a young man from the university, and I asked him to take me to the tenement district or the worst district in the town. We walked around for several hours through parts of Copenhagen's tenement district, and the streets were filled with people. They were happy, laughing, well dressed, and well fed ; and finally I said to him, " This is not the tenement district ; this is no more than an apartment-house district; these people are not poor, they are not like Whitechapel p)eople in London, or like the poor people in Liverpool ; they are not like the people I have seen in Paris and Berlin." He said, " These are the poor people in Copenhagen." I talked with the laboring men, and the laboring men control Copenhagen. They have their own educational system, and Copen- hagen is one of the best governed and one of the most beautiful and intelligent cities in Europe. I did not know what was the explana- tion of this general well-being of the poorer classes, but the explana- tion given me at the university was this: I was told that the industrial workers and laborers were not afraid in Denmark, because they always have an alternative. If they do not like their boss, if they are getting low wages, or if their conditions are bad in any way, they feel that they can go out to the farms, and either work for some one else or get little farms of their own. In other words, there are automatic means of taking care of the labor surplus. Whenever wages fall the men drift back to the farms, or get little farms of their own, and their wages there, of course, depend upon the amount of wealth that they can produce. That, to my mind, explains the psychology of Denmark; it explains the absence of fear. Nobody is frightened there, and this has also resulted in increasing wages. The reason for that is quite obvious. It has changed the relation- ship between employer and employee. There are in effect 10 jobs for every 9 men, because the land has been opened up to them. Now, growing out of the fact that the peasants own the land and that more than half of the people are farmers, they found it necessary to legislate for themselves. Therefore, they went forward and took possession of the government as against the old feudal aristocracy and the King. They elected their own men to Parliament. Then, those men who owned little pieces of land, in view of the fact that they were a majority of the people and that they all wanted the same thing, did not give any privileges away. They did not give any privileges away because they could not; they had to legislate for the majority, and in legislating for the majority they raised the standard NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 103 of living of everybody. They took over the railroads and ran them in the interest of the farmers. Some years ago the farmers said that the railroads were earning too much profit. They were earning only about 4 per cent, but they did not believe that the railroads should be operated so as to make a profit for the State. They wanted the profits cut down to the point of paying operating ex- penses, and they wanted the freight rates adjusted to meet the con- ditions under which the farmers shipped their products. Denmark was the most unfertile region of Northern Europe. Yet, it feeds England in large part; it feeds her with bacon, eggs, and dairy products. Some of the highest class cattle in the world are in Denmark, and they ship dairy products all over the world. The farmers, then, took possession of the railroads and ran them in their own interests. Then they said, " We need the help that comes from education," and they passed a law to edu- cate the farmers. In every one of the villages, certainly every month and probably every week, there is a man or woman who comes around and meets a class of women and a class of men. They teach the men all about farming, about how to run their dairies, about how to milk their cows, about how to feed their cows, about how to slaughter cattle, and how to use the manure, etc. They teach the women all about dairying, too, and instruct them in domestic science. They have traveling universities going all over the country all the time, all of it springing out of the fact that the farmers are the legislators and are thinking about themselves. Science has increased the price of Danish products. For instance, they stand- ardize cows. They have found that one kind of cow produces more butter fat than any other kind, and they have found that a certain kind of hog was the best kind, and so on. The result is that per capita and per acre production of Denmark has been going up con- stantly ever since the farmers began to run the state in their own interest. The University of Copenhagen sends out lecturers. There are more newspapers sold per capita in Denmark than in any other country in the world, and they say that a Danish peasant will go without breakfast rather than go without his paper. They will walk 10 miles if necessary to attend a political meetmg. Certamly every Danish peasant that I met was full of politics and as full of tallt about the State as you find with people here at Washington. Now, through home ownership and control of politics, the farmer • developed cooperation. In a State with a population of, I think, less than 3,000,000, there are 200,000 farmers who are members of cooperative societies. Pretty nearly all of the butter and milk are the products of cooperative dairies, and the slaiightering is done in cooperative slaughterhouses. Eggs are packed up on the tarms every day, and the man who is back on the farm producing eggs has i man come every week to get the eggs The eggs are shipped to Copenhagen where they are credited to the farmer back on the farm who produced them. The time or date of laying is stamped upon the e|gs, and the eggs are classified and .graded and shipped o?er to Enfland. Danish eggs bring fancy prices because they are always fresh. If you pick up a Danish egg m England you will fin^Sat it is dated^ If the egg is dated March 22 it means that the egg was laid on March 22. if the buyer of eggs m England com- 104 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. plains to the central office at Copenhagen that eggs from a certain circle bearing a certain date was bad the central office at Copen- hagen charges those eggs up to the producer. The same thing is done in the case of butter and all other commodities that are sold through cooperative agencies. It is a cooperative community. They have cooperative hail insurance, farm insurance, cattle insurance, etc. They have their own cooperative banks and put their money in their own banks. They run railroads and own steamship lines running to Japan and New Orleans which bring in the feed for their cows. They have bacon-selling agencies which take the bacon from the producers and sell it, and all of the profits come back to the men who produced it. They have breeding associations which send experts out from Copenhagen to study everything and inform the farmers as to what kinds of things they should raise. They have high schools, the most wonderful high schools I have ever been in. Men save half their lives in order to be able to go to the high schools. Men of 40 or 50 years of age enter those schools for the joy of going to the peasants' high schools. They sing; have patriotic exercises; and they teach cooperation and agricultural chemistry; they teach how to run a farm; they have made business men out of the farmers. You feel, as soon as you get with a farmer, that you have found someone who understands his business fully. I would rather listen to a Danish farmer talk about his business than to listen to most people talk about books, just as I like to talk to a real baseball fan who knows his game and knows his players. The Danish farmer is to agriculture what a baseball fan is to base- ball. That little State has been reclaimed from a sand dune, from a monarchy and a country which was ruled in the interest of the great landowners, to a democratic Commonwealth, through a system of land purchase and cheap credit. They get 4 per cent money there and are allowed 50 years in which to pay it. Men are given land on terms which they can meet, and what a farmer produces is his. In addition to that they live in villages rather than on isolated farms, and in that way they have community life. There they have kept the people on the farms ; they have increased the productivity of the soil ; they have made the farmers rich ; they have made them intelli- gent; and have reclaimed agriculture and placed it in harmony with modern industrial life. Within the last 20 years Germany has realized that she must sub- stitute peasant proprietorship for landlordism. Germany is divided into three parts — there is western Germany, southern Germany, and eastern Germany. Southern Germany includes Bavaria, Wurtem- burg, and the country along the Rhine. That section of Germany was influenced by the French Revolution, and they split all of that country into peasant proprietorship. Southern Germany is demo- cratic, because the people own the land. Prussia, on the other hand, is feudal and aristocratic, and there is where the junkers live, because they still have the land divided into great estates. But Germany has realized that, and within the last few years has worked out a plan for splitting up estates and putting them in the hands of the people. The statistical yearbook of Germany states that within the last 25 years 300,000 new farms have been made, 300,000 people have been put on the land. In my opinion that is a mistake, because they NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 105 changed_ their system of statistics about 20 years ago with the desire of showing that the land of Germany was not really owned by the junkers. But I do know that thousands of people have been put on the land by political action. They took great stretches of land in the north of Prussia, which was waste land, and reclamed them and put tens of thousands of people on those waste lands. They have done very much to encourage agriculture through'scien- tific methods. Germany's agricultural system is largely modified by the fact that Germany owns great stretches of agricultural lands which came down from feudal times. Frankfort, for example, owns half as much land as the city is built on; the city of Berlin owns three times as much land as it is built on ; they own great stretches of land roundabout. This land is allotted to people inside the city who cultivate it, and in the smaller towns it frequently rotates. There are a number of cities in Germany which own so much land that they pay no taxes. There are a number of them that not only pay all their taxes out of the land, but they give a New Year's pres- ent every year to every citizen. There are a number of south German cities in which there is no poverty whatever. The Germans will all admit that it is traceable to the system of land tenure which prevails and to the fact that the community has placed people on the land, watched them, helped them, aided them, and performed those things for the farmer that we perform in this country for business. In Switzerland similar conditions prevail. There the land is divided up into small holdings. The democracy of Switzerland and the prosperity of the people is traceable to the fact that the people in Switzerland own little bits of land. Australia and New Zealand have worked out agricultural policies. In Canada they have devel- oped what they call ready-made farms, which are farms ready for occupancy, with houses on them, and so on. All over the world nations are turning to agriculture in the belief that it is necessary to completely change our old method of pro- cedure, a procedure under which it is found impossible to get a farm because land values are so high, because credit is oppressive, trans- portation is not adjusted to them, and because there is no recreation and pleasure in life on the farm. - „ ,n As I understand it, this bill looks to the solution of all those questions. It provides for agriculture as a unified thing; it provides for putting the worker on the land by cheap credit; it provides tor a rotating fund; it provides for relieving the farmer of tear ot foreclosure and the utilization of the various agencies of the Gov- ernment for educational purposes. It looks to the farming village rather than to agricultural disbursement. I think that a nieasure like this is necessary in order to improve agriculture m the United States. As it is, we are drifting into tenancy and land monopoly and careless cultivation. We have got to get the people back to the land on fair terms, and once there we have got to provide them with those afffencies which make life livable, bearable, and attractive. In other Ss wlmust treat agriculture with as much mtelligence as we treat the' science of city government ^f /Xtht vou Save dis- Mt- Chossee During my absence I wonder whether you na^e ais cu^ed what> your ofinion, is the best method of preventing specu- lation in land litters!^ That is one of the features m this bill. Mr. Howj:. Yes ; it is. 106 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. Mr. Keating. This bill, as I understand it, retains the title in the Government? Mr. Howe. I think the world is all turning to the taxation of land values, not only as a just and proper system of taxation, but as a means of preventing speculation and compelling people who own land to use it. Of course, there is land enough in the United States to feed and furnish homes not only for a hundred million people but a thousand million people. If we taxed the land so that it was only held for use and so that men could not speculate in it we would have accessible land and cheap land. We would prevent specula- tion because it would be too costly to hold land under those circum- stances. As I see it, the world is turning to the taxation of land values, and I was greatly interested to find in North Dakota last March that the farmers there have organized a nonpartisan alliance which is advocating the untaxing of all farm improvements and taxing land values alone, because they find they are being discrimi- nated against by the laws of assessment. They have done that throughout western Canada and they have found the result to be very beneficial. I think that the Government ought to hold on to every foot of land it has. The Prussian ministry of the interior has sent out re- peated bulletins all over Germany and made that the policy of Ger- many, that they are not to sell a foot of land but are to buy land. They are buying land all the time in great quantities ; cities have in- creased their land holdings sometimes a thousand fold and pretty nearly all of the cities own great stretches of land. They rarely sell it ; when they do sell it they sell it for the purpose of speculation and buying a great lot of other land. They may sell suburban land at $1,000 an acre and then take that money and invest it in other land at $100 an acre. But they rarely decrease their holdings. Mr. SuMNERS. Speaking of what has been done in Denmark, I have wondered whether what has been done is the result of general appre- ciation on the part of the people of the nation that the condition of the farming class needed improvement, or whether the agricultural people were of such strength that they brought about this change. Do I make myself clear ? I want to know whether it is the Nation that has done this or whether it was the agricultural people who brought about this condition. Mr. Howe. I think both of those things are true. The Danes are Teutons just like the Germans, and the Germans have been drifting to the cities; 68 per cent of the people in Germany live in cities now, but there they have not brought about the same conditions. I do not think the great agricultural movement in Denmark is traceable to the people so much as it is traceable to the fact that their whole economic interests is in the land that they own. Mr. Stjmners. Did the statesman of Denmark take up the matter and bring about this conditions or were the agricultural people of such strength, even though they lived under adverse conditions, as to force this reformation themselves? Mr. Howe. It was a slow process, although not relatively so, be- cause this all took place in 50 years. But they began Mr. SuMNBEs (interposing). Who did that? Mr. Howe. Bishop Gundweg started it, and then they got together in the schools and talked things over. NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 107 Mr. SuMXERs. Who led in this? Mr. HowK. This bishop started it. Ml-. Stjmneks. I was trying to find out whether the people them- selves were able to bring about this reformation or whether they had to have real statesmen who started it and brought it about. Mr. Howe. Both. The men really in power did not do it at first, but they were crowded out by peasants coming into office. Mr. SuM?fERS. In the case of these large estates in Europe, are they reduced to small holdings through any graduated system of taxation that makes it unprofitable to hold big estates, or do the peo- ple who buy them go into the market and i^ay the ordinary current value of the lands ? Mr. Howe. There were some dark sides to it. As soon as they passed this law in Denmark appropriating State funds for the pur- chase of land the landlords in Denmark immediately raised the price of their land, just as the people raised the price of land. One thing that has militated all the time against the success of the experiment in Denmark and against the farmers is that everything the State does for farming increases the value of land, and when the State turns around and wants to buy land it has to pay too much for it. Mr. SuaiNEKS. Have any of the Governments of Europe favored the holdings of the, small home owner or home occupier as against the owners of large estates ? Mr. Howe. I do not know whether I understand that. Mr. Stjmners. Well, here is a country where one man owns 10,000 acres of land, and there are many men who own, say, 15 acres apiece. Is there any advantage given to the small owners in the way of taxation for the purpose of encouraging small ownership ? Mr. Howe. That is another thing that goes to the heart of the thing in Denmark. The small owners in Denmark are fighting to readjust taxation, which now does discriminate against the small owners. The personal income tax militates against the small owner, and these small owners have organized into a great federation of 100,000 members. They say, " We want a tax wholly upon land ; we want to take the taxes off the improvements and have these taxes levied wholly upon the land, because." they say, " we have to pay more than our share per acre, for the reason that we produce more per acre." They say, " We want to tax the big owner as much as the little owner, irrespective of how much he makes off the land." Mr. SuMXERS. Do any countries impose a tax upon absentee land- lordism? Mr. Howe. I do not know. Mr. SuMNERS. Have you thought about it? Mr. Ho^^^:. I never heard of it. Mr. SuMNERS. Have you thought about the wisdom of it? Mr! Howe. Personally, I think it would be a good thing to do. I think when a man owns land and lives somewhere else he should be taxed for it. . ,, . ^ n i j i- Mr. SiraiNERS. Of course, in this country you would be dealmg with a vast territory and a mixture of races. You would be dealing with a situation where there would not be much coinmunity spirit. Do you think the Federal Government could deal with it as effectively as the States? 108 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. Mr. Howe. Where the General Government owns the land, it could. Mr. Stjmners. I am not talking about the land that the Federal Government happens to own now ; but I do not hesitate to say to you that, in so far as this scheme is concerned, except in those sections of the country which might be brought into cultivation through irriga- tion, I do not believe that any general aid could come from the adop- tion of this bill. Of course it might blaze the way. Take, for in- stance, the State of Texas; the Federal Government owns no land there; the schools own some land, but none of the lands owned by the schools would be suitable for community settlement. Mr. Howe. I think a demonstration of this kind by the Federal Government would be of value. I think the Federal Government is in a position to make a demonstration of this ; and if it should make a demonstration of it, by the use of the postal funds or immigration funds, throughout the coimtry, and learn through experience with this demonstration just what we could do, this demonstration would be immediately copied by the States, because they would see the value of it. The States want people, and the way to get people is to make it easy for the people to make a living. If the Federal Govern- ment should make this demonstration throughout the country, in the East, South, West, and elsewhere, the States, seeing the advantage of it, would immediately copy it. I think the Federal Government, with its different agencies — the Agricultural Department, the In- terior Department, and Department of Labor— all of them covering the country as a whole, is in a good position to carry it out. I notice that the bill provides that the title to the land shall always remain in the United States, and that in lieu of other taxes there shall be an annual tax collected on the value of the land itself, which is not dissimilar to the method employed by private owners in New York and other cities, except that in this case the Government enjoys all the increasing value, while under the present conditions this New York land is owned by the Astors and others, and the ground rent collected and kept by them. I think retention of ownership by the Government and the taxation of only the land is one of the most important features of the bill. It would, in my opinion, add a great stimulus to the making of improve- ments, because the land only would pay the tax, and it would enable the community to not only control its development but to enjoy the increasing value which would come from the community's growth. (Thereupon, at 12.20 o'clock p. m., the committee adjourned.) Committee on Labor, House of Eepeesentatives, Thursday, June 15, 1916. The committee this day met, Hon. David J. Lewis (chairman) presiding. The Chairman. Before Mr. Post is formally introduced to the committee the Chair wishes to read a statement from Daniel Webster, which the Chair feels is ominously applicable to all these subjects: For my part, although I like the investigation of particular questions, I give up what is called " the science of political economv." There is no such science There are no rules on these subjects so fixed and invariable that their aggre- NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 109 gate constitutes a science. I have recently run over 20 volumes, from Adam Smith to Prof. Dew, and from the whole, if I were to pick out with one hand all the mere truisms and with the other all the doubtful propositions little would be left. I do not know whether the quotation is familiar to the Assistant Secretary of Labor or not. Mr. Post. I am not familiar with that quotation, but I am familiar with the idea. I am very much in' sympathy with what Mr. Webster alludes to in that quotation, but I am rather inclined to think that we might lay down one principle that is invariable and from which we might draw all politico-economic conclusions that are necessary and that is this : If hiunan work should stop, human society would disap- pear. Starting from that hypothesis, which I do not think anybody can say is untrue, we can evolve a pretty complete science of political economy. The trouble is that the gentlemen to whom Mr. Webster refers never did that. The Chairman. Would not that be what Mr. Webster had in mind as one of the mere truisms? Mr. Post. Well, a truism is scientific. Science has got to be built on truisms, truisms in the true sense. Of course I do not mean mys- tical truisms, but truths of human experience and observation. The Chairman. You may proceed, Mr. Post. STATEMENT OF MR. LOUIS F. POST, ASSISTANT SECRETARY DEPARTMENT OF LABOR. Mr. Post. Mr. Chairman, I was asked by Congressman Crosser to examine this bill in order to testify with regard to it, and I have done so. I do not know what your procedure is, but if there are any suggestions to be made as to how I shall proceed I shall be glad to have them. The Chairman. Just proceed in your own way, sir. Mr. Post. The bill, as I find it, is in the special interest of wage earners. That accounts, I should say, for the administrative em- phasis that is placed upon the Secretary of Labor and the Depart- ment of Labor, and properly so, as it seems to me. It is in the gen- eral interest, too, biit it is especially in the interest of the wage earners of the United States, and that is what makes it particularly appropriate that this committee should consider it and makes it par- ticularly appropriate that the Secretary of Labor should be the direct- ing force in the execution of the law, if it becomes a law. Of course, I am aware of the prejudice against class legislation, as it is called whenever anything in the interest of wage earners comes before a legislative body. It is business legislation and not class legislation when it is opposed to wage earners' interests. I have no hesitancy in speaking of the wage-earning interests. The wage- earning interests, if we merely take the census, cover over one-third of the population of the United States, and if you take into account the families of wage earners you have more than one-half of the population of the United States as distinctly representing wage- earning interests, and no doubt much more could be added to that. Those interests never had any Executive representation until a little more than three years ago. They began to ask for representa- tion at the President's Cabinet table as long ago as 1865. I am told 110 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. by old labor-organization men that in 1865 a convention or confer- ence—the first after the war, one at which soldiers from both sides were in attendance — was held at Louisville, Ky., and at that con- vention a distinct demand was made for a Department of Labor m the United States, an executive Department of Labor with a Secre- tary of Cabinet status at its head, so that the labor mterests of the United States— the wage-earning interests— might be represented at the Cabinet table of the President and through the President be rep- resented to Congress. Long agitation resulted in the creation of what is now the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a branch of the Department of Labor. It was an independent bureau then, but without a head of Cabinet status. After some 10 years or more of further agitation the double-headed Department of Commerce and Labor was created. That was really a business department and always had a business man at the head of it or a business man's lawyer. It was in the interest of commerce and labor, but very little attention was paid to labor itself. • j. , After some 10 years more of agitation came the creation ot that department which had been asked for by the wage-earning conven- tion of fifty-odd years ago, the Department of La:bor, the purpose of which is definitely declared. Perhaps I had better quote it literally. In the organic act of the department it is provided that its purpose shall be " to f octer, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment." I do not know who put in that adjective, but whoever did it must have known exactly what he was about, or else he didn't know at all what he was about. I refer to the phrase " that employment shall be profit- able." As you konw, there is no lack of employment at any time in the United States. I am willing to be a big employer myself at any moment. I could employ thousands of men. But it would not be profitable to them, although it might be profitable to me. So there was good sense in putting in the word " profitable." Under that law the Department of Labor was organized. On the 4th of March, 1913, Mr. Taft signed the bill in the last few minutes of his administration, and Mr. Wilson appointed the first Secretary of Labor within a few minutes after taldng the oath of office. Among other things, this department was to look after the mediation of labor disputes ; and that part of its work, it seems to me, it has car- ried out with great ability and skill. A very good accomplishment has been made in the adjustment of labor disputes by the Secretary and the conciliators that he has employed. At first the employing interests were disposed to be prejudiced against a labor-union man at the head of the department. They seemed to think that the idea was arbitration when, as matter of fact, it was not arbitration but media- tion, which is negotiation. I think that now, however, a good deal of confidence has been established on all sides, so that the settlement of labor disputes is in a fair way to become universal under the De- partment of Labor. I merely mention that incidentally. Another feature was that of employment, finding opportunities of employment and providing employment for the wage earners of the United States. The Secretary reported in 1915 quite fully on this subject and stated the progress he had made. I simply refer, with- out quoting, to his mediation work from page 7 to page 32 of his NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. Ill report of 1915, and on labor distribution, finding existing oppor- tunities for employment, from page 32 to page 41. Those two points may not seem particularly appropriate to this bill, and I only state them as a background for indicating the propriety of having the Department of Labor undertake what is proposed by this bill in order that the interests of the wage earners may be especially con- sidered in connection with it by this committee, as well as the public interests with respect to the public domain. I would like to insert, if it has not yet been inserted, that part of the Secretary's report which deals with this particular question, and on the basis of which, I suppose, the Grosser bill was prepared, because the Grosser bill does seem to me to carry all the general purposes indicated by the Secretary of Labor in his report of 1915. I refer to pages 41 to 43, inclusive, under the title of " Making new opportunities for employment." Has that gone into the record? If it has there is no necessity of repeating it, but if it has not I would like to have it inserted verbatim. Mr. Grosser. I think I read a part of it into the record. Mr. Post. If it is already in the record there is no necessity for having it reinserted. However, I will insert it here, with your per- mission, for purposes of reference: Making new opportvnitic-'i for employinvnt. — It will not be enough to hunt " manless jobs " for " jobless men." Any efficient public employment service of a national character must go beyond that. Unless it does, " manless jobs " giving out while " jobless men " remain, the causes of involuntary unemploy- ment will continue to express themselves to the great prejudice of the wage- workers of the United States and consequently to the harm of all industrial in- terests. In my opinion, therefore, the labor-distribution work of this department should extend to some such development of the natural resources of this country as will tend to make opporl iraities for A^'orkers greater than demands for work and to keep them so. For this purpose further legislation will be necessary. But it need not be either voluminous or revolutionary. Nothing more is required than a judicious utilization of Government lands. Title to some of the old r>ublic domain still remains in the Government. By a recent decision of the Supreme Court Congress is soon to have the power, and to be under an obligation, to treat with land-grant railroads regarding the terms on which large areas of that domain heretofore granted away may be restored. There are extensive areas of privately owned but unused farming land in most or all of the States, which might be acquired by the General Government for promoting labor opportunities as advantageously as other areas have been ac- quired or retained bv it for the creation of public parks. If Congress were to adopt with reference to those lands, a policy of utilizing them for promoting opportunities for employment, the benefits of the labor-distribution work of this department, and of State and municipal public employment offices throughout the United States, would be vastly augmented. For such a policy the homestead laws seem to afEord a legislative basis and their history to furnish valuable suggestions. Those laws relieved the industrial congestions of their day by opening the West to workers of pioneering spirit who set up individual homes and created independent farms in waste places. But the day of the individual pioneer Is over. From the Atlantic he has moved westward until the Pacific throws him back again into crowded spaces, and new forms of industrial congestion have consequently developed. To the relief of these the old form of homesteading is not adapted; but the homesteadmg principle persists. The problem is how to adapt that principle to changed cir- *^"one^ne?essarv condition is that the General Government shall retail title to the Dublic lands it already holds. Another condition is that from time to time it shall reacquire title to such lands formerly owned by it but now t.r vateiv owned, as are held out of use and may be reacquired upon reason- able terms Still another condition is that the Government from time to time 112 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. shall acquire title to such privately owned lands in different States as may be usefully devoted to the purr'')se of opening oppoi-tunities for employment. All this necJ not be done at once. A satisfactory beginning may be made with public lands already available for the purpose in question. But it is neces- sary that the Government shall not lightly divest itself of title to any lands it may set aside for labor opportunities. Regulation of private tenures created pursuant to this purpose should fit the circumstances of particular cases. It is therefore suggested that private titles to lands set aside for the indicated purpose be so adjusted by the bepartment of Labor to its work of labor dis- tribution as to prevent inflation of land values. This precaution is of extreme importance. Wherever inflation of land values might enter in, the proposed method of promoting labor distribution would be obstructed. There is still another essential condition. Equipment for farming and edu- cation in farming, as well as a place for farming, are needed. All three, how- ever, could be met by an appropriate unification of some of the activities of the Departments of the Interior, of Agriculture, and of Labor. Pursuant to such unification, Congress might provide a " rotary fund " for lending purposes ; that is, a fund to be used over and over again for those purposes, and to be maintained by repayments of loans. Out of this fund Congress could author- ize the departments named above to make loans, through the Department of Labor, to settlers placed by this department upon lands set aside for that pur- pose in accordance with the authorized plan for thus augmenting labor oppor- tunities. Those loans could be safeguarded, without commercial collateral, by resting them upon the best possible basis of industrial credit — ability, oppor- tunity, and character — and by establishing in connection with them a system of community credits adapted to the circumstances. By their educational processes the Departments of the Interior and of Agriculture could make efficient farmers of inexperienced but otherwise com- petent workers seeking that vocation. By its marketing plans the Department of Agriculture could guard borrowers from the " rotary fund " against com- mercial misfortune in disposing of their crops. By its labor-distribution func- tions the Department of Labor could bring the right men to the right places on the soil and settle them there under favorable circumstances. And by their several appropriate functions these three departnients, cooperating under appropriate legislation, could multiply demands for labor in rural regions and minimize labor congestion at industrial centers. It is a reasonable prediction that such a policy would develop in country and city aij economically independent and socially progressive population. The results would be analogous in our time to those of the homestead laws at an earlier period. The Secretary of Labor very early came to the conclusion, if in- deed he did not have it in mind before he undertook the work, that merely finding existing opportimities of employment was not going to progress very far in the adjustment of labor problems; that it would help this or that particular individual — which, of course, he was glad to do — ^but that it would not get very far, and so he makes certam suggestions that will require legislative action before he can do anything at all. He says, for instance — The labor-distribution work of this department should extend to some such development of the natural resources of this country as will tend to make opportunities for workers greater than demands for work and to keep them so'. That is the policy that ought to be adopted, it seems to me, and it can only be adopted by congressional assistance. Then he elaborates that point further along in his report, where he suggests that the homestead laws afford a legislative basis in their history, but only suggestively, because the homestead laws do not affect the real underlying purposes which have resulted from the use of the public lands of the United States— that is, to afford opportunities to the people of the United States to make their liv- ing by their own work instead of making it by the work of some- body else. So the suggestion is that it is the homestead principle NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 113 rather than the homestead laws. The homestead laws have been ® j^+r® purposes existing at the time they were adopted, and they were good laws, but we have now reached a social condition where they operate the very reverse of what their authors really intended. The Secretary goes on to give certain necessary conditions to carry out this proposition of the workingman making his own job, so that ]obs will all the time be in excess of the supply of workers. He says : One necessary condition is that the General Government shall retain title to the public lands it already holds. I would like to say a word right there. Any legislation whatever that allows the public lands to get away from public control of some kind and to get into the hands of private owners will not only fail to help solve the employment problem but it will be an obstacle in the way of its solution. One of the difficulties about our present methods of disposing of public lands is that they get into private hands and, instead of serving the purposes of industry and affording opportuni- ties for industry, they serve the purposes of exploitation and specu- lation. I want to explain to you, Just by Avay of illustration, how it works out. I have here the circular of a business concern engaged in farm colonizing ; that is to say, engaged in doing for business reasons and on a business basis what I take it this bill aims to have done by the Government of the United States in cooperation with the States where that is possible. It seems to me this is a perfectly honest state- ment. It is an honest and fair recognition of conditions, and is an appeal to that selfishness which must be appealed to if the present method of placing people upon the land is continued instead of some such method as the Secretary suggests and for which this bill seems to be drawn. I am going to quote a line or two from this farm- colony prospectus of the Eagle River country, Wisconsin. It is an appeal to men to buy land, to wage earners to buy land in order to get an opportunity to make a living. The first paragraph states : Here are three Sanborn easy ways of buying a piece of land while times are good and wages are high. In another paragraph I find this : Land values are jumping, too, and you can contract cheaper to-day than you can a year from now. That may or may not be true ; that is looking into the future ; and I do not think they can look any further into the middle of next week than anybody else. But the circular goes on to say : Take 40 acres of land which we list at $1,000 — They list the mere opportunity at $1,000, and the suggestion is that the values will jump and that those who buy the land will secure the benefit of the increase. Then they give liberal terms. They say: We have 40-acre pieces as low as $200 and as high as $1,500 ; but, for example, we will take a $1,000 forty. Their plans follow : Plan No. 1, $1,000. Tay $15 down and $15 a month, without interest; or $150 down and $150 a year, without interest. 48644^-16 8 114 NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. Observe that this is one of the good, honest, and legitimate busi- Bess opportunities for men without land to get at it in order to use it. TJiat is one proposition. Plan No. 2, $850. Pay down $850, all cash; or $200 cash and $162.50 each y«ar for four .vears, viith interest at 6 per cent per annum on the deferred payments. That is No. 2. Then another plan is : Plan No. 3, $1,250. Pay down $250 cash and no further payments for three jears, but taxes and interest at 6 per cent on deferred payments, and we will Bluild you a small house. That is contemplated by this bill, only instead of a private en- terprise doing it the Government will do it. In addition they say, "^We will build you a small house, clear two acres of land" — ^that is what this bill proposes to do — ^" give you a cow, 2 pigs, and 12 eiiickens; then you can commence to pay $333.33 a year in three equal annual payments." I call attention to that third plan because it shows there is a busi- ness tendency to give the settler a start. That is what this present company is aiming at. There is really nothing novel in the proposal of the Grosser bill to have this kind of colonizing done. But under the private plan I have mentioned here there must be a great deal of money paid, or the future must be mortgaged, in order to give a aatan the chance to get on the land. ^ Now, I want to read their comment, because here is the crux of ttte whole thing. As the Secretary of Labor points out, we must retain title in ttie Government or else the whofe scheme will go by the board, because speculation will set in, values will be inflated, and the more successful the work under a bill of this kind the more cer- ftjtin it will be to fail, in consequence of the inflation of values which will make it more and more diflScult to put men upon the land. The private circular comments in this way : We believe that land values will double In the Eagle River country within the B&xt five years. Then they explain that — Government reports show that the average value of farm lands in the United States has increased about $5 an acre within the last year. They say further : Contract now and live on your land later. And that is what the settler would live on, the increase in the sralue of the land. This circular says further: Farm land, beef, pork, potatoes, and flour are increasing as fast as wages. "Who gets the money, the man who works for others or the man who works for Bimself? The circular does not answer the question; it is not necessary. We know what the answer is. It says further : Prices are higher for grain and hogs and have made every landowner Eicher. It adds: lisnd values on the average have trebled in the life of a child 16 years of age. That is substantially true, I take it. Then they ask a question. It is a question that this committee ought to consider, and I am glad NATIONAL COLONIZATION BILL. 115 to be able to quote it from this business circular for the purpose of calling It to your attention. They ask this question, not of you, not ot^l^ongress, but of the man they hope to get interested in this en- nr!^pr/v'1.!ii!'V*'"'^o^*'™ ^''-^'''^ ^^^® *° P^^^ *«'■ '""