The CHAIRMAN. Well, we will take it up, Mr. Thompson, after we get through at the next meeting.

Now, Dr. Mead, will you just state who you are? You have a chair in Berkeley College, Calif.?

STATEMENT OF MR. ELWOOD MEAD, CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE LAND SETTLEMENT BOARD, BERKELEY, CALIF.

Mr. MEAD. I am one of the professors in the University of California, and I am chairman of the State Land Settlement Board.

Mr. TAYLOR. I might say also that he is one of the most distinguished irrigation authorities in the world. He lived in Colorado and Wyoming for several years, and nobody in the United States ranks higher than he does. The West is proud of him.

The CHAIRMAN. And was called to go to Australia to help that government inaugurate a system of irrigation, where he served for many years with distinction.

Mr. MEAD. Every one who knows the situation feels a great admiration for what this district has done and realizes that it is now in a very precarious situation. Their prosperity, their rapid growth, has added to the gravity of the situation. There are 50,000 people producing a crop worth last year over $50,000,000. That is menaced by three things. One is the fact that the land is below the sea level. It is menaced by floods from a turbulent river. There is an insecure headgate in that river, a temporary dam, that menaces the crop each season by danger of drouth.

Then, there is a very grave international situation. The canal going through Mexico, the protective work being in Mexico, the levees that save it from flood, there is the need of some means of dealing adequately with another government in regard to these international questions.

In 1917 I was a member of a board created by the Reclamation Service and the State of California to deal with the question of protection from floods. The other members of the board were Mr. Joseph Jacobs, of Seattle; Mr. D. C. Henning, of Portland, Oreg., both prominent engineers; and our report was to the effect that it was of the highest importance that the Government itself become a party to this development, so that its aid could be secured in dealing with international problems as they arose.

Then there was a contract between the district and the Reclamation Service for an investigation of the all-American canal. I was a member of the commission and I have the proof sheets of its report here.

The CHAIRMAN. Pardon me, Doctor, just a moment. I will suggest here, if it does not seem rude, that we let Dr. Mead proceed until he makes his statement clear through-until he says he is ready for us to ask questions-without interruption.

Mr. MEAD. There again, that board believes that, independent of every other question, it is highly desirable-in fact, it is neces-sary that the Government become a party to the control and management of these works and in a position to deal directly with the Mexican Government in regard to international questions; that the construction of this canal does not at all change that situation.

Now, I make that as explanatory of my understanding of the situation. I have been connected with the investigation of it for a number of years. My connection with this legislation grew out of a letter from ex-servicemen who were not satisfied with a provision of the bill, and asking the opinion, our opinion, as to the provision for the sale of land in advance of settlement. Now, we regard that as bad business. We regard it as not calculated to promote the carrying out of this enterprise, but calculated to defeat it, and as leading to nonresident ownerships of land reclaimed-something that the State would greatly regret to see, for a reason that I wish to make clear to you gentlemen.

The legislature of California, mindful of the growing problems of tenantry and the need, if this is to be a real democracy, of keeping open the opportunity for poor landless men to obtain homes, which we had under the free-homestead act, passed in 1917 an act known as the State Land Settlement Act. Under that a board was created and provided with money to buy privately owned land, to subdivide that into small farms and sell those farms to worthy landless people on long-time payments; help them to form cooperative organizations; help them in their development, financing them, furnishing a kind of credit that is not furnished anywhere else in this country—a credit based on character and experience; and by giving them advice and direction, too, in numberless ways aid people to establish themselves permanently on the land with less risk of loss of time and money than is possible in any unorganized, unplanned development. Now, that was begun as an experiment. The board was limited to 10,000 acres of land and given a small appropriation, but it bought a tract of land and began this kind of settlement. It was an immediate challenge to public attention. Before it was six months old it had been investigated by 20 States and by 5 foreign countries. At the end of the two-year period a committee appointed by the legislature investigated it, and it reported to the legislature that it was an entirely solvent proposition; that the social and political benefits were so great that there was no limit to the extent in which the States could go in carrying out this kind of rural development, and the State, without a single dissenting vote, did all our board asked them to do. They voted $1,000,000 out of current funds to carry it on, and passed, as I say, without a dissenting vote, an act giving authority for a bond issue of $10,000,000. Now, that bond issue will be voted on this year, but there is no opposition to it. It has behind it the support of all the important commercial bodies; it has behind it the powerful support of the American Legion, and there seems to be no question as to its passage. And I have received since I came here the form of the bonds to be issued, which has been prepared by the fiscal authorities of the Government for our scrutiny.

Now, the facts are that this new policy justified itself by results. When the inquiry came to us asking our opinion of a proposal to sell this land in advance of development to anyone who might buy, to the man who needed land or to the man who did not need it, we regarded it as a mistake and was not surprised that it had aroused the opposition of people who hoped to obtain farms, either under the State land-settlement act or under some other land act. We felt that when the State was buying land to get rid of certain conditions,

it would be a most unfortunate action for the Federal Government to pass a law to extend those conditions, and that was the ground of their opposition and of the opposition of the State.

I want to say that I have here a recent investigation of the State land-settlement act by the executive officer of the Imperial Land Settlement League of the British Empire, and I don't think it would be a bad idea if that went into the record, because it deals with one of the fundamental problems in this bill.

The CHAIRMAN. It may be placed in the record. (The paper referred to follows:)

SOME PARTICULARS OF THE DURHAM (CALIF.) COMMUNITY LAND SETTLEMENT. [By Herbert E. Easton, honorary secretary British Immigration League, who went over the area in November, 1919.]

AMERICA GETTING BUSY WITH THE LAND-HOW PEOPLE ARE BEING HELPED TO BECOME FARM OWNERS.

"Nations may battle, and the world rock with revolution, but the land will care for him who cares for it."

Realizing the only prospect of encouraging the birth of healthy children is to provide them with an environment in which they can flourish, and knowing that the root of most of the serious economic and industrial troubles the world has to face can be traced to the congested state of cities and large industrial centers, America is to-day actively engaged in promoting small land ownership on a community basis. In order to ascertain what progress has been accomplished Herbert E. Easton, the honorary secretary of the British Immigration and Land Settlement League, was invited to accompany Judge Shields, Dr. Elwood Mead (chairman of the California State Land Settlement Board), and several representatives of the California Fruit Growers' and Farmers' Association on a tour of inspection of the Durham (Calif.) land settlement. The following statistics and some particulars of the terms and conditions under which settlers are accepted have been kindly placed at the writer's disposal by the department of agriculture of the University at Berkeley.

Durham is a concrete expression of the California land-settlement act, the object of which is to help people of small means to become owners of farms. It was passed because the rapid growth of alien tenantry was causing political and social unrest. It was felt that private enterprise was not doing the things that public welfare required and that as a result the growth of the country was not keeping pace with the growth of the cities.

Under this act the State land-settlement board is buying privately owned land, cutting it up into small farms, and selling these to worthy landless people on long-time payments at a low rate of interest. It is giving them the benefits of practical advice and training. It is helping them to organize cooperative buying and selling agencies and in many ways saving them from costly mistakes and enabling them to become self-supporting in less time with less money or effort than is possible in an unplanned development.

The California Legislature was the first body to give government aid and direction in settlement in the United States and was regarded as an experiment. The area of land which could be bought was restricted to 10,000 acres. The first appropriation was only £52,000. This is to be repaid in 50 years with interest at 4 per cent. Certainly the State was not overgenerous, and the board, which, outside of its chairman, is made up of hard-headed business men who work without pay, inaugurated this experiment under rather hard conditions. It began by inviting offers of land in areas of from 5,000 to 10,000 acres. Out of about 40 offers, the board bought a tract of a little over 6,000 acres at Durham, 90 miles north of Sacramento, the State capital. Durham is a village of about 500 people. It is served by two railways, the Southern Pacific, a steam railway, and the Northern, an electric railway. These two railways connect the settlement with the State capital and with San Francisco, the State's metropolis and chief seaport.

California has an extensive system of concrete highways. One which extends from the southern to the northern boundary passes along the western border of the Durham colony land. This State highway and the dozen or more trains

which pass each way through Durham every 24 hours gives the settlers convenient access to the markets of the outside world.

The land is irrigated from Butte Creek, which flows across the settlement by a system of works which belongs to the colony. When bought, there was a rudimentary ditch system, but this has been entirely rebuilt so that water is now delivered to every farm. The cost of the works was added to the price of the land, and every man who bought a farm bought with it a proportionate interest in the works, and all he has to pay is the expense of operating and maintaining the ditches, which will amount to about 6 shillings an acre per year. Of the 6,200 acres of land purchased, 360 acres had been leased for a threeyear period, and this land has not yet been sold. A little less than 700 acres is too high to be irrigated by gravity and it also has not been sold. The area that has been settled embraces, therefore, about 5,000 acres, and on this 90 farmers and 26 farm laborers and their families are now living. The farms, therefore, have an area of a little over 50 acres, but they are not uniform in size, ranging from 20 to 160 acres. The 26 farm laborers have allotments of 2 acres each. All of these are occupied by families living in comfortable homes, and the ground around them is being made attractive by planting and cultivation.

The first step after the purchase of the land was to make it ready for settlement. To do this a soil survey was made and a soil map prepared which showed the land that was best adapted to the growing of grain, fruit, alfalfa, lucerne, and vegetables. This soil map was the foundation of the valuation of the different farms and farm laborers' allotments, and has proven of marked practical usefulness. Then a contour survey giving every change of elevation of 6 inches was made. It was the basis for laying out the irrigation ditches and for the leveling the surface of the different farms so that water would flow over it evenly. Following the preparation of the soil and contour maps a subdivisional plan of the area was adopted, and when the boundaries of the different tracts had been marked out and permanently witnessed by concrete posts the different farms were valued. It was necessary that the total sum received from the sale of the land should equal the amount paid for it plus the amount that had been expended in building the irrigation system and the estimated amount of money needed to cover further expenses and possible losses.

This has to be provided for, as the enterprise has to pay all expenses. The State gives nothing. It loans the board money at 4 per cent. The whole worked out to an average cost of £30 an acre, and the different farms were to be valued with a view to making them all equally attractive at this averge price. The result was a wide range in land prices on the different farms, the lowest being £15-10, the highest £47 an acre. The number of applicants was several times the number of farms, and so well had the valuations been made that every farm was the first choice of some applicant. The average value of the farms is £1,760; the average value of the farm workers' allotment is £80.

To obtain these farms, settlers are required to make a cash payment of 5 per cent of its costs. The remainder is paid in 40 semiannual amortized payments of 4 per cent, which pays off the debt (principal and interest) in 20 years. In a later settlement the semiannual amortized payments are 3 per cent, which pays off the debt (principal and interest) in 34 years, the interest in both cases being 5 per cent.

It was evident that if settlers' farms had crops growing on them they would be in a much better position to meet their payments than if they took the land wholly unimproved. The board therefore purchased a 75-horsepower tractor and cultivation equipment, which would enable large areas of land to be cultivated and settled quickly. Using this tractor day and night, with three shifts of men, more than half of the land had crops growing on it when the farms were sold.

The California act contemplates only community development, and it is the board's intention not to purchase any areas which will provide homes for less than 100 families.

The act provides that the lands to be allotted shall be thrown open for inspection for 30 days, during which time intending settlers can make their applications. The forms filled out give full information as to their past experience, the amount of capital and equipment they have, and state the assistanace they desire. The board is authorized to lend £600 to farmers and £160 to farm laborers to be spent in the improvement of their places. The amount of capital which a settler is required to have is left to the discretion of the board. At Durham, it was the board's belief that to prepare the land for

irrigation, erect the needed farm buildings, and buy the farm equipment would involve a minimum outlay of £900. Of this, the board could furnish £600 as a loan. It held, therefore, that the settler must have the other £300, and no settler was accepted who had less than that. As the farm laborer would meet his payments from wages and would need nothing but the house, which the board could build, he was not required to have any capital.

Before the land was thrown open to settlement it had been examined by the experts of the State agricultural college, who advised the settlers to adopt a combination of dairying, stock raising, and the growing of fodder crops, of which lucerne is the most important. For this kind of agriculture cooperation in buying and selling was important. If the 90 farmers had been left to buy the live stock needed on their farms without any organization or cooperation, they would have been bidding against each other at sales, often buying unfit animals at high prices. Instead of this they formed a cooperative stock breeders' association. They adopted one breed of dairy cattle, the use of nothing but pure-bred sires, and elected a buying committee, which has purchased all the animals now on the settlement.

In this way they have secured better stock at far less money than would have been possible if each individual worked alone. The same principle of organized cooperation has run through the development of their farms. Instead of leaving each settler to look after the building of his house, the board employed a farmstead engineer, who, with competent assistance, has bought the material needed for houses at wholesale for cash, made the plans, and supervised their erection. This left the settlers free to go about the development and cultivation of their farms, increasing their first year's income by growing more crops, and they secured houses that are better built and far more attractive than is the usual rule in unorganized development.

The superintendent of the Durham settlement is a graduate of the Colorado Agricultural College. He had been for five years in Australia as the superintendent in the management of one of the closer settled irrigated areas in the State of Victoria and had spent two years as farm adviser in one of the counties of California. His experience had prepared him, therefore, to understand the needs of settlers and made him a valuable adviser.

The settlers at Durham had an average cash capital of £600. They could borrow £600 from the State land settlement board, and this has enabled them to finance themselves without loans from outside sources.

When the board purchased the land in the spring of 1918 no one had lived on it but tenants or hired laborers for 20 years. Now there are about 120 families, with more than 200 children, all living in comfortable houses, cultivating farms that are in most cases fully improved and on which there are many dairy herds of unusual excellence. What a contrast to the menace of the slum life of the cities; and how it should encourage those who believe in an enlarged use of the State as an instrument of direct service in those things that affect the general welfare.

The average income of settlers who have been on these farms for a year is over £400. They have met their payments to the State and they are in good condition to continue to do so. In 1919 a committee of the State legislature after investigating the colony reported that it was a kind of development that the State could expand indefinitely. An appropriation of £200,000 for immediate extensions was made without opposition, and a bond issue of £2,000,000 was authorized.

While freely admitting the climatic conditions, the extraordinary fertility of the soil and an assured supply of water greatly facilitate the success of settlements such as the one under review, those in other parts of the world conducted on somewhat similar lines would doubtless be equally successful. Of course, it is imperative that they should be controlled by men who, like Dr. Elwood Mead, have an expert knowledge of the business, combined with broad views and a due recognition of the magnificent asset to a country each successful settler becomes. Under such supervision small land community settlements throughout the British Empire could soon be commenced. A good step in this direction would be accomplished by the Empire's respective governments sending officials from their agricultural departments to visit this settlement for the purpose of conferring with the settlers on their holdings and receiving from the officials a full knowledge of the details which have been so thoroughly and carefully thought out.

The first duty of a government being the welfare of its citizens, administrations planning extensive arrangements for the settlement of people on the land can to-day confidently rely on receiving public support.