A Stake in the Land

by Peter A. Speek

In some cases the land is given outright, in others the settler must help bear the cost of surveys and improvement. The third plan is that of a lease, usually with an option to buy, varying in different states. Whatever the terms of settlement are, in most cases the ex-soldier can meet his obligations because of the easy terms by which he can borrow money from the government. Although the maximum amount is limited, the rate of interest is low in most cases and the term of years, with one exception, twenty years or more. Although some farming experience is required, in almost every law, there is provision for a demonstration farm. Here the prospective farmers can learn scientific farming, usually getting paid for their work in the interval.

			Aid Given
Country	Act	Maximum Amount	Time	Interest Per Cent	Appropriation
Dominion of Canada [16]	August 29, 1917	$2,500 [A]	20 equal payments	5	$2,910,000
Ontario	No. 150, 1916	$500 [B]	20 years	6	$5,000,000
British Columbia	6 Geo. V. 59, 1916	[C] [B]	20 years	5	$500,000 annually
New Brunswick	6 Geo. V. 9, 1916	$500 to $1,500 [B]	20 years	5
Australia	1917 Conference	[C]	[C]	[C]	$100,000,000
New South Wales	No. 21, 1916; amended, 1917	$2,500	Lease	2 1⁄ 2 on capital value	$100,000,000
Victoria	October 22, 1917	$2,500	31 1⁄2 years	6	$11,250,000
Queensland	1917	$2,500 buildings; $3,500 equipment	40 years; 25 years; 10 years; perpetual	3 1⁄ 2 to 5; 1 1⁄ 2 on capital value	$50,000
South Australia	1916, 7, Geo. V.	$2,400	21 years	4	$220,000
New Zealand	6 Geo. V. 45, 1916; amended, 1917	[D]			$3,000,000
Tasmania	Geo. V. 20; 1916–17	$2,500	21 years	3 1⁄ 2 to 5	$750,000
United Kingdom	6 and 7 Geo. V., c 38				$10,000,000 asked for
Union of South Africa	1912; amended 1917	$1,250; $25 a month to families	3 1⁄ 2 years to 7 years.	4 1⁄ 2	[C]

	Acres	Assigned
Country	Total	Individual Holdings	Tenure	Training Needed	Demonstration Farm Provided	Capital Desirable
Dominion of Canada [16]	Certain dominion lands	160	Free grant	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ontario		100	Patent given in 5 years	Yes	Yes	Yes
British Columbia		160	Free grant	Yes	Yes	Yes
New Brunswick	20,000	10–100	Free grant		Yes	Yes
Australia
New South Wales	1,500,000		Perpetual lease	Yes	Yes	Yes
Victoria	500,000 wheat-growing plus irrigated lands		Purchase in 31 1⁄ 2 Years	Yes		Yes
Queensland	560,000		Perpetual lease only		Yes	No
South Australia	10,000		Perpetual lease		Yes	Yes
New Zealand	270,000		Lease 66 years, or freehold		Yes	Yes
Tasmania		100	99-year lease; or purchase after 10 years	Yes	Yes
United Kingdom	60,000		Leased	Yes	Yes
Union of South Africa	Lands purchased not to exceed $7,500 for each settler who provides one fifth of price		Lease for 5 years and option of purchase, with 20 years to pay		Yes

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VII
A LAND POLICY

Most of the land-reform programs, beginning with those of the extreme conservatives, laissez-faire theorists of various schools, and ending with those of the extreme radicals, anarchists, and socialists of various leanings, are primarily concerned with the question of land ownership.

WIDE RANGE IN PROGRAMS

These programs might be, in the main, classified as follows:

1. Private land ownership:
   1. Large-scale ownership, subject to no public interference.
   2. Small-scale ownership, limited and regulated by
      public authority.
2. Public land ownership:
   1. Secured by
      1. Confiscation, by revolutionary action.
      2. Purchase, by land bond issues.
      3. Taxation, by the single tax.
   2. Forms of public ownership:
      1. Nationalization; national ownership. In the
         United States it would be Federal ownership.
      2. Provincial ownership. In the United States
         it would be state ownership, and in Switzerland
         canton ownership.
      3. Municipalization or communalization; land
         owned by cities and communities in the rural
         districts.
      4. Nobody's ownership; free to all, except that
         the public takes the ground value (irrespective
         of improvements) through the single tax,
         from the land users, which practically means
         a disguised form of public ownership, or at
         least a condition very near it.
   3. Methods of use:
      1. Parceling the public land into homesteads of
         one-family size, and reselling these to the cultivators
         on the basis of individual fee simple.
      2. Giving the homesteads to cultivators on the
         basis of perpetual leasehold.
      3. Public cultivation, either direct or through
         communes or co-operative associations.