Page:The Wisconsin idea (IA cu31924032449252).pdf/317

 coöperation and credit conditions and, in general, to determine whether a state plan for betterment can be evolved which will make Wisconsin a better state in which to live.

Now there isn't a shrewd, careful man who is not afraid of all this when he hears of it; such plans, from John Locke to the present time, have nearly always failed. The report of the "Recess committee on Irish affairs" under the direction of Sir Horace Plunkett is a brilliant exception. Recognizing these facts, the board is carefully proceeding in its work with the idea of recommending improvements to the legislature which will lay strong foundations for the future.

Wisconsin has ten million acres of unoccupied land. If Australia and New Zealand have dealt with a problem of this kind, why cannot Wisconsin do so? If these lands are good for agricultural purposes but require thirty dollars an acre for development, why cannot a scheme be originated so that the actual settler may have the advantage of some kind of credit, in order to clear his land and use his capital for the greatest benefit? Australia has bought up or condemned great tracts of land and then leased them for 999 years to actual settlers; the settler may use his capital for cattle, machinery and barns and by paying a small lease yearly to the state, improve these lands. Practically the same principle is being applied in the arid regions of the West by our federal