FROM TRENCHES TO FARMS

The war left Canada, as it did other countries, with an army of demobilized men, able and disabled, who needed Government help to reestablish themselves in civilian life. For soldier citizens who were attracted by farming, an extensive land settlement policy was devised, and to a large extent its application solved one of the Government's problems in affording thousands of ex-soldiers the means of settling on the land, of which Canada had more to offer than anything else. "The corner stone of Canada's industrial fabric is and must continue to be the land," said Arthur Meighen, M. P., the Minister of the Interior, "and to utilize this heritage to the best advantage—to build into it and upon it as large a proportion as possible of the best blood and spirit of our country, thus solving a problem of reconstruction than which none is more vital in its bearing on national well-being—is what is sought to be achieved."

The war, in effect, had created an opportunity for land development by producing a colony of soldier settlers who readily turned to farming after their open-air life in the battle areas. But the Government was careful not to subject them to the hazards and isolation which the ordinary, prewar settler had to face. Only land of good value, well located, and of such fertility as to insure profitable returns, was allocated among them. A search was made through the prairie Provinces for areas suitable for soldier settlement contained in forest reserves or held under grazing leases. The Government held a number of these reserves so that men whose demobilization was deferred could have an equal opportunity with those who were discharged first. Inadequate means of communication affected the disposition of immense areas of arable land, which would otherwise have been available for soldiers. But it was decided to develop and close in settlement only those areas that were contiguous to existing or promoted railroad lines. The Government considered it inadvisable to encourage the veterans of the Great War to settle on free homesteads at a greater distance than fifteen miles from market facilities. This policy was especially designed for soldiers who labored under some physical disability and who were in receipt of pensions, and for such settlers small holdings, close to large centers of population, were selected.

Canada had early anticipated the problem of rehabilitating her returned soldiers. The Soldier Settlement Board was created long before the Armistice, and was in good working order when the time for demobilization arrived. Hence, when the stream of returned soldiers began to flow toward the fertile farm lands which the Dominion Government opened to them for ownership and development, the machinery for so settling the incomers was ready for operation.

The Government not only settled soldiers on homesteads, but lent them money to stock and equip their farms and afforded them training knowledge. They could borrow up to $4,500 on the purchase of land; up to $2,000 on the purchase of live stock, implements, and other equipment; and up to $1,000 on the erection of buildings and other permanent improvements. This made a total of $7,500, all of which, except the $2,000 for equipment, was repayable in twenty-five years on the amortization plan. The acquisition of farm equipment was rendered easier by an arrangement with agricultural implement firms, who undertook to charge specially low prices to soldier settlers. The Government also employed experts to purchase horses, cattle, sheep, and swine at the best prices obtainable, and resold them to settlers at the price paid for them. Lumber dealers in the western Provinces undertook, by arrangement with the Government, to provide lumber at prices considerably below those charged the public. A soldier settler had similar facilities for erecting a home on his land, the Government providing plans for standard houses of four types, ranging from a modest dwelling suitable for a bachelor settler to more commodious and convenient six-roomed houses.

Before the stage of actual occupation was reached in the case of settlers lacking sufficient farming experience, they were placed in agricultural training centers, especially equipped, where they obtained a practical knowledge of farm work, or else with selected farmers throughout the Dominion, who regarded them as students eager to know how to run a farm rather than as mere farm hands. The prospective farmer's womankind, if likewise unversed in farm work and house management, received the needful instruction from the home branch of the Soldier's Settlement Board. In order to enable him to tide over his non-productive period of training, the Government made allowances to a returned soldier both for himself and for the support of any dependents he might have. He likewise received free board as well as free tuition, and if engaged with a farmer was entitled to retain any remuneration his services yielded. While on a farm, representatives of the board visited him to ascertain his progress, so that they could determine when he was qualified to take over a farm of his own.

The railroads, like the farmers and agricultural firms, cooperated with the Government in assisting returned soldiers to settle upon the land. A special low transportation rate of one cent per mile, applying to the whole of Canada except northern Alberta, was fixed, but the prospective farmer was not entitled to the reduction for ordinary journeys. The rate only applied to the soldier's first trip to work with a farmer, or to attend an agricultural school or to look for land, or for a return journey home to transport his family and chattels to his homestead. Choice of land and location lay wholly with the soldier, but was subject to the judgment of the board's land inspectors, who passed upon its value, and determined whether it was suitable for the purchaser and was worth the price. When an inspector approved the soldier's selection, the land was purchased by the board and sold to the applicant.

Once established in his new environment, the ex-soldier was not left to his own devices. The board's inspectors and supervisors regularly visited him—to give any practical guidance he might require, while local agricultural bodies and individual farmers volunteered their aid to assist him and smooth his path to success. But a condition precedent to his establishing himself on the land with Government aid was that he must first prove his military eligibility and also reveal a capacity, during his tenure at a training college or with a farmer, for owning and operating a farm of his own. That done, the Government lost no time in smoothing the way for him.

As to his army qualifications, an applicant must either have been a discharged member of the expeditionary forces of Canada, Great Britain, or of any of the self-governing Dominions, or a resident of Canada—who had joined the Allied forces at the time of enlistment. In either case he must have served outside the country in which he enlisted or in a theater of actual war; but he was also eligible as a discharged member of the Canadian expeditionary forces who had not served overseas, but who had become incapacitated from military service and entitled to a pension. Widows of members of both forces who had died in actual service were entitled to the same facilities to settle on the land.

The Government's land scheme for soldiers proved a great success. By November 1, 1919, over 40,000 men had applied for the benefits of the Government's offer, and over 30,000 had obtained qualification certificates after receiving tuition at training centers or with farmers. The scheme as a whole involved an expenditure of upward of $100,000,000.

Canada has regarded her returned soldiers as her wards, especially the disabled. Governmental guardianship could go no further. Her scale of pensions, for example, is more than one-third higher than that paid by any other nation. Any soldier or sailor disabled in the service of the Empire became entitled to a pension if medical attention failed to restore his normal capacities for earning a livelihood. The pension was neither a gift, a gratuity, nor a reward for service. The Government called it "compensation for disability suffered through the war," and its amount bore no relation to the calling previously followed by the recipient. A man totally disabled received $720; if married, the amount was $900, with $144 for the first child and $96 for subsequent children. Men totally helpless could also receive a special allowance of $450. The disabled received most of the pension fund, fully three-fourths going to them, while the remaining fourth went to the dependents of deceased service men.

There were twenty classes of disability pensions, according to the degree of the disability, which was the decisive factor in each case. No reduction was made because of the recipient's earning powers or because of his actual earnings. His physical disability, whatever it was—not his ability to support himself—determined the amount. He became a pensioner because of the loss or the lessening of a natural function of the body, and the pension lasted as long as the disability did. When the disability ceased, the pension also ceased. Medical reexaminations were made periodically so that pensions could be adjusted in accordance with the developments in a soldier's condition.

The payment of pensions, which was undertaken by the Board of Pension Commissioners, involved an annual expenditure of $30,000,000. It developed a largely and highly complex business machine; which had its beginnings early in the war period, growing from a small staff of 34 members, handling 2,700 pensions, to a clerical force of 1,300 and a pension roll of 80,000. District offices were established in the large centers of the Dominion to afford discharged men convenient bureaus of information. Medical officers were attached to each office, also Government visitors, who were detailed to call on a pensioner at least once annually. A pensioner's fitness to remain a pensioner was thus ascertained, in order to prevent any improper expenditure of pension money. Then there was the war-service gratuity to which members of all ranks in the Canadian army were entitled upon discharge, after being in active service outside the Dominion. The payment covered six months and served as a send-off to each demobilized man to enable him to live in comfort pending his settling down to a civil occupation by his own efforts or through Government aid. The gratuities were based on a sliding scale, dependent on length of service; but a minimum payment was also determined on. It was fixed at $70 a month for the service men without dependents and $100 a month for those who had any. Thus, sergeants, corporals, lance corporals and privates without dependents received $420 for six months, or $70 monthly, and those with families, $600 for six months, or $100 monthly. Where the scale of pay was higher than this minimum it was based on the rate of pay of rank and the length of service. The war gratuity was really a continuation of army pay for six months after discharge.