340 WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION

produce in the State of Vermont more corn per acre than is produced
In the State of Iowa or any other great corn-growing State in the
Union. Moreover, we produce more wheat and more staple crops
than almost any State in the Union; yet we are having this constant
withdrawal of farm land from cultivation.
Mr. Free. Why is that?
Mr. GiBsoN. I do not know. I think the same problem exists
in the State of Maine. Assistant Secretary Husband, of the Department
 of Labor, has suggested that we so amend the law that we may
select good farmers to come and take up those abandoned farms.
We are conducting an experiment in our State by turning these
abandoned farms over to the Finns. They are good farmers and good
citizens. The legislature of my State has memorialized Congress,
asking that consideration be given to that proposal.
The Crarrman. I should like to have you look into the previous
hearings on that proposal.
Mr. GiBson. I regret that I was detained by work in another
committee and therefore unable to be present at the time Mr. Richard
M. Bradley appeared before this committee. Mr. Bradley is a
resident for a good portion of each year of my home town, Brattleboro,
 Vt. He owns and occupied the old home of his ancestors.
He is a man of great ability and one of the leading citizens of
southern Vermont.
May I call your attention to Mr. Bradley’s source of information
in regard to the matters covered by his statement? Some years ago
Thomas Thompson, a resident of Massachusetts, passing through our
section, was taken ill and is said to have remained at a local hotel
until his recovery. He was much pleased with the hospitality
shown bim and charmed with the country thereabouts.
It was found, after his decease, that bis will, after certain specified
bequests, left the rest and residue of his estate to the working needle
women of Brattleboro, Vt., and Rhinebeck, N. Y. A court decree
made it possible to extend the original purpose in the mind of the
testator so that the income of the fund is now applied to many charitable
 undertakings and to work that bas for an objective the wellbeing
 of the class named in the will and for the well-being of people
of Brattleboro and surrounding communities.
The estate was large. Out of the accretions it has been possible
to erect and help maintain a beautiful and substantial hospital, a
memorial to Thomas Thompson. The amount of the estate now
available for the purposes of the trust as now construed is said to
be over $1,000,000. Mr. Bradley is a trustee by appointment of
the courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the administration
 of the trust. Through his work in the performance of his
duties he comes into contact with the people, has become familiar
with their problems, and knows the industrial and economic conditions
 of a large portion of New England. He speaks with actual
knowledge, and I commend his statement to members of the committee
 as one that should have great weight.
I ask permission to insert in the record a letter to me from MT.
Bradley under date of January 24, 1930, bringing out sharply the
points covered by his statement.