OUR HOME TOWN. A Department Devoted to Village Betterment, RICHARD HAMILTON BYRD, man and no poor man in it too proud to stand aloof, nobody too Faogland as it was fifty \ beautifully on the hillsides of New the greater centers of modern civili It isa well-known fact that the cit trade and uodermining the local tion of local interests. in favor of the improvement of loca surronndings and the TRADE, To that end the editor of this village life. What for home employment ¥ What is doi ment and the beautifying of private “My ideal of civilization is a very a New Kugland town of some two t all mingling at the same school, no poorhonse, no beggar, opportunities equal, nobody FCArs NRO. valleys of Vermont, the moment it approaches a crow million men gathered in one place like New York, rots, of the villuge communities and the country towns b AL The ver town depends nwpon the checking of this paralysiog The only way this can be accom plished Is by arousing local sentiment environment, the beautifying of home maintenance with the active members of Civic and and every one interested in the improvement and the protection of rural is being done in your town tn snconrags small industries and Are your local merchants receiving the support of the local trade ? Experience, plans and suggestions will be welcomed by the editor of this department and so far as possible given place in these columns. high one but the approach to it is housand inhabitants, with no rich in the same society, every child humble to be shut out, That's New : 0 The civilization that lingers Eugland, and nestles sweetly In the like Hoston, or a 1t cam not stand Wendell Phillips. ies are rapidly sapping the strength estroying local Ife of the country orce and the protec zation," rit, of LOCAL BUSINESS by LOCAL departnent desires to keep in tonch cal Improvement Associations, nlong the line of street mproves wns and public parks? ng "NAIL ORDER BUSINESS. ENORMOUS STRUCTURES T0 LE ERECTED BY MONTGOMERY WARD AND COMPANY AND OTHERS. Suggests Question Whether Glant Catalogue Houses are Benefit our Detriment to the Farmer and the Country Generally. Chicago is to have the greatest build. ing the world ever constructed forcom- | | have a floor | mercial purposes. It space of H0 acres—a good It is to be 10 stories hig basement, and ere It {4 stro out fioor it sized farm. , including the all would cover | blocks in the windy city. It will be 900 feet in length ind will be built of steel and concrete. The The present pied by Mongon to be } of the Cost will Le building © ery Ward and Com 0 ou . ny entirely §2 cu pa be th Be ars, Roe big Chicago mery Ward | also been incorpor- in New York, with 000,000, paying tion tax of $20,000. tOTU'D Of and at first proud of Amer- fons, 1 what is | f the * eCLS, one frst 114 : iv 3 coun ry | er, the countr) tself and In country who are the patrons of the great mall | order houses. What creates the village, the town, the thriving efty? What keeps it a live and ther than a dead congregation of af houses {ti one 3 stores” is the port, | try | fa v styles | fact the peopie § of ten instances jut | richness of the 3 ' soll | Wg | | He FOR PRODUCTS i market for the » farm is adjacent y rowin wn supporting ac- ive and well-to-do-people, the market | for the farmer's products wili be ne-| tive and the prices good. If the town be a dead one, he wlll have to turn elsewhere to dispose of his products, and perhaps incur heavy transporta. tion charges in thelr shipment. This fact is set forth unmistakably In the | last census figures which show that in| a small area of te United States, the | regiong where factories abound,~—a dis. trict comprising but little over 10 per cent, of the United States—the value he farm lands is over half that of fF 1 ble land In the entire farms In these regions cl to the factories, | a profitable home market ¢ Ar The Re A | in the town indirectly comes back to | him in the way of benefits [ { Breatest good for the greatest number, {the farms of each agricultural {| surrounding a town should area support that town to their uttermost. KEEP THE MONEY AT IHOME, | Every dollar that the farmer spends churches, better schools to which can send his children, furnishes bet- ter near-at-hand mgrketsg for his prod- | ucts, and finally %icreases the very | value of his farm land. As a good {l-| lustration, the Dry Goods Reporter as- | sumes that such an agricultural town has a population of 1000, its support coming from the country tributary to| The life of the town is its retail If it secures the entire purchas- | ) business of the farmers, it must of ¥ grow rapidly. But Mont. gomery Ward and Co., Sears, Roebuck i and others of the enormous | | erder houses send out thelr great four or five pound catalogues describ-| ing everythin r the sun. Suppose instead of spending his $600 a r in his home town, each farmer in ¢ community diverts 50 per cent of trade from his town and sends $300 it he n- | are | town, are five r und 1 r to the catalogue house 3 that half of the business of t gone, On the basis of one h or one hundred and fifty squ 3 of territory to support the estimated that there ired farmers in the district. Three ired dollars a year in trade from of the farmers means thal one mdred and fifty thousand dollars lly is taken from the home town. mear town is an be The town | grows, it supports better stores, more | ol he | Sortunity, example and intelligent di- | cels ests of the town will pay the burden of taxation, and the amount of each tax-payer will be less in proportion to carry on government, IS THE BAVING A REAL ONE? While the country household, In looking over one of the blg catalogues and sending an order for $50 worth of goods, may be able to figure out an immediate saving of five or six dollars, even after they have paid the freight, there is no question as to the final out. coma, If the practice Is persisted in by all the people of any particular local fty. The home town will suffer, the home market will fall to Increase, If it does not decrease, as will also the value of the farm lands, Undoubtedly the catalogue houses can sell goods cheaper than the average country store, for they do a cash business, vou send on your cash with yore order, There is no risk in the cata. logue or mail order house business, Possibly if you arranged to do business on the same basis with your country merchant—cash down with your pur chase—you could get almost as favor. able prices. But the country merchant is supposed to extend credit to every one; he has bad bills which collects and consequently must make a greater percentage of profit on the things he sells. Every community which is imbued { with the spirit of building up its own industries and of supporting its home town with local pride, is sure to be the most prosperous; there can be no gain. saying this fact, tp THE HOME GARDEN. The Story of the Boy and His Little Plot of Ground At the age of five every boy is by instinct a gardener, If guided by op rection he will dig, plant and develop an interest in growing things; lacking these the call of mother nature leads to mud pies. Given a square yard of mellow ground, a tiny hoe and a hand ful of beans, a healthy five year-old boy will have a combination that ex anything yet designed in “nature udy From five to ten the world begins to dawn, should play without hindrance. If the square yard of ground be enlarged to a rod, the handful of beans to a collec: tion of seeds (the kinds for sale in the grocery stores are best as these have brilliantly oclored pletures on the pack: ages and the boy learns thereby what manner of a thing he is to expect), this square rod will be the play ground to a surprising extent. He may not plant the kinds you ex pect or want him to plant, as his view point is different from yours. It is un wise to insist on any given plan. Let this garden be his own, entirely to carrots or cabbage let it re irrots and cabbage, for they are to him than your choice variety It is unwise to expect careful pains nore GETTING ACQUAINTED In the course of ten years, this means | one and one-half million dollars. Aver- aging the profit on this amount at twenty per cent, it means .aat In ter yoars' time three hundred thousand dollars profits are taken from the town. Now, on the other hand, should the farmer, instead of sending away his money to the foreign place for goods he requires, give all his trade to the home town, its business would be im- mediately doubled, and with twice the employment for the people. Year af- ter year, the profits made by the mer chants would be retained in the town, would seek Investment in starting new Industries, and at the end of the ten year period, instead of a town of one thousand, there would be a lively city of from two to three thousand, and every acre of farm land within the trade radius of the town would be en hanced in value from ten to twenty dollars, ENRICHING THE BIG CITIES. ! i 1905 1900 —— MAIL-ORDER DESERTED ROOM, HUGE CHICAGO STORE BE FOR LACK OF TO tor all the agricultural products. Bo that the greatest factor in land value is the nearhess to good markets, It becomes plain, therefore, that the bet. ter the home town can be made, the more valuable is the farm land tribu- | dred dollars; or, thirteen hundred dole tary to It. In the purely agricultural gections, the average country town Is located in the center of from 75 to 150 square miles of territory fng from that area of farms ing to federal statistics the average farmer spends $627 a year for supplies =~clothing for his family, household utensils, food that he does not grow himself, farm implements, ete Now it must be evident that if a plan were to be followed looking to the | concern. that 1s the! one, all public Improvements, all mod: town is supported by the trade results orn Accords! | Fuhabesd in value, his taxation will be It ean be plainly figured out that the individual farmer who would divert | half his trade to Chicago, New York or | some other foreign city, In the course {of ten years would send away three | thousand dollars. If It were possible that he could save ten per cent on this amount in ten years’ time he would {save three hundred dollars, His only | compensation would be a dead home | town, poor schools, a poor home mar | ket, and no increase in the value of his | real-estate holdings. On the other hand, by giving his | patronage to the home Yown, oven | though he must pay the merchant ten per cent nore than the foreign house, the result would be like this: On ae count of increase in farm values, one hundred and sixty acres of land worth ten dollars more per acre, sixteen hun. | lars better off In ten years than If he {gave half his patronage to the foreign His home town Is a lively conveniences, high schools, to which he oould send his children cheaply, mood churches, good roads, and everything that can add to the com fort and happiness of ita residents, and those who reside near it. Not withstanding, that the farmers’ land is but little greater, as the business inter WITH MOTHER EARTH. taking offort and constant care from a boy of this age; encourage it but do not compel it. He ean be taught by example all of the needs of plant growth but his hoe ing and weeding may be superficial, If you ask him he will allow you to dig in his garden to loosen the soll deeper than his strength permits. It is wise to do this for there must be carrots and cabbage to harvest or there will be no play ground here next year, If the boy of five has been allowed the run of a garden, If at eight he has a garden of his own, at ten he will love gardening and will have absorbed an amazing store of knowledge, and to | him may be imparted at this age in a way and manner that will awaken the the purest and best that is in him, the mystery of life. A pumpkin plant on a compost heap, sending Its vigorous shoots over the weeds, climbing where It cannot creep, t'irusting its snake like head through the garden fence, Is a thing of wonder to a boy if he is but taught to see it, and when its great golden blossoms appear there is a still greater wonder unfolded. Boys of twelve and fourteen may de fort the garden for the ball field or the fishing rod, and it is well they should, for the serious time of life is coming soon and play days should be as many and long as school and home duties will permit. But a garden for a boy at this age may be a greater factor in his tralning for life than at any other, for by this time the “root of all evil” has entered his soul; he has learned that money |s essential In order to procure the many things a boy must have, and the garden, which to this time has been a recreation field, a place of won. derful possibilities In the way of good things to eat and pumpking for jack’ Innterns, may be a most fertile fleld of revenue, Whatever the crop the proceeds should be wholly his own, If he has produced the crop wholly by his own efforts. There Is but one way that he oan learn the valne of money and that ix by eaming 1. The wise use of money must also be learned but that Is outside the sphere of gardening. From address of Prof. Oranefield, Lo never | He looks up and out; he sees | and imitates, but does not reason. He | If it has been | Learn by Doing. “Bvery Child in a Carden “A little croft we owned A garden stored + for “The Citizen standing in the doorway of his gathered about his hearthstone sounds that are dearest he sha barracks are exhausted, '—~ienry bi, save Grad) “The slums and tenements of the great cities are social dynamite, cer. tain to explode sooner or later, The only safeguard against such dangers Is to plant the multiplylug milllous of EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY THE FIRST BOOK THE FOLLOWING The Brotherhood of Man This book is tha first of a that will Chronicle the Progress of the HOMECROFT MOVEMENT and Inform all who wish to operate with 1 through formation of local Homecrofters' Circles, Clubs or Gilds to promote Town and Village Betterment, lates home civie pride and loyalty wre in 1 pri Series CO it how they may do so the stimu to + 3 { Liol trade, stitutions, industries and ve methods and facilities of edu in the local pm schools, aud opportunities "At oe Vill EO far trade and population to the cities. The first Glld of the has been established at Watertr wn. Massachusetts, The Glldhall, Shops and Gardens are located LM 1040¢ in, "Oy 4 ' 3 * } (RR 0 CUSCK Lin Homeerofters Street, where t) now fully ized hundred children are a Gardens, The department : ul Ing In Homeeraft and Village Indus tries are belong Installed. The Weaver are already at work at the loom It is not designed to build here juolnted hut to make a model which ean be duplieated | town or village In the country Copies of "THE FIRST BOCK OF THE MOMECROFTERS"” oan bo obtained by sending twelve two- cent stamps with your name and addross (‘carefully and plainly written to The Homecrofters' Qild of the Talisman 143, Main St, Watertown, Massachusetts, There is New Hope and Inspiratic for every Worker who wants a Home of his own on the land in the CREED AND PLATFORM OF THE HOMECROFTERS' which is as fol lows “Peace has her victories no less re. powned than war” EDUCATION CO-OPERATION OPPORTUNITY HOMECROFTS We belleve that the Patriotic of the Whole People of this Nation should be “Every CLlld In a Garden | Every Mother in a Homecroft—and In dividual Industrial Independence for Every Worker in a Home of his Own on the Land.” and that until he owns such a Home, the concentrated purpose and chief Inspiration to labor In the life of every wage worker should be his determination to “Get an Acre anl Live on It" We belleve that the and Tenements and Congested Centers of population in the Cities are a savagely deteriorating social, moral and polit. ileal Influence, and that a great publie {| movement should be organized, and | the whole power of the nation and | the states exerted for the betterment { of all the conditions of Rural Life, and to create and upbulld Centers of So cial and Clvie Life In Country and | Suburban Towns and Villages, where ‘rade and Industry can be so firmly anchored that they cannot be drawn | Into the Commercial Maelstrom that is now steadily sucking Industry and Humanity into the Vertex of the Great Cities, We believe that every Citizen In this Country has an Inherent and Fundamental Right to an Education which will train him to Earn a Liv Ing, and, If need be, to get his living straight from Mother Earth; and that | ho bas the same right to the Opportun- | ity to have the Work to Do which will afford him that living, and to earn not oply & cor ‘ortable livelihood, but enough more to enable him to be a Homecrofter and to have a Home of his Own, with ground around It sufficient to yleld him and his family a Living from the Land as the reward for his own labor, We belleve that the Public Domain Is the most precious heritage of the paapie, and the surest safeguard the na has against Social Unrest. Dis turbance or Upheaval, and that the Cause of Humanity and the Preserva. tion of Social Stability and of our Free Institutions demand that the absorp. tion of the public lands Into apeenia. tive private ownership, without settle. ment, be forthwith stopped: and that the nation should ereate onportunitios for Homeecrofters by building Irrign. tion and dralnage works to reclaim land as fast as It 1s needed to give hd 4 man who wants a Home on the Land a chance to get It, We belleve that, as a Nation, we on — org “ w an institution any 31) Slogan Sima Wise, Agr. College. | should be less absorbed with Making Every vidual, ladustrial Independence for Every Worker in an Home of his Own on the Land.” while the evening of a we the Republ) THE HAS JUST BEEN PUBLISHED AND AMONG ITS CONTENTS ARE ARTICLES BE A HOMECROFTER Work Together. Give every Man a Chance. ———————— THE SLOGAN OF THE HOMRECROPTEKRS 18 Mother in au Homecerofl, and Indie of corn, nd mint and thyme. 8 m Sunday morn hurch bells rang thelr sariiest himes.* Wordsworth, home contented on his threshold, his family spent day closes In scenes and when the drum-t s futile and the ay our fast dividual crofts, increasing population in in homes on the land-<home however small, owned Ly the occupant, where every worker and his family can enjoy individual industrial independence." —-George H, Maxwell OF HOMECROFT OF ABSORBING INTEREST Charity that is Everlasting The Secret of Nippon's Power Lesson of a Great Calamity The Sign of a Thought h v wv 1 T48L % / | Money, and should pay more heed to raen iT I H, bat) Oi : tablished by county, municipal state, and national governments, where every boy and every man out work wl nts employment wher ow { mn 1) and ge ground, and where eve be taught it his first aim shonid be to get a home of on the land BUILD HOMECROFTS ARS NATION Al, SAFEGUARDS. 2. That the New Zealand system of Land Taxation and Land Purchase nnd Subdivision, and Advances to Ret. tiers Act, shall be adopted in this country, to the end that land shall be subdivided Into small holdings In the hands of those who will till it for a ry boy would n life his ow n livelihood, and labor find occupation | which | in the creation of homecrofts, will be perpetual safeguards against the political evils and social discontent vesulting from the overgrowth of cities and the sufferings of unem- ployed wage-earners PROTECTION FOR THE AMER. ICAN HOMECROFT 3. That Roral Settlement encouraged and the principle of "re tection for the American Wageworker and his Home applied directly to the Home by the Exemption from tion of all improvements ux also of all personal property, not ceeding $2500 in value, used on in with, Homecroft or Rural Homestead of not more thay fen acres in extent, wl occupies as a permanent home and cultivates with labor and so provides therefrom all or part of the support for a family ENLARGEMENT OF ABLE FOR 4. That the part of a comprehensive policy of internal river control and and for the enlargement to utmost possible extent of the area of the country avallable for agri culture and Homes on the Land, and for the protection of those Homes from either food or drouth, shall build not only levees and revetmemts where and connection every ich the owner his own AREA AVAIL HOMEMAKING National Government nation improvements regulation an al for needed, and drainage works for the | reclamation of swamp and overflowed | lands, but shall also preserve existing forests, reforest denuded areas, plant new forests, and bulld the great reser voirs and other engineering works flood waters that now run to waste, RECLAMATION AND SETTLE. MENT OF THE ARID DANDS, 5 That the National Government shall bulld the Irrigation works neces sary to bring water within reach of settlers on the arid lands, the cost of such works to be repaid to the govern. ment by such settlers In annual In etallments without Interest, and that the construction of the great Irrigation works necessary for the utilization of the waters of such large rivers as the Columbia, the Sacraments, the Colo rado, the Rio Grande, and thé Missonr! and their tributaries, shall proceed ns rapidly as the lands reclaimed will he utilized In small farms by actual settlers and homemakers, who will re pay the government the cost of con. struction of the Irrigntion works, and | | and | shall | permanent | by ERS | and the | and of distribution necessary to safeguard agalost over | flow and save for beneficial use the | ——— J-—— Inuds reclaimed, as required by the National Irrigation Act, NAVE THE P'UBLIC LANDS FOR HOMEMAKERS, 6. That not another acre of the pvh lic lands shall ever hereafter be granted to any state or territory for any purpose whatsoever, or to any one other than an actual settler who has built his home the land and lived on It for five years, and that no more land scrip of any kind shall ever be issued, and that the Desert Land Law the Commutation Clause Homestead, Law shall be made to con. form to the recommendations of the Public Lands Commission appointed by President Roosevelt and of the Message of the President to Congress, PLANT FORESTS A FOREST PLANT 7. That On the ND CREATE ATIONS, the Timber and Stone repealed, and lands she Forest Resery land to be forever National Gover of Law HT that all pub- lic timber nel to the the only watured and young timber future cutting, so t ting he that nment, timber to i perp fuated Dy the National ne reservation or forest lands, (rovernmen » needs of ) from .he Forest state. CONTROI, AND URE GRAZING 1. Ine ANDIS KR. That not otherw nw excer shnll be er serves ander ill at all time to Homestead Entry. lands = it to and ure, and water, including the rizht t irrigation shall inhere in and be ap- ’ 1 ol whit the limit all nig rig riparian right hint 0 the gee | purtenant to the land irrigated, so that the ownership of the land and the water shall be united, and no right to water as a speculative commodity ever be acquired, held or owned, THE COMING PEOPLE. “Outward ol political, mo always going on in the ganizations of so I } onomienl arked ANZeR, 60 Joss and re or i fe : can make a spec that great ar No 1» orci pending. existing of the . these are profound, patr oncern. Is not the machir system. masses of dreary natural su oti¢c and humane old social and ind the ve Or wage breaking overty hiects for ustrial ery, mpet it show- ng signs of down beneath its load? Ihe system question is quite fair whether is just that pen is na Any “When never so abundant duction science and Invention, so many fall to reap any benefit from the re sources which surely belong to race, It must at least be confessed that our present system, both of production Is not intelligently Its results do in the face of natural wealth, and forees of pro indefinite hy ANLMY nted n lmoct the or humanely managed, not represent an deal democracy, a brotherhood of man’ -—From The Coming People”, by Chas. F. Dole It behooves everyone who has and ears to hear and a brain with which to think to study the tre mendous social problems with - which we nre face to face today Whether they are settlisd Il affect every member community No oan escape the evils that will result from a wrong settlement and evervone will be bene fitted by a right settlement, Nothing is more important than that wo should get started right There ia nidenre and Ineniration in every line of “THE COMING PEOPLE" hy (has, F. Dole In order to bring this book within the reach of all, a popular edition has Inet hoon lsened by the Homecrofters ovee in se right or wrong w of the one that the amount needed each year for | ia of the Talisman which ean be had construction, as recommended hy the! the Interior, shall be | Recrotary of made avallable by Congress as a loan from the general treasury to the Re. clamation Fund, and repaid from for 25 conts. postage Included. Remit hy postal money order, express money order or postage stamps to “THE HOMBCROFTERS, 143 Main BSt, Watertown, Mass, » of water for i ru—
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