OUR HOME TOWN.
A Department Devoted to Village
Betterment.
PICHARD HAMILTON RYRD.
The editor of this (U-pnrtinent deHlrei to keep In touch with the active
members of t ivi : ami liocl improvement AtfsociutiouH, and every one
intereated in the improvement) prutuction and upbuilding of rural village
life.
What is beinii done in ynir town to encourage small industries and
for home euiplo.vincnt 't Whut n il miff along the line of street improve
ment and the beautifying of private lawns, roadways and public parks?
Are your local merchants receiving the support of the local trade ?
Experience, plans, suggestions and nhntographa will be welcomed by
the editor of this department and so far U4 possible given place in these
columns.
The Leeal Handicap.
The Prophet Is without honor In his
own country. So the village anil small
town are without confidence In their
own resources. We get so familiar
witk the things about us that we re
apt to underrate their value. It Is
often necessary for a total stranger to
come along and show us the neglected
opportunities that have been under our
nose unseen for years.
The writer while pursuing some In
dustrial Investigations had occasion to
visit a thrifty little city in the South
v.est. It is an old town that has llter
nlly been forced to the front by the
pressure of development and northern
energy. The place has five railroads,
a population of 30,000 and a number of
modern buildings. Still the uatives
HOUSE AND BARN FOR HOMECROFT VILLAGE,
Watertown, Mass.
have not vet fully realized the.
fliiinirp thev still are doubtful and
suspicious. About four years a ,o, be
fore the tide of immigration and copl-
tal set in toward the Southwest, a
stranirer from the North drifted into
this particular city. He was just
"lookinir around" with no special pur
pose in view. A curbstone real estate
broker had on his list a tract of bottom
hind, timbered, but worthless on ac
count of the annual floods. This land
lie had hawked about the street for
75c per acre, but found no takers
ninnnir the home speculators. The
tract was "no good." It was offered
to this stranger for $1.00 per acre.
Vniiirl ho lnnk- lit. It? Yes. He looked
It over, examined every acre of It
enme back to town and handed over
$10,000 for the worthless tract, ureal
was the joy of the natives who were
limed up at the various bars, to drink
to the health of the "sucker." But
the sucker returned in about a month
with another capitalist from the North
and sold this worthless tract for $l0,
000. But this was not nil.' Within
ninety days the second sucker brought
a third and sold him the timber nlone
for $50,000. And then the local
bankers and conservative capitalists
kicked themselves for not thinking of
It.
For years people have been leaving
Arkansas and Missouri going west
looking for opportunities. To-day
strangers are taking their places and
llndiug money on every bush. The
new-comers are simply developing the
resources which the natives failed to
recognize.
This princitrte holds true of a ma
jority of individuals in every com
munity. We are too near to see the
opportunities at our feet. We pass
them over and leave them for some
one to pick up.
The twentieth century for the United
States at least will be a time of con
centration rather than expansion. A
century of rural development and
home-building. As has been indicated
the people must get back to the land,
and Industrial institutions to reach
their best development must give the
worker a chance for a home.
The Value of a Good Garden.
Many people fail to realize the
great 'value of a thrifty, well-kept
garden. Even an Inferior one Is much
better than none. Vegetables are In
dispensable to a family, so far as
health is concerned, to say nothing of
the money saved by not having to buy
so much flour and so many groceries.
It would seem that every man
should manage to obtain a piece of
ground and see that It becomes well
fertilized and enriched and then put
under n thorough state of cultivation
before trying to plant the seeds. It
only costs a little to buy enough seeds
for quite a good-sized garden.
THE HOMECROFT
From SC. Paul Pros.
By way of affording a practical ob-
i-n thA "TTnmefM-oft" idea
George H. Maxwell has acquired fifty
acres of ground at watertown, mass
iocs th- n thirtv minutes by rail
road or forty-five minutes by trolley
from the center of Boston which
will be broken up into small "crofts"
for city workers. There, It is to De
presumed, will be illustrated, by de
grees, all the different phases of bet
terment which characterize the
homecroft as compared with the
tenement-house idea, in Its applici
tion to the life of the avsraee Ameri
can wage-earner: especially he whose
weekly stipend comes from work in
city shop or store or factory. Among
1W
THE HOMECROFTERS' GILD.
!
To Enable People to Live in Their
Own Home and on a Pleee of
Their Own Land.
CHANCE FOR FACTORY WORKERS
"Every Child In a Garden and Every
Mother In a Homecroft" is she
Motto of the Organization-A Hun
dred Children at Work In the First
School Garden at Watertown, Mass.
EDWARD T. HARTMAN
Secretary Massachusetts Civic League,
At Watertown, Massachusetts, there
Is being put under way what seems to
be one of the most sane and practical
solutions of many of the problems of
modern city life ever attempted In tills
country. It is In line with the best
enterprises for solving the questions of
housing, sanitation, education and
morals. As such It should command
the attention and co-operation of all
constructive social workers.
The Ilomecrofters Gild offers garden
work and craftsmanship as a substi
tute for the street corner, the cheap
show and the saloon. And It offers In
addition health, contentment and a
substantial increase In Income to the
workers. The Increase takes a practi
cal form In the shape of health from
work in the air, from fresh vegetables
and fruits, from a clean environment
and from absence of bad habits; from
money saved from useless pastimes;
from absence of doctors' bills and from
a direct return In the way of com
modities for use In the home or for
sale;
The founder and main supporter of
the movement Is Mr. George H. Max
well, editor of Maxwell's Talisman and
founder of the National Irrigation
Movement. As a student of social con
ditions, Mr. Maxwell has concluded
that college settlements and similar
movements merely scratch the upper
surface of the problem and fall utterly
to get under It and crowd it out with
a better condition. His creed Is,
"Every child In a garden, every mother
in a homecroft, and individual, in
dustrial Independence for every worker
In a home of his own on the land."
MEANING OF HOMECROFT.
The word "Homecroft" has been
coined by Mr. Maxwell to fit the thing
he has In mind. The Scotch word
"croft" means a very small piece of
land farmed Intensively by Its occu
pant but not large enough to yield him
a living and constitute him a farmer.
The Homecrofter, therefore, under the
conditions being developed, Is a labor
ing man, clerk, skilled artisan or what
not, who supplements his regular in
come by, and spends his spare time in,
work on the land. His children may
likewise be employed out of school
hours and at other times when they
would otherwise be on the street or
forced Into some one of the street
trades to help maintain the home. For
the children the advantages are ob
vious. Healthy exercise in the open
air for a purpose, fresh vegetables and
other products, and occupation, are
substituted for spasmodic exercise
under bad conditions, stale vegetables
or none at all, and the gang.
It can be demonstrated that the
ordinary factory worker on from one
half acre to an acre of laud can earn
actually more In the odd time given
to his garden than he does from his
regular work, taking It hour for hour.
The other advantages are evident
THE GILDHALL AND SHOPS.
As a foundation for the Gild the
Wilson estate at 143 Main St Water-
VS. THE TENEMENT.
such betterments, either already
demonstrated or anticipated, are
these: l
1. Healthier home surroundings,!
air, sunlight, trees, fl -vers; room
for children to grow up without con
tact with the contaminating in-j
fluences of crowded city streets and
tenements.
2. Eiversity in employment and
healthful recreation for the wage
earner himself, -nd wholesome op
portunity for his w.e and c dren
to contribute to the family in
come, in the cultivation of an acre.
more or less, of ground. This would
enable him, especially, to keep his
girls at home, instead of sending
town, has been purchased and con
verted into a Gildhtill and shops for
handicraft work. The land around the
house has practically all been appro
priated to the use of a gaide.ii scuool
and laid out in children's gardens.
The director of the gardens is Miss
Elizabeth S. Hill of Grotou. who last
year conducted the school gardens in
Brookline and Grotou. Over a hun
dred children are already at work and
many more, almost two hundred in all,
have applied for space. It is an inter
esting sight, and a poor commentary
on our public school system, to see
the wistful look of the children "not
In It" as they watch the fortunate ones
and inquire of the instructors as to
how long they will have to wait.
Many children not connected with the
school watch the workers aud play on
the grounds, so that It has become a
children's center for the town. '
The opening or the garden school has
aroused au interest among other pri
vate organizations in the neighborhood
and the Women's Club of Watertown
has established another garden school,
also under Miss Hill's supervision, as
is still another opened by the Women's
Social Science Club of Newton, whose
garden is on Jackson Road near Nou
antuni. On the outer boundry of the town,
the old Emerson l'lace has been pur
chased and set aside as a garden
school for boys and even men who de
sire to do practical work. The plots in
this garden are large enough to permit
of practical experiments and to even
supply quite a quantity of vegetables,
which each gardener is allowed to ap
propriate to his own use. The only
requirement Is that each gardener pro
vide bis own tools and seed and pay
sultieient attention to the Instruction
and to his work to keep his plot In fair
condition and in harmony with the
garden as a whole. There is in this
garden plenty of space not taken and
it offers a unique and valuable oppor
tunity for any one desiring such work.
The garden is supervised by a young
man with practical experience in
market gardening.
WEAVE BEAUTIFUL TniXOS.
Tile venvlng department, the only
handicraft department as yet de
veloped In the Gild, is supervised by
-Miss J. A. Turner, formerly with the
experiment station for the blind in
Cambridge. Miss Turner, assisted by
her sister, has several looms already
in .working order and instruction has
been taken up. The aim of the work
in weaving, as it will be In other home
craft work, is not to have a weav
ing establishment for the production of
goods, but to conduct a school in
weaving and design where women in
the community may learn to do work
which may be carried on in their
homes. This, as in the case of the
croft work, will enable them to occupy
spare time, which would be otherwise
wasted or improperly spent, In con
genial, healthy and remunerative em
ployment. It Is hoped and believed
that such - work will enable many
women who have to supplement their
income to do it In their homes aud not
be forced Into factories and other un
satisfactory conditions. A system will
be developed whereby looms will be
supplied by and the product sold
through the Gild. By this method ex
penses will be kept at a minimum and
the highest profits accrue to the
workers.
HOME LANDS IN SMALL
PARCELS.
The more far-reaching and substan
tial feature of the movement is
the acquisition and subdivision of
land into small tracts for actual croft
purpose as outlined above. This close
ly resembles the schemes developed In
Hitchiu, I'ort Sunlight, Bournville and
Looking Across
Tract, Showing
Growth of Barley
Raised This Year,
Irrigation Canal
Furnishing Water
for Tract.
vVv,'lv 'A'iif'mb zlPi $!
SCENES IN OUTSKIRTS OF PHOENIX.' ARIZONA, SHOWING
FIRST ARIZONA HOMECROFT VILLAGE.
elsewhere in England. It will not be
out of place to outline the Bouruviiie
plan which is Identical In many re
spects and has been carried out to an
assured success. This model village
was started In 1ST!) when Messrs. Cad
bury Bros, removed their works from
them to tie ractory or shop.
o. Keuable occupation
sup
port for the wage-ear jr himself, in
ease of a temporary loss of his regu
lar employment An acre of grouna,
intensively cultivated and irrigated,
will support a family,
4. Opportunity to set up, in the
homecroft, little handicrafts for the
products of which there is a constant
demand: such as special lines of
weavin", knittinsr, ruermakln?, cab-
inetmaking, basket weaving, turning;
in wood or bone, instrument making,
manufacturers of leather, gloves,
etc., etc. The distribution of power
from electric wires, or the use of In
tie gasoline engines, in village, of nothlnsr contributes so roue as the
homecrofters, may demonstrate that ownership of a home and a conscious
the concentration of thousands ofness that one can "make a living"
workers in great factories is not, reeardless of any boss,
after all, in a great many line of in- Concurrently with such betterments
liirmingham to a point four miles from
the city and erected twenty-four
houses for the workmen. Mr. George
Cadbury, from long observation and
experience, concluded that the only
practical way to solve the problem was
to take the factory worker out on the
laud where he might pursue the na
tural and healthy recreation of garden
ing. Says Mr. W. Alexander Harvey
iu his book on Bournville, "It was im
possible for working men to be healthy
mid have healthy children, when after
being confined all day in factories they
spent their evenings in an institute,
club room or public-house. If it were
necessary for their health, 'as it un
doubtedly was, that ,they should get
View In
Orchard,
Showing
Trolley Line
by Which
Boston Is
Reached,
iu Forty-five
Minutes.
II Vf , jnT4 fsf II
LANDS AT WATERTOWN, MASS, THAT WILL BE SUBDIVIDED
FOR HOMECROFT VILLAGE.
fresh air, It was equally to the advant
age of their moral life that they should
be brought into contact with nature.
There was an advantage, too, In bring
ing the worklngman on to the land,
for instead of his losing money in the
'amusements usually sought in the
towns, he saved it In his garden prod
uce a great consideration where the
poorer class of workman was con
cerned." And again, "The cultivation
of the soil is certainly the best anti
dote to sedentary occupation of those
working in large towns. A primitive
Instinct is lnduged, the full value of
which seems hardly yet to have been
realized. Many believe, indeed, that
with its encouragement the abuse of
the social club and the public-house
will be materially lessened, and one of
the greatest social evils of the time
disappear. (The experience of Bourn
ville certainly gives support to this
conclusion, for nearly every house
holder there spends his leisure In gard
ening, and there is not a single licensed
house in the village.)"
SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR
A HOUSE.
The houses of Bournville were built
with special reference to cheapness,
artistic development, sanitation and
convenience. At a cost of from $700
SITE FOR
to $2500 each a much higher grade of
home than the workers hud been ac
customed to was provided. Rents
range from 4s. Oil. to 12s. per week,
not Including rates; and the death rate
of nineteen per thousand In Birming
ham has been reduced to six and nlnc-
dustry, a necessity for the -ttalnment
or the best results.
5. A growth of co-operation, which
will give to the homecroft settle
ment all the advantages of the ci .
in schools, libraries, hospitals, enter
tainment halls, water supply, electric
lights, Improved roads, etc.; while
the cultivation of each separate acre
or "croft" will be facilitated by the
co-operative ownership of the numer
ni expensive pieces of farm ma
chinery now to be found on the best
larsre farms, but which could not be
afforded by the Individual crofter.
6. The fostering of a sturdy, inrte
pendent individualism, to hlnh
tenths per thousand in Bournville.
The garden features in Bournville are
planued with much care, provision in
most cases being made for some lawn,
Bowers, vegetables aud fruits.
To return to the Ilomecrofters Gild,
there is one distinctive advantage In
Mr. Maxwell's plan, in that he aims
to attach to each home eno land to
make it a feature and not merely an
Incident in the life of the worker, and
he has added the crafts work for wo
men and for men in the winter. He
already has under way plans for au
experimental group of four houses
under one roof, to be placed at the
centre of a square so as to secure the
greatest economy of space and place
ft. Sunny Slope
tor Berries
and Vege
tables. the worker In direct contact with his
laud. These plans are being prepared
by Mr. Allen AV. Jackson, the archi
tect. Something over fifty acres of land
have already been purchased for subdi
vision, and improvement. This will be
sold to workingmen for homes for prac
tically what It cost In large tracts, plus
the Coot of division and improvement.
A special plan Is to sell homes to In
dustrious working men on a long
time, on the monthly Instalment plan,
at a rate which will be no more than Is
usually paid in rent, but which will
create a sinking fund that will pay
the purchase price and In the mean
time carry what will amount to an In
surance policy covering the amount of
the purchase price remaining clue, so
that if the purchaser should die the
property would go to his family with
out further payment.
FOLLOWS SUCCESSFUL ENGLISH
PLAN.
The movement Is not intended to be
an isolated one as the shops and
gardens are open to any one who will
use them in the right way. Mr. Max
well feels that isolation has been the
cause of failure in such attempts and
that the people of the community must
themselves become n part of such a
movement If It is to succeed. Here
again the scheme resembles that of
Rournvllle. There, though practically
ill the houses have been built by the
Management, only forty-one and two
enths per cent, of the occupants work
.ii the village. Eighteen and six-tenths
,er cent, work In villages within a
mile and forty and two-tenths per cent,
work in Birmingham. Fifty and
seven-tenths per cent, of them are em
ployed at indoor work In factories,
thirteen and three-tenths per cent, are
clerks and travellers, and thirty-six
per cent, are skilled workers aud pro
fessional men. By this arrangement
a normal community life is main
tained. The Homecroft Gild Is being
developed along the same lines.
OVERCOMING PHYSICAL
DEGENERACY.
The Gild Is not making the mistake
of trying to make farmers pure and
simple out of city workers. Such a
hard and fast line between city and
country will nlways lead to failure,
Mr. Maxwell says: "Give the city
worker a home In the suburbs, where
he can have a garden and a poultry
yard, and where his children can have
sunshine and fresh nlr without stint,
and you have largely done away with
the terrible evils that are cursing the
denizens of the congested quarters of
our great cities physical degeneracy
tuberculosis, and social, moral, and
political dangers too numerous to be
enumerated. Henry W. Grady de
scribed the antithesis when he said,
"The citizen standing in the doorway
of his home contented on this thres
holdhis family gathered about his
hearthstone? while the evening of a
well-spent day closes In scenes and
sounds that are dearest he shall save
the republic when the drum tap Is
futile and the barracks are exhausted."
The nomeeroft Gild has other plans
In Immediate contemplation. Near
in the condition of the wage-earner,
the general carrying out of the home
croft idea would relieve the con
gestion of population in cities, and
greatly assist In their development
along those lines which are o much
better than mere bigness. A hun
dred thousand or a million people
living on small tracts of land, wi ' in
an hour's ride of a city would make
far more business for the city, of
every desirable kind, than the same
number closely packed in tenements.
tTia "linTTiM-roft" experiment not
to be limited to the settlement fost
ered bv Mr. Maxwell near Boston.
The idea combines with its sugges
tions of social betterments the prob
ability of very satisfactory re.urne
to the owners of vacant lands, near
cities, who may be disposed to ex
periment with it.
Pboenix, Arizona, a farm of one hun
dred and sixty acres has been turned
into a homecroft village. The land is
especially adapted to raising vege
tables and is under one of the best
water-rights in the region. Five-acre
tracts are here given to each worker.
The new government reservoir on
Salt River and driven wells on the
property, insure a permanent supply
of water for irrigation and therefore
unfailing crops.
These undertakings, while practical
and constructive In every sense, are
intended rather as models to show
what can be done in any community
in the country. Japan, with sixty
seven per cent, of her total population
working In part or entirely on the land,
has become a laud of gardens where
hopeless poverty is almost unknown
aud where tuberculosis is a negligable
quantity. America can take care of
Its hopeless thousands in the same
way, first by puttiug hope into them
aud then by putting them where they
may attain it. It is to the promoters
of our great Industries that we must
look for help In great part, but public
sentiment and sympathy will move the
promoters and reach the problem.
The Homecrofters Gild promises a
start which ought to weld together the
country and the city into one Inde
structible whole and, supplemented by
proper charity administration and sane
vagrancy laws, remove entirely the
possibility even of a "submerged
tenth."
Parking for the Town.
The town parks, or the town or
village square are the lungs of Its
citizens.
If the town is growing, It la none too
soon to start a movement to provide
for the securing of ample town park
ing. The land Is increasing; when the
town has doubled and has become a
small city, It will not be so easy to
secure sites, readily accessible to the
people, without paying an exorbitant
price. Secure first the laud; It is not
important that a large amount of
money should be at once expetided
upon Its beautilication, possibly it
needs but little, since nature may have
made It more beautiful than can man.
It is not necessary that It should be
transformed into carpet beds of
flowers and trimly kept lawns. If It
afl'ords sunlight and a green relie" of
grass and trees for the eye. It becomes
a civllizer and an equalizer, for the
poor as well as the wealthy, a resting
place where a man may forget, for
the time, some of his struggles and
his nnxleties in a contemplation of
what God has made.
The park Bhould be kept, In fact, as
natural as Is consistent with Its use as
such. It Is never too early, however,
to secure Its site, with a view to the
building up of the community, when
land values will necessarily increase.
Distribution of Immlgranla the
Solution.
If there were only some practicable
way of distributing Immigration more
equally among all the ports of tho
country the congestion and segru
gatlon phases of this problem would ho
nearer solution. It can be accom
plished in but a small degree, slnee it
will only be done If answering au
economic demand, as In tho case of
the Galveston-Bremen service. Wise
and well organized effort to Induce
Immigrants to pass through the large
ports by finding and Insuring them
employment in the interior und by In
forming them of opportunities else
where, will do much to Improve con
ditions. The self-interest of states,
many of which maintain Immigration
tigeneles, might nlso be brought more
generally Into play to attract the In
dustrious and ambitious new corners
to their farms and smaller towns.
Improving School Grounds.
In Rochester, N. Y., the school
authorities grade and sod the school
yards, while the shrubbery and other
planting Is by private effort In con
junction with the school children.
Ample land Is furnished for decorative
playground purposes, ond most exemp
lary results have been obtained, t
Wherever
anywhere in this country
there Is
Any One
who hni the
Spirit of True Patriotism
intl
Cenuine Love of Humanity
in hit or her heart.
"The Coming People "
By CHARLISF. DOLE
should be the first book to be reid
There la a multitude o thinking people
who see the dangers the future holds for
our country untens we reach a wise solution
of the tremendous social problems that
confront us.
The spirit in which we should approach
the consideration of these problems Is set
forth in this remarkable book In a way that
must be an inspiration to every truly hu
mane and patriotic heart.
Let the spirit of common sense ond opM
mls!n and fundamental economic and phil
osophical truth that pervades this book be
taken as the underlying motive of the
movement, and the Creed and t'lutform of
the Homecrofters as the practical plun to
Work to, and the rest of the (treat social
questions are certain to be rifihtly solved
by application to them of the sound and
humane principles that will guide the action
of our people upon all great national ques.
tions.
One copy of "The Coming People" post
age prepaid will be mailed to any ad
dress in the United States for twenty-five
Cents.
One copy of both "The Coming People',
and "The Fir4 Hook of the Homecrofters"'
and "Maxwell's Talisman" monthly for the
rest of the vear. W m be m""ed to
address in the United States for fifty cents.
Remit in postage stamps to The Home
crofters, 148 Main street, Watertown, Mass.