The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-28
HELPING THE UNEMPLOYED
TO HELP THEMSELVES.


a success and worthy Of imitation by
other cities.
The experiment has clearly demon
strated:
That many of the destitute were
ready and willing to work.
That large number of these people
can be supported by utilizing vacant
land in the outskirts of the city.
That the wholesale robbery and
trespassing predicted did not occur
even upon unfenced land.
That a very small space of ground
is sufficient to raise enough vegeta-
/ bles to support a family through the
winter.
That majority Of the citizens who
own the vacant land would rather al
/ low il to be cultivated by the poor
than pay large tax for their sup
/ port.
That the needy are thereby assisted
without creating the decentralization
! in the habits of the people that graf
uitous aid in other places always en-
tails.
All over the country this scheme of
/ relief for the worthy poor is being
/ favorably considered. Detroit, Duluth
! Omaha, Toledo, Passaic and Syracuse
! have already commenced work on the
farms. New York has begun work
on a large scale. Three hundred acres
of land lying north of Long Island
city are now being plowed and fertil-
ized for potato farms for the poor of
the city. Three thousand five hun
dred city and suburban lots have been
offered, and these will be put in shape
for cultivation as rapidly as possible.
Applications for farms have already
been made in large numbers. Each APP
plicant is required to furnish some
reference, either of a person or a So
ciety, that will be satisfactory to the
committee in charge.
The WorI<ingman.
The effect upon the wCrkingman of
such a scheme under city control is
shown by the following reported by
T. B. Livizey, of Sykesville, Md:
Everybody knows that the coke
workers of Pennsylvania were the
most violent set Of strikers in the
country. Scenes of riot and bloodshed
were Of daily occurrence and the wo-
men Wed with the men and were
equally the prisoners in the jails.
What was the relief in the case? Ag
riculture. They removed from Con-
nellsville, Pa, to the vicinity of Su-
perior, Wis. The Rev. Philip Lamber-
din, who urged them to go, received
the maledictionS of the Connellsville
proprietors, probably, as I have said,
because he was seeking to depopu-
late the community of men whom the
proprietors wanted to stay, that they
could have men at their own terms
The first batch Of these strikers
numbered zoo men with their families
others have followed. The lumber
men built them homes. They each
got fifty acres apiece, at $3.50 per acre,
with a long time for payment, and,
the beauty of it all was that the bust
ness men of the little town of Superior
raised $4,000 in cash TO pay the trans
portation charges. Now, what have
these strikers done in their new
homes? Are they striking? MOI Are
they fighting and killing? No! They
are attending strictly ito business, and
Mr.. Lamberdin writes me they are
getting along finely. Is anything more
needed to prove to the country that
the masses must be gotten back to
small farms, and that our waste pla-
ces must be made into happy homes
from their industry and frugalfty?
Speculations are follies in the face of
such facts"