Frostburg mining journal., 1895-06-01
CORRESPONDENTS.
Farm Reform at Washington.

AT w
SYKEsvILLE MD., May 20, 1895.
To the MINING JOURNAL.
Farm reform from the charitable or
State aid point of view is going to put
in its first work at Washington. | am
indebted to Mr.. Bolton Hall, Ill
Broadway, n. Y, for Il clipping from
the Evening Post, of that city, giving
the information. 1t reads:
In connection with the Detroit plan, it is
worthy of note that phianthropists i'll the
city of Washington, where the idea has been
enthusiastically received are planning to
extend the original system until it shall pro-
vide regular employment and permanent
homes for the unemployed. This is to be
done by establishing agricultural colonies in
Maryland ana Virginia on lands which can
be secured by donation or by purchase.
There are in the District of Columbia about
200 dependent families to be provided for in
this manner, and it is planned to secure 1000
acres of land and to furnish shelter, tools,
and the means ofcarrying on the experiment
successfully. Competent managers and
instructors will be furnished and the control
of the colony will remain Tor time in the
hands of suitable trustees until the coloniSts
become independent enough to provide for
themselves, and, perhaps, pay some return
for the privileges afforded them. The
whole expense of this venture, which seems
about to be put to practical test, is reckoned
at about S32,00o-a figure said to be con
siderably less than it costs the charitable or
CARNATIONS of the District to provide for the
same dependent families under the present
lack of system. The colonists will be en-
Couraged to become land owners and to
attain independence as rapidly as possible.
committee has already been appointed to
perfect the plan and put it in practical opera
tion-this summer if possible 1t is believed
that the and land panIal will ha
secured readily, as soon as the plan is made
public and fully explained.
The following letter will explain
where the Washington people got the
Farm Reform idea. The letter was
accompanied by copies of the JOURNAL
and other papers containing articles
from my pen on Pingree and Farm
Reform
SYKEsvILLE, MD., April II, 1895.
Judge G. c. COLE, Chairman Central Relief
Committee Washington, d. C.
Dear 'Sir-I see by to-day's Baltimore Sun
that you are advised by the District Com
missioners to hunt up some permanent
system of relief for the Districts poor.
L would recommend that you encourage
everybody with sufficient means to buy or
rent small farms and go to work on them,
and that for all persons wholly Impoverished
you buy an old farm, invite the poor to go
there Cat the expense of charity, or of the
District and get gradually introduced to
farming, that they may be eventually prepared
to go forth as farm help, or to run farms of
their own. We want the people henceforth
educated to work and to agriculture and not
to Overstocked clerkships and superficial
pursuits.
My plan is receiving wide recognition in
the north and west and is the only one that
is showing itself capable of mastering the
situation. 10000 to my own knowledge lat
this date it is 20O,OO0 have Of late gone, or
are preparing to go to small farms. The plan
was laid before the Labor Commissioner last
summer. For palliative, Mayor Pingree's
plan is sufficient. Respectfully,
FRANCIS B. LIvEsEY.
Mr.. Hall is very much interested in
the race between single tax and Farm
Reform.
In your next issue | hope Rabbi
Stern may be able to give the name of
some western Maryland city which
single tax has captured.
FRANCIS B. LIVESEY.