The National tribune., 1895-04-04
EDITORS CHAT.
The New woman-Potato Farm IN New
Yorlx-The Prize Winners.

EDfToR's CHAT
The New woman-Potato Farm in New
Yorlz-The Prize Winners.
THE NEW WOMAN.
Frances Il. Willard, in recent address be-
fore the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
of which she is President gave q new version
OF the creation of woman, and drew some inter
esting deductions therefrom under the general
theme of the new woman.
"A little girl was asked by her mother
tWho made you2' She gave the correct an
swer. Then followed the question, Who made
Adam?' She gave the correct answer. And
then. Who made Eve?' Whereupon she said
why, Eve was made ont of Adams backbone.
Who shall say she did not give the correct an
pwer.n said Miss Willard; T" for truly out of the
months of babes the world sometimes receives
wisdom that all the intellectual development
of the ares has failed TO bring forth. Alter
GOOD wears woman receives clear suggestion
concerning her origin. This suggestion will
account for many things; but chiefly VIII 1t
account for the new woman.
"All along woman has been hampered with
the idea that she sprung from fraction of
mans anatomy that he could Just rs well get
along without and that she was not oil much
account anyway, only as she could minister
little more to his necessities in her present
form than in her original Que. But blood
will tell SAYS the old adage. and by and by
that of which she was made began to assert it
self A something stirred within which drove
her TO lift herself erect and ask 10 he allowed
to remain so. By misapprehension she had
hitherto been a elinging vine, likened by the
sentimenialist to ivy. The mora a man IS
ruined the more she clings to him. and which
disaffected old bachelor transposed into The
more she clings to him the more he is 10 med
h, fuCfx NJ
ment and satire, fortunate If she found gate
post to cling to and was not trailed upon the
ground. When the necessities of her origin
found her out she was at first bewildered. She
doubted the voice within her. But it was of
God, and she must obey. Fire and Hood lay
across her psth-the FIRE of mans rldlcnie and
the flood Of man made opinion. But she stood,
she moved upright, she called to her sPineless
sisters to make an effort to stand. Here and
there one struggled. When she sank back
those who had risen held out their hands and
took hold Of her and of each ether. So, by de-
grees, many arose and walked"
POTATO FARMS IN NEW YORK.
By Lenore Sherwood
Alta recent meeting of the Charity Confer
ence composed OF the leading charitable Or
panizstions of New York, it was decided to
adopt the scheme of Mayor Pingree, of De-
troit, which worked 20 successfully last Sum-
mer. It is TO turn the unused real estate in
the city into potato farms for the poor. A
large committee composed Of the most active
workers in pnllic charities has been appointed,
and the work has been commenced on a large
scale.
A simple explanation Of the plan is this:
Idle tracts Of land in the city are obtained and
divided into one-third Of an acre for each
family. Potatoes and vegetable seeds are fur
nished and each man obtaining farm must
work his land, and the products are his own.
The results from highlY-cultivated patches
have been surprising, and il has been salts
factorly demonstrated that oDe-third OF an
acre viii supply living for a family of five.
At the frst meeting of the committee over a
Thousand acres were offered, and il is expected
that thousands Of acres viii be rendered when
the plan is well understood and tracts solicited.
New York has more unoccupied land than
is supposed: the Postofice census. taken
through the letier-csrriers. show IL, 800 vacant
lots between West 145th street and the Harlem
River alone. and many Thousand acres in the
annexed districts.
The idea is also 10 teach the city poor how
good and healthy living can be made in
farming, hoping that when they have once
formed taste for the soil that they viii drift |
into country life.
Then it will give employment TO the unem- 1
ployed, and tire idea Of complete dependence /
will be taken away, and it viii enable the poor |
TO help themselves.
IN Detroit the plan was furthered by Capt. |
Cornelius Gardner, u. S. Inf. who took entire /
charge IF the work and made study OF its de- 4
tails. The following is part Of his letter:
Tho land was given gratis by charitable
people. and consisted largely Of subdivisions
held for specn lative purposes in the suburbs.
But for the unusual and extreme drought OF
some nine weeks the success would have been
phen omepai. As il was IL was good. After
selecting the land. have il plowed by contract
and then narrowed aud rolled. Assign your
poor people to staked-of lots Get fenced
pieces il possible, although ours were not fenced
Get their addresses, and inquire beforehand If 1
they worthy and need help. Remember |
you assisting and do not interfere too much /
with them" /
The committee here have made this report (,
which covers The principal points in the plan: /
To obtain the best results, there should be |
an expenditure of SO for each family With |
thicoutlay will be able 20 keep his fam |
lily the eutire Fall and Winter. We shall peed 1
but $4,000 10 make 5000 families, or q, 600 |
people, sef-suPportinR.
We shall ask this week that real estate /
owners give ms the use, for the Summer, of 4
every fenced vacant lot in the city. the nearer |
the centers of population the better
Destitute persons VIII lie paid for labor on /
an emergency tract until their own farms
yield. No lease will be asked OF landowners
and the property viii be vacated whenever
required.
Headquarters will be established in the
office OF the Association for Improving tho Con-
oition Of the Poor. and the farms will be plowed
Hs soon as the weather permits.
Detroit only allowed one-third of an acre
10 each farmer sud expended about $3.50 on
each plot. Tho money used to improve the
land here will be in the nature of a loan. so
that the farmers will not consider themselves
objects Of charity"
il has also been decided &c request that half |
Of each plot be planted in potatoes and the
other half in beans and cabbage. It is esti-
mated that by good manBring aud careful at.
tention excellent crops OF potatoes csn be
raised in each acre.
IN Detroit the crop raised on z3o acres or
1900 town lots, was sI1. 600, although many
families dug up for consumption rsortions of
the potatoes before shey were fully grown
One thousand families cared for themselves in
THE way.
This appeals 10 me as the practical, rational.
sensible scheme Of the age. Ii was sneored at,
laughed atkld joked about, but it was a sue
cess, and nothing succeeds like success Popu-
llsm is responsible for IT, Populism is aeita-
ton, agitation is thinking, thinking is acting,
acting he growing. and growing II achieving.
lt was my privilege TO see personal letter
written by Gov. Mckinley on this farming