The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-01-14

q single or half acre lot in the village.
The idea is that the farmers shall live in
the village and till their adjacent lands.
The village is to be surrounded by
broad, circular boulevard on which the
houses will face.
Another feature of the plan is to be
the system of ownership. The owners of
the farms are to constitute company
which shall own the village and conduct
various enterprises necessary for the
profitable utilization of the crops. Thus
there will be a creamery, to use the sur
plus milk; a cannery for the fruit, a
packing house and a starch factory to
convert the surplus potatoes into mar
ketable article.
The most important feature of the
plan, and the one on which its life de-
ponds, is the irrigation system. This is
to be in the hands of the company and
the water right goes with the title to
every farm. Each colonist is to purchase
as many shares of stock as he does acres
of land and the capital thus acquired is
to be used for the general benefit of the
colony. While the Sacramento valley is
not actually an arid rer~son, the rainfall
is only sufficient for thta.aising of grain
and early vegetables. With sufficient IL
rigation almost any kind of crops could
be raised, as we'll as such semitropical
fruits as oranges, lemons, lines, pome-
granates, olives and figs. Good railroad
facilities are easy Of access and, besides,
the Sacramento river furnishes a clear
waterway to Sacramento and San Fran
cisco
It is estimated that a capital of $670
is sufficient to establish a family on a
20 acre farm in the proposed colony and
SAT- on 10 acres. In return for this it is
said that from $50 to 800 an acre can
be made over ard above living expenses.
Mr. Smythe' 8 idea is to attract num-
Der of thrifty American families to the
west, gather them into farm villages
like this, where they can rely upon their
own efforts to bring them a good living
with good prospects for acquiring mod
est fortune. A community similar to the
one proposed has already been started in
Payette Valley. Ida, and in the two
years of its existence has prospered
greatly.
The plan gives the colonist a great
advantage over the individual farmer,
for the village company, of which he is
member, furnishes him with water,
power, electric light and, what is more,
a good market for his products. He gets
the benefits of living in a village and is
still near to his farm.
Mr.. Smythe, the author of this scheme,
is neither a wild dreamer nor selfish
land boomer. He is young, energetic,
earnest business man, with lots of prac-
teal common sense. He was born in
Worcester, Mass, about "a years ago
and comes of Puritan stock. He is a
journalist by profession, but has been
identified with several successful bust
ness enterprises in the west. For two
years he was president of the irrigation
congress.
His plan is the outcome of study Of
various colony schemes that have already
been tried. and he claims to have en-
braced all the best points and avoided
the bad ones. The idea is primarily that
a hundred such communities would re-
claim by irrigation the so called arid
lands and secondarily the establishment
of combined agricultural and manufac-
turing communities on sound financial
basis. These colonies would consist of
men who owned their own farms and at
the same time had an active interest in
| the community in which they lived.
Their interest would not depend on a
mere theory. 1t would be financial in
terest and consequently lasting one.
Social economists will watch with great
interest the new colony which Mr..
I Smythe is to establish.