The San Francisco call., 1897-03-29
G. II. Maxwell Leads Him
to the San Joaquin
With a Scheme.
A Proposition by Which Men
May Pay for a Small Farm
by Their Labor.
Scrip Gould Be Used in Place OF
Money, That Would Ssrv,
Every Purpose

Major w. w. Winchell and George H.
Maxwell took run into the country yes
terday to look at piece of land which the
latter offers as basis for the colonization
scheme which is being proposed by the
Salvation Army as a solution of the prob
lem OF the surplus labor.
II took the major down to the ranch by
way of find ing opportunity to pump him
full, of my theories as much as anything" !"
said Mr.. Maxwell last evening. Il be-
live that the Government or the organized
business men OF the State and
Nation have got to face and
ind solution for this problem
of the unemployed. And to my mind
there is only one way in which it may be
solved, and that is by getting the people
out to the land. Why this spectacle th at
we see here of men dragging wagon
around the street asking 10 be given
things to eat is nothing compared to the
con ditions OF the same kind that exist in
the big cities further East-Chicago for
instance. There are thousands of men
there in want of the necessaries of life. A
few minutes ride out of Chicago will dis
cover wide tracts OF land serving no good
Whatever. All these people could be
taken out to this land, given q spade and
a hoe, and the problem of their susie
nance would be solved-they would SIM
ply dig their living out OF the ground.
The same conditions are here. It is
the widespread theory of the single
taxer--who admits this to be the solution
of all the trouble-that the land is
monopolized, that ii is i'm possible for the
people to get to the land because it is
owned by speculators. Nothing is further
from the fact. Let it be known at any
time of day that man is standing at the
corner of Pine and Montgomery, who
knows how to cultivate a piece OF land
and could and would improve it, and
will wager something that ne will be
besieged by men offering him land as
gift-with the only stipulation that he
cultivate and improve it. No. the fact is,
the land is clamoring for the people rather
than the people for the land. Any quantity
of excellent land may be had in the fertile
valleys of this State for as little as $50 an
acre.
Now. the plan l have suggested to
Major Winchell runs something like this:
Say the owner Of big tract of land would
split it in two. reserving half for himself
and dividing the other into tracts of ten
acres each. Onto these small tracts could
be placed the home-seekers, with the prom
ise that after three years occupancy and
work they could own the land and the i'm
provements they had created. One year
the man of the family-if it be a family
should work for the rancher who sells
him the land. One years work
would pay for it.. By this means
the rancher has his land improved,
wells dug upon it, widdmilis constructed,
roads built, etc.-in word, put in condi-
ton that will enhance its value to an ex-
tent fully equal to the amount he has, in
land, paid out. On the other hand he has
created settlement, has ready labor at
hand when he needs it, and the Ia borer
has acquired home and little estate
that Will forever remove him from the
fear of want.
And this thing is necessary on an
other view. San Francisco has lost the
trade of the Northwest and of the south
to "a great extent. She must people her
valleys. the valleys naturally tributary to
her. If she does this the San Joaquin
alone will fill up the gap in her trade left
by the loss of Portland and the Sound.
81 believe the business men and land
owner, will stand together in furthering a
movement of this kind. The Salvation
Army has the machinery and the con-
ndence of all necessary to put it into
speedy execution. Now is the time to do
it when the price of land is so low. Four
wears ago it would have been impossible.
Very little capital would be necessary.
The ranch owner could issue certificates for
the days labor as performed and these GER
tificates would be good at the commissary
tor necessaries, Adobe houses, the very
best for the warm climate, could be built
with little more than labor. live in one
that was built fifty years ago, and it is as
good as new"
Major Winchell will confer with busi-
ness men further to-day about the scheme.