The sun., 1902-03-09

hopeful, healthful cond1uons, with MS
family around him. his children comfort
anything fine In him It's coming to the
surface.
Il wish you could zee how our first colo
nists at Fort Amity have biossomed out.
I've told you the story OF the colony be-
fore-how We fosted $4,000 worth OF
acres now-in tho fertile Arkansas Valley
Of Colorado, took seventeen families.
ninety-six individuals, including sixty
four children, out there, gave each family
twenty acres and money TO build cottage,
plements and seed. and told them we ex-
pected them 10 pay us back cent for cent.
.Those fret colonists had the pioneer
hard time. for they landed on bare prairie:
but they settled down to work. We made
each Of those families a weekly allowance
until they began getting in returns from
-In one season they had founded COM
Portable thriving community. We have
sent twenty-five families since, making
In all about $50 souls; but We made no al
lowance to the latter patches.
They found things ready. for them, the
colony going. ground broken, cottages
built. We gave them their horses, COW,
and farming implements and let them
scratch for themselves from the start
.The sucoess Of the individuals and the
increase in land values Is really almost
phenomenal. The Labor Commissioner,
Mr. Carroll Wright, has asked me to pre-
pare a statemept for him. I've got the
The Commander hunted through the
desk and pulled out typewriter docu-
fnent
sNow here. Listen TO these figures.
They will show you In a nutshell how the
colonies have been thriving
H. las In
Colorado, one at Fort Romie, California,
and one on 2ss acres Of land near Ceve-
land, Ohio, recently donated to us by
Myron T. Herrick and James Parmalee.
There are $50 colonists at Fort Amity,
seventy at Fort Romie and thirty at Fort
Herrick. The first move was made Just
four years ago.
we have spent ON all three colonies
s40,8le in payments on land. sle,4oo In IN
terest, s4S, ,ste in advances TO colonists,
ss7.iis. in improvements, bridges. irriga-
tion, DO, and s21 500 expenses OF manage
ment, making a total Of Sis4 1888
sour floating liabilities are only ~ $50.
Our land liabilities are about s3i ,soi-
thoroughly secured by the increeae In the
lands.
Now want to tell you what the colon,
lists have done. Remember they were all
the poorest OF poor people, with nothing
TO put into the thing. They have, IN the
four years, made payments of sl2 $50 90,
DO you realize what that meansY Al
the arrears put together amount TO only
81 800 and they are more than palAnSea
by excess payments Of 81 els made by other
Nobody shirks payemnt Everybody
Is prospering. There isn't happier COM
munity or a healthier community In the
world. Some men have already paid US
aOne man In addition to farming his
twenty acres runs a store. He tells me Is
making $50 a week. Another man home
steaded forty acres in addition to his farm
and has a fine quarry on the homestead
We have bought all our stone from him,
paving him so much cash and setting the
rest against his debt to us. So he'll soon
be In fine shape.
we've just built $4,000 stone orphan
age. One Of the colonists was a boss car,
penter Another was a boss mason. Several
painters out there have all the work they
can do. Men can ply their trades you
see, In addition TO farming, but the man
idea is TO make good farmers OF them
and of their children.
M y of the farmers can make large
prof, ecause they have lot OF children
Old enough TO help them and furnish cheap
labor The children are the happiest
crowd I ever saw and absolutely healthy.
The climate is almost Rertect, an ana to ais, ho
very c..reful about the health question.
for we couldn't load the place with invalids.
but the weak have grown strong, and the
few with lung trouble, whom we did accept,
have entirely recovered.
-The Orphans Home Is a development
OF our old Cherry Tree Home here. The
latter still exists, but it's only an expert
ment and receiving station.
sWe take the children there and test
them, make sure the relatives will not
chan ge their minds and make trouble, Later
we send them TO Fort Amity. There,
under fine conditions, we will train them
into moral. healthy, able farmers, and most
of them will marry and settle down there'
/ fancy.
crop for US. Canteloupes are fine product
at Fort Amity, so are all sorts OF fresh
vegetables, fruits, &c.
Having only twenty acres In each farm
we 60 In for highly intensive scientific
farming. 4 good deal OF Alfalfa Is raised; ed
our cattle and hogs are big items. Every
farm has its fruit orchard. The water
supply and irrigation are e1cepuonaly
good
The little town has grown until Columbia
avenue on Sunday Is quite a sight. Cow,
boys and ranchers from fifty miles around
drive or ride in for services. The cow
boys looked askance at us az first. Now
they are our best friends They Say the
colonists are the real thing. ,r.
"All the colonists aren't Army lolK'
That doesn't make any ulntiSilS0' ih',,y
can belong 20 any Church or none at all,
so long as they are honest and hard work.
ing and decent. ,
SThe farmers wives are much happier
than the ordinary farm women. There
are many Of them, and the farms beng
small they are close together. Then they
are go thankful for comfortable, pros
porous homes, strong, contented nus.
bands and happy, healthy children, that
they haven't any complaints to make
-Oh, it's the right idea. In my humble
opinion il is the only. way to solve the
family problem, the slum problem.
Il saw some london statistics to-day.
Here they are: In London there are 5000
families, each Of nine members. ana each
family living in one room; there are 1860
eiRht-member families. each in one roon'
and 2s 900 six-member families, each hav-
ing only one room. a.,
THE report says the furniture OF the
room is usually one bed. As many as can
get into Il do 40. The rest sleep under 1t,
because that's the next warmest place.
STve never seen comparative New YORK
statistics. / suppose they wouldn't be so
bad but they would be bad enough. That
il what city poverty, city slums mean.
Contrast that family life with the life on
our colonies.
-,