The St. Louis Republic., 1904-07-31
TO MAKE FARMERS
OF RAILROAD men
Pennsylvania Company May Al
lot Land TO Employees Along
Its Lines.
FRENCH ROADS AS PIONEERS.
Doctor W. II. TOlman Points Out
Moral and Health Bene- b..
fits us Well as Fl
nancial.

REPUBLIC SPECIAL.
New York, July 30.--Waste places are to
he converted into fruitful farms and rail
road employees of various grades are To be-
come farmers if the scheme now being in
Nestigated by the Pennsylvania Railroad
IS found to be feasible. The plan was
suggested by Doctor W II. Tolman of
this city. director of the American lnst-
ute of Social Service.
TT came about in this way. explained
Doctor TolInan. When | vas IN France
last year / was extremely interested in
The workfngmen's gardens and made 4
oareful investigation of what the railways.
factories and Individuals were doing to
better the condition OF the working people
by giving them a little land 10 cultivate.
This summer l sent out a brief sum
mary of the results of my Investigations
Mr.. r. F. Powell. superintendent, of the
Philadelphia Vacant Lots Cultivation As
sociation, brought the matter TO the at
tention OF Mr.. A. j. Cassatt. president OF
The Pennsylvania Railroad
Mr.. Cassatt replied to Mr.. Powelrs let
ter. saying that he had bsen greatly I'M
pressed with, the facts and figures in re-
gard to the French gardens. and that he
hesu dShtu the or the Penn
syivania lines TO make a report upon the
practicability Of the plan
FRENCH ROAD AIDS EMPLOYEES .
The pennsylvania Railroad has done a
great deal TO encourage its employees to
take a pride in the surroundings of the
stations along the roads and has redeemed
many unsightly spots and stretches of
lano. what it has done for aesthetic .rea-
sons Doctor Tolman thinks could be done
ior the practical purpose OF helping its
employees.
In many places along its right of wav
The railroad owns enough land to enable
II 10 give many of the employees plots that
could be cultivated with considerable
p.oht. One of the advantages of these
httle farms would be that in those cases
where man could not till the soil him
self his family could do most of the work
OF raising enough vegetables to supply the
lapie ana IN some cases there would be
something to sell
In France the Northern Railway ,Nortn
supplies each one of 5000 employees with
garden varying in size from $5S TO SOS
square yards. The Eastern dEsp pro-
woes gardens for $500 trainmen and So
S,soon s agents On the Southern. midi
of 5ss square yards. and $50 station agents
and clerks have allotments of 7l7 and g31
square yards each. this one line setting
apart total of 44s acres fog the use Of
itn employees. The Orleans Railway has
gardens for more than 5000 of its men,
and in Tours places thirty gardens at the
in the station
the factories in France are falling in
Inc with similar concessions of gardens
to their employees. a poor priest of St,
Etienne. hearing of the workmen's gar:
dens. hired land. divided it among a nun
bcr OF poor families. and found that the
iarged 1t year by year until now he has
90 gardens. which last year acted as the
scIf,help workshops of $500 persons
These gardens, said Doctor Tolman,
are an excellent substitute for. hc Ga loon
They are one of the best eounteracting
agencies against tuberculosis, and they
since man will take pride and satisfac-
lion in raising his own vegetables.
A slmdiar Tadi movement began in this coun-
tato patches were l3tid ont i'm Detroit. We
followed, with the vacant lot farm in New
York. but the hand became too expensive
deipnia. however. has Kept up the work
and this is its eighth successful year MIR.
Cassatt therefore has an opportunity to
works
Il was present at the midsummer in
speStl0n ren of OF vacant s; lot gardens and school
Near Logan Station in that city there are
about $50 gardens of that kind. which sup
port almost entirely. that many families.
Not one Of the applicants this year has
abandoned his plot, and there are seventy
i've families on the waiting list. The gar
dens contain about one-fourth of an acre
etlcn. ana IN ADDITION to supplying the
family with the greater part of the food
supply. many of them yield a profit of
from 500 to $50 worth of produce
COOPERATIVE CITY FARM.
I'm other parts of the city a tract of
nine acres is cultivated in a cooperative
way and has become entirely seIf-sup-
porting. The land has been divided among
fifteen families. according to each famiiy's
requirements. some taking only a quarter
OF an acre, some half an acre and others
taking no land at all, but being paid cur
rent farm wages by the leader.
Women and children do a great part Of
the work on these small city farms. The (
association piows the land. and POTATOES
given free. -. 8 4
,".rhe work is not hard and invalids and
had to sit in a chair to attend to his gar
dening has been cured by the outdoor life.
| saw a mother and seven children who
were making success of a garden plot in
Philadelphia the other day. They Were
not only able to live off the product of the
land. but they literally lived on it. for
there under much better conditions than
fall to the lot of the ordinary tenement
house tenant.
GREAT POSSIBILITIES SEEN.
THE Philadelphia vacant lot farms are
intended to help the unfortunate, those
out of employment for one reason or an
other. and most OF the schemes of a SINH
lar kind have been undertaken for the
same purpose. If the Pennsylvania Rail-
road adopts the plan. however. 1t will be
not only the most exclusive enterprise of
The kind. but will be on an entirely differ.
cnt basis. 1t will carry no suggestion of
Hesitation of the companys interest in it's
employees and an indication of its desire to
better their condition..
The terms Of apportionment- will not be
decided upon until the superintendent re-
port has been made to Mr.. Cassatt.
Doctor Toman believes that IL this great |
railroad finds the idea practicable ii will !
be the starting point for system of |
workmen's gardens in connection with |
many Industrial and commercial enter !
prises equaling that which is so successful |
in France.