New-York tribune., 1905-08-06
BACK TO THE SOIL"

When the announcement was made some time
ago by the leaders of the Salvation Army that
TO place 1.-The landless man on the manless land"
was one of the principal causes for which the
army was working, a step taken tow
ard relieving the dangerous congestion among
the poor of the big cities and bringing into
clearer view a solution of the problem of civic
betterment The slogan, Back to the soil!' be-
came something more than a sentimental watch
word, and methods for carrying out the idea
began to command practical investigation.
That individual initiative would never accom-
plish any lasting result was foreseen early in
the struggle if the initiative were to be left in
the hands of the Individual most to be bene-
flied. When Mayor Pingree started his potato
patches in Detrot's vacant lots the plan was
received with laughter. in which those whom he
sought to aid Joined heartily; but the plan had
merits, not the least of which that it pointed
a way out of a serious municipal difficulty.
Other cities took it, modified and improved it,
until now small gardens. where the young idea is
taught how to grow things good to eat and to ap-
preciate the value of land, part of the public
school equipment in several cities. The science
of agriculture, which has developed amazingly
in the last decade and has been brought by
agricultural colleges and schools 70 point
where the graciOusness and beauty of a thor
oughly titled farm made apparent as its
practical utility has been placed within the
reach of thousands to whom it was a sealed
book not many years ago. One result of all
these efforts and tendencies is seen to-day i'll the
demand of dwellers in overcrOwded cities for
homes of their own where there are plenty of
fresh air and room TO grow and expand and live
a rational life.
From the efforts of individuals have developed
movements by organized bodies, and the current
news tells plainly to those who read understand
ingly that the tide of human life is setting land
ward with n strong and steady flow. The pur-
chase of South Dakota lands worth upward of
half q million dollars by the great Irish benevo-
lent association, the Ancient Order of Hiber-
mans, where the poor of that order may find
sef-supporting homes, with the accompanying
offer of free transportation by the railroad sys
tenn which traverses the territory; the purchase
of $4,000 acres of Oregon land for S1,S00,OO0
by the Cooperative Christian Federation, Civ
ing ranch sixty miles long by twenty-five
miles wide for more selfsuppOrting homes, and
other similar instances show that the move
ment has taken deep hold on widely separated
classes of people, and is in fair way toward
being worked out in satisfactory manner.
These semi-private undertakings, the action of
the government in continuing as fast as posi-
bic the opening of lands heretofore reserved
the rush which follows every announcement of
drawings for homesteads and even for short
term leaSehOlds like the Uintah reservation
opening and the Kiowa and Comanche leases i'll
Oklahoma, and the increase in value of the
irrigated lands in the Far West, all indicate the
force of this latest development of the idea that
the manless land is the proper place for the
landesS man.
The work should be encouraged and aided. 1t
means the reclamation OF a large part of the
present human waste of the great cities, the
building up of a sturdy American citizenship
having real stake in the country and a moral
mental and physical uplifting of which the ma
terial benefit to the nation at large as we'll as
to the individual cannot be measured by the
standard of dollars and cents.