Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-08

Rider Haggard.
ment that will take him from New York to
California inspecting the various means by
which the more or less helpless part of the
city population is enticed back TO the land
and kept there
Mr.. Haggard is at the Normandie with
his private secretary Mr.. Ransom Caygill,
and his daughter, Miss Haggard He will
be in Washington only day or two. during
which he will call on the President and
transact some business at the State De-
partment. After that the party leaves for
New Orleans, going thence to California
and back by way of Utah and the Canadian
northwest Mr.. Haggard is primarily on
tour of investigation, and as he says, has
not been in the country long enough to
see much of how we are handling the rural
problem here, but he was free to tell what
he could of the conditions confronting the
British government on the other side. In
speaking to Star reporter today he said
in part:
Conditions in Great Britain.
az do not pretend to carry statistics in my
head, but roughly speaking there is only
about seventh of the population of the
united kingdom, or of England at any
rate, left on the land. The others of the
rural population have been drawn into the
cities by the attractions of city life as
compared with the dull monotony and iso-
lated existence in the country. Now. no
nation can hope to maintain it's stamina
which crowds the bulk of it's population
into great cities under insanitary con-
ditions. The people, also, who have left
the land and flock to the cities find after
they have made the change that the nomi-
nally higher wages are not really higher,
for they are eaten up in increased rents
and expenditures of all sorts that they did
| not have to meet in the country. Still
| there is the excitement of city life, the
amusements of the cheap music halls, and,
| above all, the freedom from loneliness and
| lack of society that is the bane of existence
to many in the country. This keeps many
| who would in reality be better off on a
| farm, while there are many others who
would get back if they could, but lack the
means
1T is the problem of getting this popula-
| ton back to the soil and keeping them
| there that faces the government and we
| want to see especially the Salvation Army
| farms and settlements in this country and
! learn what you have been doing before
| formulating a plan of our own. There is
| one thing certain that the rural laborer has
to be given a material interest in staying
| in the country or he will not stay there.
think myself that it must be through
| giving him freehold interest in the land
| he is on and this he must be made to pay
| for in labor or some other way. You
| cannot run an economic reform on the line
of charity pure and simple. If reform
| does not more than pay its way it will not
persist You cannot chuck charity to any
| people you would a bone to a dog and
| have them value it. If they are made to
pay for improved conditions, either in labor
| or coin, they will value them much more
| than if they are given to them, and if the
| economic reform is put on a paying bust
| ness basis it will last; not otherwise. You
| cannot permanently improve economic con-
| ditions and still the scheme like a
| charity hospital
What is Needed.
Ia
settled on small farms of their own and
| have them pay for and own the farms.
| That will give them an interest in the land
| that will keep them settled. AS to the land,
| there is plenty of 1t in England that can
| be had / think the game problem and
| the preservation of shooting on great eS-
| tates stands but little in the way. 1t is
| true that in England land has come to be
| regarded too much as the rich mans play
| thing, but there is an abundance of it that
| can be had at moderate price if we can
| find the right way to put the people on it
and make living conditions tolerable and
profitable to them. That is the thing that
| / want to investigate here.
| Il have seen very little so far, though I
| was taken around Philadelphia and was
| much interested in the work the Vacant
| Lots Association is doing there. Now, that
| work has been profitable. / understand in
! the eight or nine years it has been in ex-
| istence that there has been expended about
| thirty thousand pounds, but there has been
1 a return of about sixty thousand Now, that
| is business investment. Still the work is
| too much on the line of charity. The
people have no permanent interest in the
| land and the people who own the land
| have no permanent interest In the laborers
who are cultivating it. / expect to see
| more in the line / want on the Salvation
| Army farms in the country.
I'VE have not, as / say formulated any
| plans yet for dealing with the rural situa-
! ton. but there Is land to be had if we can
| only utilize it profitably. OF course, there
! is plenty of land in the British empire, and
| there are people who always say to export
| your surplus population il you get too
| many of them on your hands But / do
| not believe much In the export side of the
| problem. While you have land to put them
on your population is very good thing to
| keep at home. We need them there and
| am in hopes we will be able to solve the
problem and utilize them satisfactorily