Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-04
BACK TO THE LAND
COLONIZATION WORK WHICH
SALVATION ARMY Is DOING.
Planting Mem From the oongestsd
Quarters Of Great City on
Farms In the West.
From Public Opinion.

Il
Of whitechapel to the rostrums and plat
| forms of the greatest halls and houses Of
| congregation in the world; from the ash
| barrel bottoms and garbage heaps OF the
/ East End Of London to the clinging car
pets of the throne rooms Of kings and
| monarchs and the Offices Of democratic
rulers: from the obscure circuit OF Meth
odist preacher to the universal highways
| Of religious and social endeavor no matter
| where they may lie. Is assuredly long
| climb, but General William Booth has made
| 1t. the while he dragged after him or push
| ed ahead of him his Salvation Army. Be-
| tween the farthingless haranguer OF strange
| schemes on street corners. with scoffers for
| listeners. to the headship Of world or
ganization with finances of millions whose
| undertakings governments now pause to
| examine and approve. there are forty years.
William Booth today looks out from No.
| 1O1 Victoria street upon forty-n nine coun-
tries wherein Is entrenched the marvellous
religious movement which he controls alb
solutely and of which he and Catherine
Mumford Booth. the wonderful woman who
was his wife, were the founders. There Is
almost within his grasp commission from
Great Britain which will make of the army
| a government agent Of colonization. II 1t
shall come to him and his organization 1t
will be an achievement appropriate to the
evening Of such career as his has been.
| 1t will be an Endorsement Of the Salvation
Army which will have an effect on its fu-
ture not to be easily measured.
1t Is in connection with vital work
| that the recognition Of William Booth by
| the government of his own country has
| begun. Never in history has any nation
been confronted with such a problem as
| that which presents itself to Great Britain
| in the glutted cities and crowded acres Of
England, Scotland and Wales. 1t demands
solution. for 1t is gripping at the heart Of
| rious aspects of racial survival and evolu-
| ton 1t is argued that from these teeming
| millions of the home isle she must con-
| tinue to draw the blood and snew of her
| upon 1t this long while and the stock is
going down hill rapidly. 1t is wearing
out. 1t must be rejuvenated; put out to
pasture.
There are elements of this population for
| which something is to be done which do
not count in the scheme and never could
count and. consequently, are not reckoned
with. for they are to the cities born, but
as for the remainder the note has been
| sounded tkSt they shall go back to the
land
In casting about for methods of sending
them back those in use by the Salvation
Army stand alone feasible In the eyes
Of students familiar with the question. The
farm colonies OF the army in the United
States the Sasis for the proposed
movement toward this end. 1t is only a
month since the well-known novelist and
South African, H. Rider Haggard, returned
to England, after an examination of the
armys three agricultural settlements in
this country and reported to the secretary
Of state for the colonies unquali1edly in
favor of the system which he saw in opera
ton. En- route to London he carried his
views to Canada and SO impressed the
him to declare it's willingness to set aside
ten townships or 100000 acres to give the
movement life. but in his report, however
Mr. Haggard not only approved of Can
ada as territory ripe for colonization along
these lines. He recommended South Africa
from personal knowledge Of It's agricuI-
tural possibilities, and 1t may be men
toned in this connection that the commits
sion under which he acted was created by
the government at the suggestion of the
Rhodes trustees.
Government Copying the Army.
Haggard's recommendations cover the
subject most exhaustively naming the Sal
walton Army as a worthy agent to carry
into effect the operation of the plans of
colonization and a subsequent supremacy
under the direction of an imperial officer.
pointing out the features OF the army COL
onies in the United States which should be
adopted and setting forth that the scheme
could only be set In motion properly by
government loans to the immigrants SINH
lar to those which II Is making to tenants
in Ireland.
In other words, Great Britain, in his
opinion, would have to assume a similar
relation to its agricultural colonies as the
Salvation Army bears toward those for
which it stands sponsor For several years
past the New Zealand government has been
experimenting in farm colonies in this
manner. and. 1t Is reported. with success
No less vital to the United States Is the
problem Of our overcrowded cities on the
Atlantic seaboard and through the middle
west. That Is problem the existence Of
the army colonies in Ohio, Colorado and
California demonstrates. One has only to
consider the conditions obtaining in New
York and their present trend to foresee
that in another decade the subject Of over
population by the poorer classes will be
stupendous question.
These farm colonies of the Salvation
Army have been successful thus far, but
they are only slips transplanted from the
other side of the ocean. Hadleigh. England.
was the nursery wherein the Booths first
rooted the shrub. 1t was the experiment
station.
The most important of the three settle
In Colorado. 1t Is a tract OF about 1000
acres on which there are $50 settlers drawn
from the large centers OF population of
the country. Among them are the heads
to the land" had been trying, with an in
come of 81 and So week, to feed, dress
and educate as many as five and six chill
dren; The Salvation Army has spent up
ments has received about $25 900, not In
Guiding 5000 and more In credits for i'm
proved acreage. A number of families have
already paid for their farms, although a
period OF ten years is allowed for liquida-
ton of mortgages, with a settler having
the privilege at the end of that time to
extend the loan. Just before Commander
Booth-Tucker left the United States last
spring he expressed the opinion that not
an extension would have to be granted.
California and Ohio.
In the Fort Romie colony in Monterey
county. California. there are in the neigh
borhoed of 100 settlers. There are 800
acres in this tract, which is in one of the
best parts Of the sugar beet belt
The third colony is Fort Herrick and Is
near Columbus, Ohio. It contains 2SS
acres. which was donated by Governor Her
rick and James Parmelee. Twenty thou
sand dollars have been subscribed In Cleye-
land to develop the land.
The success Of the colonies so far has
depended largely upon the fact that every
member of them is self-supporting There
are no dead branches. Only those which
have capacity of bearing fruit are toler-
ated.
A year ago on the oeea sion ne bye. cav,