davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-06-01
DOUBTS.
By Rev. Henry F. Cope.

Prove all things hold fast that which
Is good. Thes. 5 81.
He who does not doubt Is damned.
Intellectually and morally nothing Is
possessed until it is put to the proof.
If you do not test things for yourself
they will be. tested for you by adver-
sity and necessity. There Is no virtue
in taking things for granted. There
is greater reason for putting the
things Of religion to the test since 1t is
to take the supreme place in the life.
Doubt Is not disbelief; 1t Is not re.
Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-06-01
Our Custom n.

II should like to see something in
spring Shirts" said the customer.
"Yes, sir" replied the polite clerk.
Here's something that is worn a great
deal"
Pardon me, but haven't you some
thing that hasn't been used T-Mll-
waukee Sentinel.
Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-06-01

Perhaps the reason short calls are
is that the caller who
stays less than fifteen minutes is not
expected to ask the daughter to play
on the piano.
Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-06-01
ILLINOIS STATE CAPITOL.

en- to set in motion a county organiza-
ton Of government, and they met, with
out delay, at the cabin Of John Kelly
on Spring Creek, a tributary of the
Sangamon. Kelly had wandered Into
the State in 1918 and had built him
self cabin on the edge Of a green
bordered stream which he had named
Spring Creek.
The Sangamon officials sent forth
their report regarding the establishment
of a temporary county seat OF justice
and agreed that at should be called
by the name of Springfield" A con-
tract was made at once for court
house of rough logs to contain one
room ample for court, and with plenty
of space for the offices Of county Off
cials, who we're already named. The
court house was completed In twenty
four days, and paid for In the sum of
forty-two dollars and fifty cents.
As 1t was evident that constable
could not exercise his functions without
provision for the safe-keeping of offend
Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-06-01

That man never lived who enjoyed
having walter stand around and
watch him eat.
Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-06-01
RISE OF ILLINOIS CAPITAL.
springfeId's First Court House Was
of Logs and Cost S42.

The Sangamon River Of Illinois
flows through the heart Of a garden
as rich and fertile as the one which
the Euphrates watered in the far dis
tant days of Adam and Eve. The
County Of Sangamon was formed out
of vast, verdant solitude of $50 square
miles. Three commissioners were chos-
Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-06-01

Yeast raises the bread, but the trust
raises the price.
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03
Parking for the Town.

The town parks, or the town or
village square are the lungs of its
citizens.
If the town is growing, 1t is none too
soon to start a movement to provide
for the securing of ample town park
ing. The land is increasing; when the
town has doubled and has become a
small city, it will not be so easy to
secure sites, readily accessible to the
people, without paying an eXorbitant
price. Secure first the land; it is not
important that a large amount of
money should be at once expended
upon its Identification, possibly it
needs but little, since nature may have
made it more beautiful than can man.
1t Is not necessary that 1t should be
transformed into carpet beds of
flowers and trinity kept lawns. If it
affords sunlight and a green relic of
grass and trees for the eye, it becomes
civilizer and an equalizer, for the
poor as well as the wealthy, a resting
place where man may forget, for
the time, some of his struggles and
his anXieties in Il contemplation of
what God has made.
The park should be kept, in fact, as
natural as is consistent with its use as
such. 1t is never too early, however,
to secure its site. with view to the
building up of the community, when
land values will necessarily increase.
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03

solutions of many of the problems of
modern city life ever attempted in this
country. 1t is in line with the best
enterprises for solving the questions of
housing, sanitation, education and
morals. As such it should command
the attention and cooperation of all
constructive social workers.
The Homecroftcrs Gid offers garden
work and craftsmanship as n substi-
tute for the street corner, the cheap
show and the saloon. And it offers in
addition health, contentment and II
substantial increase in income to the
workers. The increase takes practi-
cal form in the shape of health from
work in the air, from fresh vegetables
and fruits, from a clean environment
and from absence of bad habits; from
money saved from useless pastimes;
from absence of doctors bills and from
n direct return in the way of COM
modities for use in the home or for
sale.
The founder and main supporter of
the movement is Mr.. George II. Max
well. editor of MaxwelTs Talisman and
founder of the National Irrigation
Movement. As student of social con-
ditions, Mr.. Maxwell has concluded
that college settlements and similar
movements merely scratch the upper
surface of the problem and fail utterly
to get under it and crowd it out with
Every child in garden, every mother
in a homecroft, and individual, in
dustrial independence for every worker
in home Of his own on the land"
MEANING OF HOMECROFT.
The word "Homecroft" has been
coined by Mr.. Maxwell to fit the thing
he has in mind. The Scotch word
Croft means very small piece of
land farmed intensively by its occu-
pant but not large enough to yield him
a living and constitute him a farmer.
The Homecrofter, therefore, under the
conditions being developed, is labor
ing man, clerk, skilled artisan or what
not, who supplements his regular in
come by, and spends his spare time in,
work on the land. His children may
likewise be employed out of school
hours and at other times when they
would otherwise be on the street or
forced into some one of the street
trades to help maintain the home. For
the children the advantages are oh
vious. Healthy exercise in the open
air for purpose, fresh vegetables and
other products, and occupation, are
substituted for spasmodic exercise
under bad conditions. stale vegetables
or none at all, and the gang.
1t can be demonstrated that the
ordinary factory worker on from one
half acre to an acre of land can earn
actually more in the odd time given
to his garden than he does from his
regular work, taking it hour for hour.
The other advantages are evident.
THE GILDHALL AND SHOPS.
AS foundation for the Gid the
Wilson estate at 143 Main st. Water
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03
Distribution of Immigrants the
Solution

If there We're only some practicable
way of distributing immigration more
equally among all the ports of the
country . the congestion and segra-
CATION phases of this problem would be
nearer solution. 1t can be accom-
plished in but a small degree, since it
will only be done If answering an
economic demand, as in the case of
the Galveston-Bremen service. Wise
and well organized effort to Induce
immigrants to pass through the large
ports by finding and insuring them
employment in the interior and by in
forming them of opportunities else
where, will do much to improve con-
ditions. The self-interest of states,
many of which maintain immigration
agencies. might also be brought more
generally into 1lay to attract the in
dustrious and ambitious new comers
to their farms and smaller towns.
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03

Birmingham to point four miles from
The city and erected twenty-four
houses for the workmen. Mr.. George
Cadbury, from long observation and
experience, concluded that the only
practical way to solve the problem was
!" take the factory worker out on the
ldhd where he might pursue the ma
tural and healthy recreation of garden
M, Says Mr.. W. Alexander Harvey
IN his book on Bournville, 1t was i'm
possible for working men to be healthy
ana have healthy children, when after
htlnE confined all day in factories they
spenl their evenings in an institute,
eiuh room or public-house. If it We're
necessary for their health, as it un-
aoubtedly was, that they should get
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03

fresh air, it was equally to the advant-
a-e of their moral life that they should
b. brought into contact with nature.
There was an advantage, too. in bring
iug the workingman on to the land,
for instead of his losing money in the
Smusements usually sought in the
towns, he saved it in his garden prod
ucc-a great consideration where the
poorer class of workman was CON
corned." And again, "Thc cultivation
OF the soil is certainly the best anti
dote to sedentnry occupation of those
working in large towns. a primitive
instinct is INDUCED, the full value of
which seems hardly vet to have been
roullZed. Many believe, indeed, that
with its encouragement the abuse of
tlr social club and the public-house
will be materially lessened, and one of
the greatest social evils of the time
disappear. (rhe experience of Bourn-
vile certainly gives support to this
conclusion, for nearly every house
holder there spends his leisure in gard
ening, and there is not single licensed
house in the villageD"
SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR
A HOUSE.
The houses of Bournville were built
with special reference to cheapness,
artistic development. sanitation and
convenience. At a cost of from 500
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03
The LEGAL Handicap.

The Prophet Is without honor in his
own country. So the village and small
town are without confidence in their
own resources. We get SO familiar
with the things about us that we re
apt to underrate their value. 1t is
often necessary for total stranger to
come along and show us the neglected
opportunities that have been under our
nose unseen for years.
The writer while pursuing some in
dustrial Investigations had occasion to
visit thrifty little city in the South
west. 1t is an old town that has liter
ally been forced to the front by the
pressure of development and northern
energy. The place has five railroads,
population of 10000 and number of
modern buildings. Still the natives
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03

Phoenix, Arizona, farm Of one hun
dred and sixty acres has been turned
into homecroft village. The land is
especially adapted to raising vege-
tables and is under one of the best
water-rights in the region. E'lve-acre
tracts are here given TO each worker.
The new government reservoir on
Salt River and driven wells on the
property, insure permanent supply
of water for irrigation and therefore
unfaillng crops.
These undertakings, while practical
and constructive in every sense, are
intended rather as models to show
what can be done In any community
in the country. Japan, with sixty
seven per cent. of her total population
working in part or entirely on the land,
has become land of gardens where
hopeless poverty is almost unknown
and where tuberculosis is n negligible
quantity. America can take care of
its hopeless thousands in the same
way, first by putting hope into them
and then by putting them where they
may attain it. 1t is to the promoters
of our great Industries that we must
look for help in great part, but public
sentiment and sympathy will move the
promoters and reach the problem.
The Homecrofters Gild promises a
start which ought to weld together the
country and the city into one inde-
structible whole and, supplemented by
proper charity administration and sane
vagrancy laws. remove entirely the
possibility even Of submerged
tenth"
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03

tenths per thousand in Bournville.
The garden features in Bournville are
planned with much care, provision in
most cases being made for some lawn,
flowers, vegetables and fruits.
To return to the Homecrofters Gid.
there is one distinctive advantage in
Mr.. Maxwell's plan, In that he aims
to attach to each home emo e land to
make it feature and not merely an
incident in the life of the worker, and
he has added the crafts work for wo-
men and for men in the winter. He
already has under way plans for an
experimental group of four houses
under one roof, to be placed at the
centre OF square so as to secure the
greatest economy of space and place
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03

There is multitude of thinking people
who see the dangers the future holds for
our country unless we reach a wise solution
of the tremendous social problems that
confront US.
The spirit in which We should approach
the consideration OF these problems is set
forth in this remarkable book in a way that
must be an inspiration to every truly hu-
name and patriotic heart.
Let the spirit of common sense and opti-
rnism and fundamental economic and phil
osophical truth that pervades this book be
taken as the underlying motive of the
movement, and the Greed and Platform of
the Homecrofters as the practical plan 10
work TO- and the rest of the great social
questions are certain to be rightly solved
by application to them of the sound and
humane principles that will guide the action
of our people upon all great national ques-
tions-
One COPY of "The Coming People" post
acc prepaid will be mailed To any ad-
srcss in the United States for twenty-five
cents,
One copy of both 'Thc Coming People,
and "The First Book of the Homecrofters'
and "NIaxwell's Talisman" monthly for the
res. of the year 1906 will be mailed to any
address in the United States for fifty cents.
Remit in postage stamps 20 The Home
crofters, 143 Main street, Watertown, Mass
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03

in the condition of the wage-earner,
the general carrying out of the hor1e-
croft idea would relieve the con-
gestion of population in cities, and
greatly assist in their development
along those lines which are much
better than mere bigness. A hun
dred thousand or million people
living on small tracts of land, wi in
an hours ride of city would make
far more business for the city, Of
every desirable kind, than the same
number closely packed in tenements.
The ohomecroft" experiment not
to be limited to the settlement fost-
cred by Mr.. Maxwell near Boston.
The idea combines with its sugges-
tions of social betterments the prob
ability of very satisfactory returns
to she owners of vacant lands, near
cities, who may be disposed to ex-
pertinent with it.
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03
OVERCOMING PHYSICAL
DEGENERACY.

The Gid is not making the mistake
of trying to make farmers pure and
simple out of city workers. Such a
hard and fast line between city and
country will always lead to failure.
Mr.. Maxwell says: Give the city
worker home in the suburbs, where
he can have garden and poultry
yard. and where his children can have
sunshine and fresh air without stint,
and you have largely done away with
the terrible evils that are cursing the
denizens of the congested quarters of
our great cities-physlcal degeneracy
tuberculosis, and social, moral, and
political dangers too numerous to be
enumerated Henry w. Grady de-
scribed the antithess when he said,
The citizen standing in the doorway
of his home-contented on this thres-
hold-his family gathered about his
hearthstone-while the evening of a
well-spent day closes in scenes and
sounds that are dearest-he shall save
the republic when the drum tap is
futile and the barracks are exhausted
The Homecroft Gid has other plans
in immediate contemplation. Near
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03
The EaIue of a Good Garden.

Many people fail to realize the
great value of thrifty, well-kept
garden. Even an inferior one is much
better than none. Vegetables are in
dispensable to a family, so far as
health is concerned, to say nothing of
the money saved by not having to buy
so much -four and so many groceries.
1t would seem that every man
should manage to obtain a piece of
ground and see that it becomes well
fertilized and enriched and then put
under thorough state of cultivation
before trying to plant the seeds. 1t
only costs little to buy enough seeds
for quite a good-sized garden.
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03
HOUSE AND BARN FOR HoMEcRoFT VILLAGE.
Watertown, Mass.

have not yet fully realized the
change-they still are doubtful and
suspicious. About four years ago, be
fore the tide of immigration and capi-
tai set in toward the Southwest, II
stranger from the North drifted into
this particular city. He was just
Cooking around" with no special pur-
pose in view. y curbstone real estate
broker had on his list a tract of bottom
land, timbered, but worthless on ac-
count of the annual floods. This land
he had hawked about the street for
75c per acre, but found no takers
among the home spectators. The
tract was mo good" 1t was offered
to this stranger for S1.0O per acre.
Would he look at it? Yes. He looked
it over, examined every acre of it
came back to town and handed over
$4,000 for the worthless tract. Great
was the joy of the natives who We're
lined up at the various bars, to drink
to the health of the sucker" But
the sucker returned in about month
with another capitalist from the North
and sold this worthless tract for $780,
600. But this was not all. Within
ninety days the second sucker brought
q third and sold him the timber alone
for $4,000 And then the local
bankers and conservative capitalists
kicked themselves for not thinking OF
1t.
For years people have been leaving
Arkansas and Missouri-going west
looking for opportunities. Today
strangers are taking their places and
finding money on every bush. The
ew-comers are simply developing the
resources which the natives failed to-
recognize.
This principle holds true of a ma
jority of individuals in every com
munity. We are too near to see the
opportunities at our feet. We pass
them over and leave them for some
one to pick up.
The twentieth century for the United
States at least will be time of con-
centration rather than expansion. A
century Of rural development and
BODYBUILDING. AS has been indicated
the people must get back to the land.
and Industrial institutions to reach
their best development must give the
worker chance for home.
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03

dustry, necessity for the -ttainment
of the best results.
5. A growth of cooperation, which
will give to the homecroft settle
ment all the advantages of the CT :
in schools, libraries, hospitals, enter
tainment halls, water supply, electric
lights, improved roads, etc; while
the cultivation of each separate acre
or "croft" will be facilitated by the
cooperative ownership of the numer-
ous expensive pieces of farm ma
chinerv now to be found on the best
large farms, but which could not be
afforded by the individual crofter.
8. The fostering of sturdy, indie
pendent individualism, to hich
nothing contributes so muo as the
ownership of home and conscious
ness that one can "make a living"
regardless of any boss
Concurrently with such betterments
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03

nom st. Paul Prcss.

1rom st. Paul Prcss.
By way of affording practical OBJ
George n. Maxwell has acquired fifty
acres of ground ut Watertown, Mass.
Jess thi thirty minutes by rail
road or forty-five minutes by trolley
from the center of Boston-whlch
will be broken up into small "crofts"
for city workers. There, it is to be
presumed, will be illustrated, by de-
grees, all the different phases of bet
ment which characterize the
homecroft as compared with the
tenement-house idea, in its applica-
tion to the life of the average Ameri-
can wage-earner: especially he whose
weekly stipend comes from work in
edty shop or store or factory. Among
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03
them to the ractory OF shop.

them to the ractory OF shop.
8. Reliable occupation ar1 sup
Iport for the wage-ear sr himself, in
ease of temporary loss of his regu-
lar employment. An acre of ground,
intensively cultivated and irrigated,
will support family.
q. Opportunity to set up, in the
homecroft, little handicrafts for the
products Of which there is q constant
demand; such as special lines of
weaving, knitting, rugmaking, cab
inetmaking, basket weaving, turning
in wood or bone, instrument making
manufacturers of leather, gloves,
ETC., etc. The distribution of power
from electric wires, OF the use of lit
tie gasoline engines, in village. of
homecrofters, may demonstrate that
the concentration of thousands of
workers in great factories Is not,
after all, in great many lines of in
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03

such betterments, either already
demonstrated or anticipated, are
these:
l. Healthier hoIae surroundings,
air, sunlight, trees, e vers; room
for children to grow up without con-
tact with the communicating in
huences of crowded city streets and
tenements.
2. Diversity in employment and
healthful recreation for the wage
Garner himself, end wholesome op-
portunity for his VIE and dren
to contribute to the family in
come, in the cultivation of an acre,
more or less, of ground. This would
enable him, especially, to keep his
girls at home, instead of sending
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03
Zmproving School Grounds.

In Rochester. n. Y, the school
authorities grade and sod the school
yards. while the shrubbery and other
planting is by private effort in con-
junction with the school children.
Ample land is furnished for decorative
playground purposes, and most exemp-
larry results have been obtained.
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03
THE HOMECROFTERS' GILD.
To Enable People to Live In Their
Own Home and on a Piece Of
Their Own Land.
CHANCE FOR FACTORY W0RKERs

Every Child in a Garden and Every
Mother In Homecroft" is she
Motto of the Organization-A Hun.
dred Children at Work In the First
School Garden at Matertown, Mass.
EDWARD T. HARTMAN
Secretary Massachusetts Civic League.
At Watertown, Massachusetts, there
is being put under way what seems to
be one of the most sane and practical
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03
HOME LANDS IN SMALL
PARCELS.

The more far-reaching and substan-
tial feature of the movement is
the acquisition and subdivision OF
land into small tracts for actual croft
purpose as outlined above. This close
ly resembles the schemes developed in
Hitchin, Port Sunlight, Bournville and
The La Jara chronicle., 1906-08-03

to S2500 each much higher grade of
home than the workers had been ac-
customed to was provided. Rents
range from As. Cd. to 12s. per week.
not including rates; and the death rate
of nineteen per thousand in Birming-
ham has been reduced to six and nine