Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-11-01
Overcome Poverty by Farming
BY George F. Burba in Southern cuitivat0r.

buy land from the government at ~
low rate OF interest. and begin life
anew. 1t has not Vet developed what
the final result VIII he, but of course
there will be many failures. Not all or
the people who bought land will be
able to pay Tor ii. or even make n liv-
ing up it, for il requires intelligence
and skill to operate q farm, even
where the only object in operat-
ing it is to produce sufficient food TO
keep soul and body together.
Rut England's plan did not solve the
entire question OF poverty. 1t only took
care OF Il certain number of people in
a certain section of the dominion. one
old man. bordering close upon he
boundary line between life and DEATH
has undertaken a Vaster cure for pow
erty. That is old General Booth. of
the salvation ARMY. For forty years
or more he has toiled in the Sums
OF Iondo n lahored with the poor
and fallen. He has done much for the,
degraded and the suffering in the past.
bat his present scheme is so ambitious
that If il succeeds ii Will overshadowi
ell the rest of his life work. AlreadyI
he has set about his plans. and so Well,
pleased with the plans are other phil-i
anthropists that General Booth has
been given limos unlimited money to
carry out his work. General Booth's'
scheme is along the lines adopted by
England in Ireland. except that he
takes people out of the city and puts
them upon h land.
At first General Booth began send
ing homsesteadcrs To Canada. lie is
still doing that, and every week hum
dreds of people are given Lane in the
dominion. THAT is unquestionably II
great work. and the salvation Army
homesteadcrs are getting along nicely
in most instances. Blu that involves
too much money to he of use in the
l,,.,lnnJr .f tlaA,en,l. 90 .,ca t1,nt
General Booth would reach. He there
fore is buying land right in England
and parcelinG it out IN iive-acre tracts
and selling il to anyone who will agree
to live upon ii and try to make Il liv-
Ing. The land is sold on credit and
Il sufficient amount of money is adj
vanced to purchase tools and seed
and supplies that will last until tho
first crop is raised. General Booth
claims that five acres of lane Is quite
sufficient for the support of n family
If it is properly titled. and that enough
can be saved each year eventually to
pay for the land.
General Booth does not give any4
thing to anyone. That is not his way
of helping people. His way to help
n man is to help hin to help himself
Every foot of land must be paid for,
and the money advanced must be re.
turned. if not this year. next year, or
the next No man viii lose his little
home If he is unable to pay for it, but
he must do the best he can. He must
feel that the land is his. that he is
not n pauper. but a landowner. and that
lac is paying for his start in life.
Nor Will these small farms hurt the
agricultural interests. it would no.
hurt the agricultural interests i'm thiA
country. a million farms of ten acres
each in this country would not hurt
the present farmers, and 1t would take
A. T. A,, "a Ht, ,,.Ar tA. ,-.,l, "A
land, is not going 10 be Il bad citizen.
Bad citizens do not own any land.
Nothing comes nearer taking n MAJ by
the seat of the pants and pitching hini
headlong into responsibility than own
ing land. Life is secure, property is
safe, in communities where everyone
OWNS his oWn home.
And thus ii may happen that the
} farm will settle the problem of civil
iZation as Cod intended it should.