davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27

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; ii 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 IL should be
transformed into carpet beds of
flowers and trinity kept lawns. If 1t
affords sunlight and a green relic of
grass and trees for the eye, it becomes
a civilizer and an equalizer, for the
poor as well as the wealthy, a resting
place where n man may forget, for
the time, some Of his struggles and
his anxieties in a contemplation OF
what God has made.
The park should be kept, in fact, as
natural as is consistent with it's use as
such. 1t is never too early, however,
to secure its site, with a view to the
building up of the community, when
land values will necessarily Increase.
The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27

fresh air, it was equally to the advant-
age of their moral life that they should
be brought into contact with nature.
There was an advantage, too, in bring
ing the workingman on to the land
for instead of his losing money in the
'amusements usually sought in the
towns, he saved it in his garden prod
uce-a great consideration where the
poorer class of workman was CON
cerned." And again, 1.-THE cultivation
of the soil is certainly the best anti
dote to sedentary occupation of those
working in large towns. a primitive
instinct is INDUCED, the full value of
which seems hardly yet to have been
realized. Many believe, indeed, that
with it's encouragement the abuse of
the social club and the public-house
will be materially lessened, and one of
the greatest social evils of the time
CThe 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 2 single licensed
house in the village.)"
HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR
A HOUSE.
The houses of BournYille We're built
with special reference to cheapness,
artistic development, sanitation and
convenience. At a cost of from 500
The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27

Phoenix, Arizona, a farm Of one hun
dred and sixty acres has been turned
into a homecroft village. The land is
especially adapted to raising vegc.
tables and is under one of the best
water-rights in the region. FiveacFe
tracts are here given 10 each worker.
The new government reservoir on
Salt River and driven wells on the
property, insure a permanent supply
of water for irrigation and therefore
unfailing 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 a land of gardens where
hopeless poverty is almost unknown
and where tuberculosis is a negliga BILE
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 Gid promises "A
start which ought TO weld together the
country and the city into one indie
structible whole and. supplemented by
proper charity administration and sane
vagrancy laws, remove entirely the
possibility even of a submerged
TENTH
The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27
HOUSE AND BARN FOR Ho8TECROFT VILLAGE.
WATERFOWL,

have not yet fully realized the
change-they still are doubtful and
suspicious. About four years ago, be
fore the tide of immigration and capt.
tai set in toward the Southwest, a
stranger from the North drifted into
this particular city. He was just
Cooking around with no special pur-
pose in view. A curbstOne real estate
broker had on his list 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 $1.00 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 were
lined up at the various bars, to drink
10 the health of the sucker" But
the sucker returned in about a 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 anu CONSERVATIVE capitalists
kicked themselves for not thinking Of
it.
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
newcomers are simply developing the
resources which the natives failed toI
recognize.
This principle holds true of ma
1ority 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 a 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 q chance for a home.
The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27

dustry, a 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-
Gus expensive pieces of farm ma
chinery now to be found on the best
large farms, but which could not be
afforded by the individual crofter.
6. The fostering of a sturdy, indie
pendent individua1ism, to bich
contributes so muo as the
ownership of home and conscious
ness that one can sfmake a living"
regardless of any boss.
Concurrently with such betterments
The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27

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 g land to
make it a 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 a square so as to secure the
greatest economy of space and place
The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27

them to the FACTORY OF shop.
3. Reliable occupation ar7 sup
port for the wage-ear er himself, in
eese of temporary loss of his regu-
lar employment. An acre of ground,
intensively cultivated and irrigated,
viii support a family.
4. Opportunity to set up, in the
little handicrafts for the
products of which there is a constant
demand; such as special lines of
weaving, knitting, rugmaking, cab
inetmaking, basket weaving, turning
in wood or bone, instrument making,
of leather, gloves,
etc., etc. The distribution of power
from electric wires, or the use of lit
tie gasoline engines, in village of
may demonstrate that
the concentration of thousands of
workers in great factories is not,
after all, in a great many lines of in
The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27
EDWARD 7. HARTMAN

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 Homecrofters Gid offers garden
work and craftsmanship as a substi-
tute for the street corner, the cheap
show and the saloon. And it offers in
addition health, contentment and a
substantial increase in income to the
workers. The increase takes 4 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
IA 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 a student Of social con-
ditions, Mr.. Maxwell has concluded
iDaI college, settlements anu SIIulldC
movements merely scratch the upper
surface of the problem and fail utterly
to get under it and crowd it out with
a better condition. His creed is,
Every child in a 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 a very small piece of
land farmed intensively by it's 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 a 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 OBJ |
vious. Healthy exercise in the open |
air for a purpose, fresh vegetables and |
other products, and occupation, are
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 a foundation for the Gid the
Wilson estate at 143 Main st. Water
The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27

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 10 solve the problem was
TO take the factory worker out on the
land where he might pursue the ma
tural and healthy recreation of gaBien-
ing. Says Mr.. W. Alexander Harvey
in his book on Bournville, 1T was I'M
possible for working men to be healthy
and have healthy children. when after
being confined all day in factories they
spent their evenings in an institute,
club room or public-house. If it We're
necessary for their health, as it I'M
doubtedly was, that they should get
The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27
The VaIue of a Good Garden.

Many people fail to realize the
great value of a thrifty, well-kept
garden. Even an inferior one is much
better than none. Vegetables are in
dispensable to a family, Sc far as
health is concerned, to say nothing of
the money saved by not having to buy
so much flour and so many groceries.
1t would seem that every man
should manage to obtain a piece of
ground and see that it becomes well
fortified and enriched and then put
under a 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 Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27

There is a multitude of thinking people
who see the dangers the future holds for
our country unless we reach 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-
rnisn 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 70
work TO, and the rest of the great social
questions are certain to be rightly solved
by application % them of the sound and
humane principles that will guide the action
of our. people upon all great national ques-
tons.
One copy of 1.-The Coming People" posts,
soe nrepaid will be mailed to any ad-I
dress in the United States fer twenty-hvas
cents.
one copy Of both THE Coming PeoPIsA
and ssThe First Book of the HomecrofterH [.
"a s.Nfaxwe1Is Ta1isman" monthly for the
rest Of the year 1906 viii be mailed TO any
address in the United States for fifty cents.
Remit su postage stamps TO The Homes
crofters, a4s Main street, WATERFOWL, MassE
The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27
Distribution OF Immigrants the
COJFffOu

If there were 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, viii do much to improve con-
ditions. The self-interest Of states,
many Of which maintain immigration
agencies, might also be brought more
generally into play to attract the in
dustrious and ambitious new Corners
to their farms and smaller towns.
The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27

in the condition of the wage-earner,
the general carrying out of the home
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
bred thousand or a million people
living on small tracts of land, WI in
an hours ride of a city would make
far more business for the city, Of
every desirable kind. than the same
number closely packed in tenements.
The "honecroft'' experiment not
TO be limited to the settlement fost-
cred by Mr. Maxwell near Boston
The idea combines with its sugges-
tons of social betterments the prob
ability of very satisfactory returns
10 the owners of vacant lands, near
cities, who may be disposed to ex-
pertinent with it,
The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27
THE Hor1EcRoFT VS.. THE TENEMENT.

From st. Paul Press
BY way of affording a practical OBJ
ject lesson in the HON ecroft'' idea.
George II. Maxwell has acquired fifty
acres of ground at Watertown, Mass.
less tn; n thirty minutes by rail-
road or forty-five minutes by trolley
from the center of Boston-whlch
ill be broken up into small "crcfts"
or city workers. There, it is to be
presumed, will be illustrated, by de-
grees, all the different phases of bet
t er N ent which characterize the
homecroft as compared with the
tenement-house idea, in Its applica-
ton to the life of the average Ameri-
can wage-earner; especially he whose
weekly stipend comes from work in
city shop or store or factory. Among
The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27

such betternents, either already
demonstrated or anticipated, are
these:
1. Healthier home surroundings,
air, sunlight, trees, Fl vers; room
for children to grow up without con-
tact with the communicating in
iuences of crowded city streets and
tenements.
2. Diversity in employment and
hea1thful recreation for the wage
Garner himself, snd wholesome op-
portunity for his We 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 Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27

the worker in direct contact with his
/ land. These plans are being prepared
| by Mr.. Allen w. Jackson, the archi-
| tect
Something over fifty acres of land
| have already been purchased for subdi-
| vision, and improvement. This will be
sold to wOrkingmen for homes for prac-
| tically what it cost in large tracts, plus
the cOst of division and Improvement
| A special plan is to sell homes to in
| duStriOus working men on q long
time, on the monthly instalment plan,
at a rate which will be no more than is
| usually paid in rent but which will
create a sinking fund that will pay
the purchase price and in the mean
time carry what will amount to an in
surance policy covering the amount of
the purchase price remaining due, so
that if the purchaser should die the
property would go to his family with
| out further payment.
FOLLOWS SUCCESSFUL ENGLISH
PLAN.
The movement is not intended to be
an isolated one as the shops and
gardens are open to any one who will
use them in the right way. Mr.. Max
well feels that isolation has been the
cause of failure in such attempts and
| that the people of the community must
| themselves become a part of such a
movement if it is to succeed. Here
again the scheme resembles that Of
| BOurnvilIe. There, though practically
Ian the houses have been built by the
management, only fOrty-One and two
tenths per cent. Of the occupants work
in the village. Eighteen and six-tenths
Iper cent. work in villages within n
mile and forty and twO-tenths per cent.
work in Birmingham. Fifty and
| seven-tenths per cent. of them are en-
| ployed at indoor work in factories,
| thirteen and three-tenths per cent. are
! clerks and travellers, and thirty-six
per cent. are skilled workers and pro-
| fessiOnal men. BY this arrangement
a normal community life is main
tanned. The HOmecroft Gid is being
developed along the same lines.
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
y
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-physicaI degeneracy
tuberculosis, and social moral, and
political dangers too numerous to be
enumerated" Henry w. Grady de-
scribed the antithesis when he said,
THE citizen standing in the doorway
Of his hOme-contented on this TIRES
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 Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27
Improving 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 Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27

elsewhere in England. 1t will not he
out of place to outline the Bournviiie
plan which is identical in many re-
spects and has been carried out to an
assured success. This model village
was started in 1879 when Messrs. Cad
bury Bros. removed their works from
The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27

to $500 each q much higher grade Of
home than the workers had been ac-
cuStomed to was provided. Rents
range from As. Sd. to lbs. per week,
not including rates; and the death rate
Of nineteen per thousand in Birming
ham has been reduced to six and nine
The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-07-27
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
~ resembles the schemes developed in
Hitchin, Port Sunlight, Bournville and