The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1906-07-04

serving meals and the trade of cletu-
ing dishes, the trade of washing and
ironing clothes, of killing and dressing
meat, of churning butter, of baking
bread, of grinding meal, of raising
chickens, of cutting wood, of preserv-
ing fruit, of heating a house, of deco
rating rooms, of training children and
of writing books-and all these crowd
ed into one establishment, In close
proximity and all jarriDg and clashing
with each other and all carried on in
the most primitive and barbarous fash
ion upon small scale and by unskill-
ed hand labor. 1t takes a hundred
cooks to prepare hundred meals bad
ly, while twenty cooks could prepare
one meal for hundred families and do
it perfectly. 1t costs 100000 to build
and equip hundred kitchens; it would
cost only $1,000 to build one kitchen.
1t takes a hundred churns and hun
dred aching backs to make thousand
pounds of butter; it would take only
one machine and man to tend it to
make the same thousand pounds, and
the cost of making it would be cut 80
per cent. But, of course, you cannot
have large buttermaking except it is
done for profit, and that means adul-
iteration and poisoning. 1t takes hun
dred ignorant nurSemaids to take care
of the children of hundred families
and develop every kind of ugliness
and badness in them. 1t would take
only twenty or thirty trained nurses
and kindergarten teachers to take care
of them comparatively and bring them
up according to the teachings of sci
ence.
One could show this same thing in a
thousand different forms If it were
necessary, but it has all been reasoned
out in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's
book, THE Home" and any one to
whom the idea is new may read it
there. The purpose of this paper is not
to persuade any one, but to move to
action those already persuaded. To
such I offer my cooperation. '''~""
Near to New York.
The following embodies my own con-
ception of what such "home colony
should be. 1t would be located within
an hour of New York and would have
100 families and 300 or 400 acres of
land, BEAUTIFULLY located, near some
body Of water and as unspoiled by the
hand of man as possible. 1t should
have an abundant water supply and
a filtering plant, an electric light and
power plant and a large garden and
farm, raising its own stock, 1neat, poul-
try, fruit and vegetables and canning
the last for winter use. 1t should be
administered by a board Of directors
democratically elected. For The man
agement of its various departments
salared experts should be employed,
machinery should be installed wher-
ever it could be made to pay, and the
best modern methods should be APP
piled In every industry. Al its pur-
chases should be in bulk and tested for
quality, and so far as the preparation
and serving Of food is concerned the
processes should be kept as aseptic as
a surgical operation.
The buildings of this home colony
should be of frame at the outset, of
simple and expressive design, each
structure exactly adapted to its spe-
cific purpose. The buildings should be
conveniently grouped-those for the
children in one place, those for cook
ing and eating in another, those for
reading. for music and social inter-
course, for recreation and exercise in
still other places. The greater part of
the land would of course be given up
to farm and woodland and to the in
dividual dwellings of the families. The
ground available for this latter purpose
should be divided into lots, priced ac-
cording to size and location and leased
to stockholders for long terms. Each
would erect his own home, according
to his own taSte-a home of course Of a
kind hitherto unknown, with no pro-
vision for the cooking of food or the
training of children or other trades
and professions. 1t would be place
where the family met, to rest and play
and sleep. 1t might be large or small,
anything that the owner chose to make
it. My own would be a four or five
room cottage of rustic design, and it
would cost from 5000 to $500. Besides
these there should be apartment build
ings owned by the colony and dOrmi-
tories with rooms for single men and
women.
AS to the public buildings, there
should be a large and beautiful dining
hall and a modern, scientifically con-
structed kitchen. There should be sep
arate tables for each family or for con-
genial groups of people. The service
should be uneXceptionable, the food
simple, but perfect in quality and
preparation. There should be vege-
tartan service for those who prefer this
cheaper mode of life, and the charge
for board should be based upon the
cost of the service. l will probably
be laughed at, but | believe that grant