The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-09-18
Bishop Nj Colrick Of Duluth
and His F ertile Lands
For G Colonization.
The City People Engaged in
ndustrial Pursuits Are
BEING interested.
Their Lot to Be Improved by
aking Up Homesteads
in i Rich Region.

Back to the land.
This is the cry which 10 resounding
Through the centers Of American popu-
sssllation. 1t has been heard now for 10
y years and more, and has. been gaining
steadily in strength and persistency,
! says the Duluth News Tribune of Sept.
#1 a.,
To the best thinkers the movement
Ia the country districts means the So
luton Of one Of the most serious prob
lens with which the economist has to
deal. 1t is generally believed that Its
successful working out will make an
end of the rapidly forming class which
threatens to place American social con-
ditions on par with those Of Europe,
where humanity towers tier on tier
from the hopelessly poor to the hope
! lessly rich with all that this means OF
present bitterness and future chaos de-
spair and national failure.
Bishop McGolricks great COLOMBIA
ton scheme. project to settle thou.
sands Of city working families on the
fertile lands Of Hubbard and Becker
counties, has brought the question
home to Duluth, and 1t has awakened
q responsive chord in the heart of the
y toiler.
During the week the News Tribune
sought the opinion Of 366 wage earners
regarding the bishops plan. Three
hundred and nine Of them were men
and 81 women, all of the latter un-
married, workers in department stores
and restaurants. The men, without an
exception, declared that the return to
the soil is the only possible solution
y Of urban overcrowding and its conse-
y quent poverty. Forty-two Of the girls
said they would prefer life In farm
Eer's home to the humble and often
/; harsh lot which awaits their class in
the city. Fifteen young women would
4 not think Of going to the country.
Z The men were Representatives Of the
entire industrial life Of the city. They
A toll In the mills and on the. docks, at
h railroad construction and the train SER
vice. at logging and lake navigation,
clerking and working in factories, In
4 shops and on the streets. All admitted
{ that relief Of the congestion Of the in
Il tlllstrial masses and their children, the
Z mastery Of the slum question and the
general future welfare of the race, are
LIN large manner wrapped up in the
success or failure Of the plan proposed
1 by the bishop and similar undertake
N ings. Each declared he would be will
Ing to transfer his energies to the life
4 OF the husbandman, If conditions
would permit, and scores said that
I they have already decided to take ad-
vantage, next spring, Of the chance to
secure farms.
The two score girls who like the
country were unanimous that they
4 would vastly prefer to start life as
Is The wives of farmers, with an assured
. future, to casting their lot with toll
S}ers in cities. dependent upon changing
Industrial conditions. the whims OF
q employers and the constantly recurring
ebb and flow Of q more or less artifl Z
Il cial prosperity for their livelihood
These girls are eminently fitted to
make home life success. They are
a on the class which takes the future into
Il account, they have learned the empti-
SSness Of city life for the poor, and
noted the hopelessness Of INDECENT age
Il III large centers Of population. Said
one:
live me farmer every time in
III preference to the man who is out 81
ssAa job three or four months in the
81 year. The latter may mean well enough,
a but good Intentions 70 not buy shoe.
VI or pay grocery bills. a am one OF the
ldren from home existing under
these conditions, and know what II
That is why started to work
Is years old for $3.50 a week
want no more Of It In my family &
q Az - who prefer life In the, city
Rrofessed to dread the, loneliness OF the
ssor were unwilling to give UP
Measures their social relations at
HE tl1eater and the week y end
They are of those who can
S SSpt appreeiateE what everyone XVI m \ ha
sAgl "a "a the country knows that the
mort ties for clean, Wholesome
sures and N large measure 81 social
Ky arc greater on the farm than
I'M g the lot sst the overworked City
ddsr .laas N y " boy or sirlsI ron
s eou1try lonis he conditions II
30 tossy' 4 ainost intolsrsbie m
4 been
11 4 icn piafi