The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-01-21
REDDING'S
 LAND PROJECT
Committee Named to Make
 Canvass of the Town.

thorized by the last meeting Of land
 owners to further the Tomlinson land
 project already described in the Far
 mer has been completed and Is com
 posed of the following citizens: A. G.
 Barnett, James l.. Blackman, W. c.
 Sanford, H. s. Osborn, Stephen San ford, P. M. Brotherton, Louis c. Rum
 sey and Arthur J. Todd. Each of these empowered to appoint an assist
 ant and the entire committee are ex-
 pected to make 8 canvass of the town
 for the purpose of securing land allot-
 ments nnder the scheme or more strictly to ascertain who are willing to enter into the arrangement and to what extent. No contracts can or co1lrse be executed until chief con- tractor comes forward to assume the financial and other respons1bl1ties 1n- yolyed in the undertaking. Although the canvass has as yet hardly. begun there are already promised, mostly without solicitation, between one and fwo thousand acres. This the friends of the enterprise regard as very en-
 couraging start. The tax abstract
 gives the so, towns total tot acreage as required under the general provisions of the plan between nine and ten thousand acres.
 Whether this can be obtained or not remains to be seen. Georgetown is outside the project, being a factory village and having most of it's unoc- cupied area already plotted for build ing lots.
 Naturally the project continues to be the leading topic of local conversation. There are the inevitable croa.kers who decry the plan generally and others who criticize it specifically. Some of the latter persist in misunderstanding the terms of the contract or in read ing into it meanings which it does not contain. Still others. while admitting the fairness of the proposition sub mitted to the landowners and also ad- mitting it's prospective practical bene- fits through increased prices for the land they have to sell, declare that they intend to stay out because the hanced prices and at, the same time be free from restrictions. They ad- init that this is a selfish view to take but say that it Is therefore a strictly business view. They should bear in mind however, that if a majority of their fellow townsmen regard the mat ter in the same light the project will never get under way and that there will be no lift in prices for anyone's benefit. Taking the mere croakers as a class it is a question if their in- f1uence will not be outweighed by that of other citizens of known business acuTaen and conservative tendencies who have committed themselves to the scheme after careful consideration.
 Some persons think they see in one clause of the contract an extension to an indefinite period of the five years option given the chief contractor. This is the section which says that the corporation, in other words the con tractor, shall employ the best mod .ern methods and the utmost energy and ability 1t can command to induce people of the type desired to purchase homes in the region and shall use par ticular efforts to sell A. B.'s group A tracts. : It shall continue these efforts during the five years hereafter or un- til, all of the contract land has been disposed of''
 Now the group A tract is the half which the land owner reserves from the portion he has allotted. A pre- vious clause expressly says that the option to the contractor upon the oth- CT half is for a period of five years. The idea is that the corporation shall not only during these five years, but thereafter, .endeavor to find a! buyer for the landowners half. Self ! int crest would of course impel the corporation to sell its own share but 1t pledges itself to also regard the interests of the person who is virtually it's part ner in the enterprise. If the scheme proves successful in it's earlier stages additional tracts will doubtless from time to time be turned over to the corporation thus prolonging its activ- ity beyond the original five year pe- riod.
 Another wrong idea some have &C., quired is that the property owner who comes into the agreement cannot sell even the undesignated portion of his property unless the would-be buyer has the approval of the trustees. The provision in this respect merely is that he must give the corporation the first chance for 8 period of 30 days to buy the property for which he has had an offer. If the corporation fails to buy the owner may sell to whom he pleas es. It is further pointed out that the provisions hostile to factories, hotels and trolley lines need not be taken too seriously. The town has already one large. manufactory in the Gilbert & Bennett Co.'s wire mills at George town and a very useful institution it is. giving employment to many hands and paying more than one fifth of the towns taxes. As for hotels the town now has one in the Bridge Inn. AS for trolley. line, when the capital requir- ed to build it comes forward it will doubtless be built and built with the