The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-28
FARMERS OF
 GHETTO JEWELLERS
Work of the Jewish Agricul- tural Schools Modern Realization of Biblical Environment One Phase of the sfBack to the Land 7 Movement.

VI oAAS A1eSSAAs oO oAAS AIcsiAS~A ? Movement.
 Exclusive Service The Survey Press Bureau.
 A convention of Jewish farmers met in New York city recently. There are two agricultural schools maintained by Jews both of which are crowded to the doors and are obliged to turn away applicants. The Jew for centuries has been a dweller in the ghettos of great cities and had anyone predicted these facts fifteen years ago he would have been scoffed at. # The farm and the life Of the farmer appeal to the Jew in whom the tra- ditions of his people are still alive and who remembers that 1t is his BID pression banished him from, the estate he enjoyed when his race was at the apex of it's power and attainment. His ideal for the future of mankind is agricultural- The claims, of modern scientific agriculture fall on apprecia- tive ears He hears an old melody,
 as it were. a familiar tune.
 At Farm School, near Doylestown, Pa. S63 acres of land have been res served for the exclusive use of the National Farm school. a non-sectarian institution which was founded in 1896 It is dedicated ito the encourage
 rnent of agriculture among those who would otherwise be condemned to life in sweat shops. Though all creeds are welcomed and the religious services are non-sectarian, most of the lads are Jews. The boys are taken from the in- huences of the ghettos which inevit- ably stunt their lives. They are ad- nitted on their own application after a grammar schoo I training. The school has good instructors and mod ern equipment There are twenty splen- did horses which gives each boy a chance to plough.
 After a two. three or four year diploma is awarded that certifies him to be a scientific and practical farm CT. Tuition is free and there are some scholarships which provide for lodg- ing. clothes, food and all other neces- saries. few of the subjects taught gricultural bacteriology agricultural chemistry, agricultural literature, ani- mai hush andry, rural economics and law In order that the course may not be too one-sided, through contain ing only subjects related to the soil, arithmetic, English literature and his tory are taught. !. doing the practical part of the course in summer and pursuing their stud- ies in. winter. The day lasts from 5:45 to g and the boys lead healthy. busy. enthusiastic life. They are allowed vacation of twenty eight days which approval by the director and they have enough leisure to maintain a library and an athletic association.
 The full liberty to choose any time for the vacation is not abused and used to shirk when there is the most
 work to be done. The boys are Tn. dustrious lads with a keen sense of duty and are absorbed in their work. We rarely have a case of ,indolence, though boys will occasionally try to dodge the small tasks such as mak- ing their beds, but they are at times lonesome I spend the month of July with them and we have a moving pic tnre show every "wednesday. All the farmers from the neighborhood are in-f vited to come and we have quite so- ciable time. The boys haven't enough social life. sometimes think it would be good plan if we had girls in our institution to make the life uleasanter. One result might be that some of our graduates, who now mar ry city girls and give up the calling for which they are trained, would se- lect help mates who had learned to love the chosen career of their hus- bands WeFs have had several cases
  their wives to return to the city where they have not prospered.
 Some have wondered why we do not accept money from such of the boys as offer to pay for the training. We de- pend entirely upon our income and do not even add to it by selling products at the market for our boys eat all we raise and more. If lad offers to pay his way we usually find he either has a romantic impulse that soon dies out, or he is i'll and is sent for the benefit of work out of doors. It is not our purpose to serve as sana- torium. We try to fit poor. boys who are healthy and ambitious for a life they could not reach without our aid. The well-to-do boy isn't content to be a tfller of the soil, an occupation that should be held in the highest esteem. Pg one difficulty is to get recognition for our diploma and to have it re- spected as degree from medical or law school is. Our graduates give Satisfaction in their work and often pf6duce a profit for farmers in such lines as poultry, where they have failed Themselves. Often, however, farm UH11ers fail to differentiate them from uhskilled colored help. This is because the public does not yet recognize that the graduates of scientific schools of agriculture constitute a new profess sion,
 zt E1Snty DOyS IS dS many as We can accommodate now. We have to re- fuse three applicants a day at the very time when we are preaching the gos- pei of beauty and dignity of agricul- tiire. The state Pennsylvania has given the school a new dormitory Pennsylvania hall, which will help a little and by March we can have room for a hundred boys. The annual in- come is N s30. 900, of which the state gives us $1000O The Jews of Phila- de1phia raise $8 800 and we receive the rest in contributions of S and s10. Our goal is to have 1.00G acres of land and quarters for 250 boys. We would like also to get some farms for post ffdduafe work, We allow juniors and se71iors to work such farms on half