The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1911-01-26
THREE ACRES AND LIBERTY'-HOW
BOLTON HALLS GOSPEL SPREADS
BY WILLIAM e sYMTHE.

IDOllDIl nan SltS III HIS OHlCe III INtN
York and sets a nation TO thinking.
No man can do that unless he has
thought that meets real human
need.
Mr. Halls idea is that "a little land
and living surely is better than
desperate struggle and wealth posi-
bly," He wrote shree books to prove
it, the first with the alluring title,
Three Acres and Liberty
Then he decided the time had come
10 form a national organization to
spread the new gospel. Hence, the
Little Land league. The league makes
certain bold declarations, the follow
ing among them:
With $50 days work in a year,
two acres will support an ordinary
sized family, and produce enough
readily marketable surplus 10 provide
money for clothing and keep the roof
over their heads in good repair.
The necessary two acres OF suit
able land can be purchased very near
to civilization chat is, close to some
big town., for from $50 to 5000,
"A home can be built on these two
acres, more healthful TO live in, far
more comfortable, with pleasanter
surroundings and fewer nuisances
than in the large cities, and all this
can be done for just q few hundred
dollars. or far less than they now
pay as rent, in a comparatively few
years.
Their action in locating on the
land makes their property as good
security for loans as city real estate.
and, with no more work at the start
and much less later on, they can es-
tablish themselves to very much bet
ter advantage in the country, and can
raise stronger, more healthy and bet
ter minded children than in the
cities"
When all this Is realized says
Mr. Hall, there will be fewer men
and women walking the streets with
the furrowos of anxiety worn into
their faces; fewer in the ranks or
the unemployed: and we shall be able
10 cope with overcrowding in the
trades and professions, and life will
be better, more satisfactory and more
happy for us all
IL is not the object Of the Little
Land league to engage in actual con-
structive work so much as 1t is to
hold up this new hope of an indie
pendent and contented life before the
eyes of millions, and to stimulate con-
structive undertakings on the part OF
individuals, communities, and ulti-
mately. perhaps, OF the government
To this end. it aims to persuade
people TO provide themselves with
homes and employment by gardening,
to live on the land, and do business
~ tet hnp
by showing them where to buy land.
help them to get on TO II, and teach
them to make the best use of 1t.
II accomplishes this, In part, by CO
operating with various industrial and
farm training schools, garden cities,
and rural settlements, and, In part
by encouraging letters. literature and
legislation in favor OF closer settle
ment and higher methods of cultiva-
ton.
Mr.. Hall himself is lawyer, poet and
philosopher He is also one OF the
foremost American advocates OF land
reform. having been long associated
with Henry George and other leaders
of the single tax movement.
"You can put every unemployed
man at work on the land" he SAYS,
and still you have not solved the
great problem. Bat you have helped
to solve II every time you bring a new
man In personal contact with specu-
lative land values. He then begins TO
realize that every Improvement in the
condition of the earth goes to the
owners OF the earth. When enough
OF us see this we shall decide that
the earth belongs only TO those who
can use II TO the best advantage,
Thus Mr.. Hall kills two birds with
one stone in his work for THE Little
Land" lie helps the individual to
immediate independence, and feels
that he Is also gradually helping the
nation and the world toward eman-
cipation from the burden of land mo-
nopoly.
The influence OF the new move.
ment can be traced from the Atlantic
TO the Pacific-literally. from Massa-
chusetts TO California. The first re-
suits we're seen i'm New York and its
neighborhood where large numbers
OF ambitious men and women now get
part or all OF their living from the
land. Two or three small colonies In
Nav Jersey eprung up, while the legis-