East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1915-07-02

SOUTH CHARLESTOWN, O., July
"A few miles from this town lies
Hustonia, the only built to order COM
munity center for farmers in the
United States. It was built under the
direction Of Foster Houston aged AZ,
and is designed TO bring the neigh
borhood idea TO the country, so that
rural residents may have healthy am
usement during leisure hours, and 80
that the young tlllers Of the soil shall
not weaken to any desire to flock to
the big cities
Houston himself deserves para
graph He began life as a boy bound
out to a skinflnt farmer who allow
ed him ten cents week spending
money and gave him an orange for
Christmas. He worked from a. m
until darkness, He learned all about
farming as 1t was done before scien-
lists took hold of it, When he inher-
/ tied bank and several thousand
acres of land on the death Of two
elder brothers, then he began to wi
den his knowledge Of scientific farm
| ing
T7aree years ago began to put his
| ideas on farming into operation. Ow-
ing 10000 acres Of good soil in Madi-
son, Clark and Green counties, he di-
vided his land into 80 farms, and in
stituted the tenant system, with this
/ important provlsion-the tenant was
his business partner. Each farm
was operated as a separate business,
as Houston and Jones or Houston and
! Smith or Houston and Houston as
happens in the case Of his son, who
operates a coo acre plot Each ten
ant is supreme on his own farm, an
swerable only to Houston.
Each of the partnership farms Is
operated on a card-indeX, scienuflc'
business-like system All disburse-
ments are by check: every animal
and currycomb on every farm is listed
and a monthly audit is made of each
partnership. Every field at every
month of the year is accounted for
with colored maps. Expert account
ants keep the books. An expert en-
glneer has charge of the buildings
erected, roads constructed and gener-
al LAYOUT of the farms. Each Of the
S2 farms produce different crops ana
stock, the latter numbering into the
2 thousands Two farms specialize IN
! diarying. another in chicken raising
another in horses, etc. The diaries
: are models, so far as labor saving ma
] chinery and modern methods of han
: ding milk are concerned. Orchard'
$ are carefully kept, houses and build
g ings well painted, and everything
g conducted on a business-like basis
e All OF the farms are beautiful to lool
= upon.
o Hustonla comprises 23O buildings
$ The one which Houston takes mos
Q pride in Is the Houston Athletic Clui
House a structure 40 by 10 feet Thii
place has become the veritable center
e of the social life of the community, IL
addition to being the home of base
ball and other teams, all made up o
men and boys who live on the farms
= I'VE have had better corn, bettei
: roads, said Houston, "but it is higl
g time that we had better people-mor'
Il contented, more enlightened, NOR
educated. regard this movement a
: one Of the most important of the pc
i riod.'
e Houston argues that farmers boy
+. leave the country, not to escape work
but to seek entertainment. He ha.
plans for lectures, motion pictures ant
other educational and social activities
to be held in the club house Be
tween the tenants and Houston ther'
is no end of good fellowship.
Houston declares that his tenant
business partners-are not leavinI
: his farms to get land of their own
This is because their efforts, backed
by the money of the Houston farm
company, brings them gains the!
could not hope to make on their owl
farms