Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-03-20
Fosters Family Life

1T would be something to occupy idle
hours or days free from work. and it would
bring pleasure not only to the table but
pride in oneself through the knowledge
of something secured through other than the
personal and controlled direction of an en-
ployer II should. too be garden of flow.
ers, since the sight of beautiful things en-
genders beautiful thoughts; of flowers and
vegetables: and If upon the same land as
the home cultivated for the two equally
With ii should be place attached, vet
apart, where the little sources of material
riches could be cultivated too-chckens
that produce eggs. rabbits that produce
meat. n goat that produces milk, bees that
produce sugar OF course il could not
reach this ideal state at once. But it could
grow in the ultimate aim of producing
things the worlmans pay denied the buy
Ing save in meager quantity. thus becom-
ing a pleasure and n profit while more
tightly binding together the man, the wife
and children within the sacredness Of the
home
My idea met with almost instant success.
In August, 1914, there were 1000 work.
mems gardens in and about HazebroucI,
and they existed in Lille, Tourcoing and
RoubniX. They are now, even in time of
war, all over France, even to the Midi, and
about Paris in thousands. These gardens
are mostly TO be found in the suburbs of
large centers like Paris Lyons or MarseilIes
but in the smaller towns they are fairly
elose to the habitation. These gardens AL
ways bring roster cheek and brighter eve
20 man. woman and child, and they reduce
me consumption of alcohol everywhere be-
cause the workman I'm large measure no
longer goes to the cabaret or tavern after
his evening meal, but either cultivates his
garden or in inclement season prepares for
its cultivation. In HazebrouclS and else
where he has found his income increased
and his health improved He has secured
better food than he could i'm market and
had moro money TO clothe his family, as
well as to save for the rainy day Of old
age.
"In 1893 I was elected, unattached to any
party. to the Chamber of Deputies from
my department, upon a platform of pro-
lection for the family. the coin de terre;
and have been returned at every election
since. I am now serving my twenty-fourth
consecutive year as a legislator of France
And in 1914 l was also chosen Mayor Of
IIazebrouclS and have since been reelected.
Making the Home Inviolate
"Armorial device I have not. But with
in my heart there are craven two things,
my notices since I was ordained One is
love and reverence for France, and the
other reverence and love for my religion.
At no one instance in my life have this
love and this reverence been divorced from
each other, even in the troublous times Of
the separation. l have preached them, love
of country first. the acceptaton of a re-
publican form of government, a fun ac-
ceptatiOn that insures governmental re-
spect for the religion one practices and per-
mits it's practicng in the sense the heart
dictates. / have stood heart and toul for
any means that bettered the condition,
moral mental, religious or material, of the
worker and to that end I am a socialist
in sympathy with socialistic principles and
have frequently spoken at socialistc as
semblages
II have a bill before the Chamber now
that perhaps will become a law sooner than
/ expect, and surely will eventually. 1t is
that the sacredness of the home is inviolate,
a thing without the province of the State
to tax or invade, that II should be unseiz-
able In the legal sense, unwillable and auto
matically passing to the wife and children
at the decease OF the husband And that
this end might be preserved there should
be a family vote through the husband two
votes il but himself and wife, six If they
have four children.
''For the family is anterior TO the State,
the latter dependent upon the former for
it's existence, and II should therefore en-
courage any principle that binds the indl-
yfdual more closely to the flag. Under GER
tain conditions. the State should indemni-
tie the family Of the worker make his
hearth a true manor as In the Middle Ages.
better men and women. and better Chris
believe II is the true spirit of Christs
teaching, and the highest form Of patriot
ism as WELL