Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-12-15


tates have been bought by the British
government and divided up into
farms. That country, as you KNOW z
has been cursed by the absentee land
lord. and the most of it's evils are pri-
martly due TO the owners living IN
England and spending the rent there.
government bought 100000 acres and:
divided it up into small farms. ON
which the necessary houses and other Z
improvements were erected They
sold these ready-made farms to their n
former tenants at an average price OF
about $50 per acre. and the buyer had
sixty eight years, to pay for the farm
and improvements at ~ per cent ".
terest. In addition the government 1
made personal loans to the tenants to
implements and 1t furnished advisers 4
and scientific farm instructors. That
movement has practically revolution, 4,
ICED some parts of Ireland. The law.
and the jails of the farming districtss&
which were formerly filled with Lane
agitators, are now used for public
schools. Today most of the troublesy
between the British government ana
Ireland are confined to the cities"
* II tM
At this point DIR. Mead showed me
large number of photographs of the
farms and homes which California has
made out of a part Of one of Leland
Stanford's big ranches. This ranch
lies under the shadow of Mount Shas-
ia and. at the time the government
bought it. 1t consisted of about $500 !
acres, some waste land and other K
parts devoted only to grazing. The
government bought the land and irri- I
gated it from Butte creek. 1t had soil !,
surveys made. and inaugurated such !
irrigation and drainage schemes a.
would bring the whole into use. It
then subdivided the land into small
and built houses for settlers and the y
necessary barns and outbuildings Tor !
farm animals. There were $50 farms
in all. and in addition twenty-one 4
homes for farm laborers, each consists
ing Of two-acre tract with = COM
farmers and tenants are lighted by
electricity. and they have screened
sleeping porches. bathrooms and all
sanitary conveniences That settie-
and the subdivided tracts were then !,
offered to farmers on forty years time, Y
with a provision that they could bor- 4
row go per cent of the cost OF the per-
them within twenty years. All loans
were to bear per cent interest.
The farms were quickly taken, and
today the whole comprises live, up
to-date, model farm settlement. Some &
OF the men who secured farms seeded
to alfalfa have harvested three crops
this year. and one of them has had
gross return of $4,000. or about
500 per acre. The settlers who took
farms on which grain crops have been
beginning to realize that they can
soon earn enough money to pay OFT
their debts. None Of these farms has
been granted without investigating
settlement board insists that each
man must have a good reputation
and have at least $1,000 of his own
with which to start work The av,
erage cash capital of those approved
has been about $4,000. The farms
have been sold on such terms as will .
reimburse the state for its outlay,
and at the same time materially add
One of the most interesting features
of this farm settlement Is it's arr
rangements for farm laborers. II is
impossible to run any kind Ola farm
and the labor question is one of the
chief troubles Of the farmer of to-
day. On this settlement ait Durham.
Cal. the board set aside twenty-one
homes for such labor. and as soon as
it announced that they were ready
for occupancy it received 1872 applica- &
lions for them. Each home has two
acres of land, and the houses are
grouped together on one of the most
slightly parts of the settlement. There
is a uniform water supply system
planned for these homes. and they
are of such "a nature that each la
borer's family can grow it's own fruit
and vegetables and have its own
COW and poultry. The average CAPT.
tai of the farm laborer has ranged (
from $15 to $4,7OO. 1t Is found that
many Of the men have money In out
side Investments. They prefer to
> work for others to taking up farms
of their own. and they will form
staple source of farm help for the
settlement. *
FRANK G.. CARPENTER.
O. i