Evening star., 1933-12-19
HOMESTEAD PLAN
I AIDS FARM MOVE
"NeW Deal" Program Help
? ing Needy Families Gain
Independence.
The new deals" subsistence home
stead program Is simply adding i'm

The new deals" subsistence home
stead program Is simply adding I'M
pe:us to the general back-to-the-farm
movement which has been noted for
the past several years it was revealed
today in the annual report of Secretary
of the Interior Harold L. 1ckeS.
There are thousands of families leav-
ing the urban centers annually to gam
their living from the soil again, 1t was
revealed in IckeS' report, and the SUP
sistence homestead division of the Puo-
lie Works Administration will have val
liable lessons to teach these people.
The back -to-the-farm movement, the
report states, is the result OF the Wlue-
spread unemployment in the mduStrlal
centerS. and is without regard to the
adverse money crop conditions which
have prevailed during the depression
in the rural sections.
In the experimental subsistence
homestead project now under way In
West Virginia the report states, there
are being planted in the West Virginia
soil coal miners, proved by adequate
tests to be potential farmers" who
have been selected with their families
as "the pioneers of the first Federal
farm-factory project" In proving their
qualifications, the report shows, the
homemaker as well as the head Of the
household was investigated, because 1t
was felt that the wife as well as the
miner himself should be capable OF
undertaking new burdens.
Drift to Suburbs.
In the same portion of the report
lis noted a distinct drift also OF clty
Jewellers into nearby suburban districts
3vhere the head of the family may con-
ttinue to be an urbanite, but at the same
ttin1e add to his family's subsistence by
Planning on a small scale or maintain
Fang a home garden.
The report characterizes these people
Las living with one foot in the country
And sees the need for development OF
HIiving-at home program" or a program
fjn DEVELOPMENT of a budget OF nome
foods needs that can be supplied on the
suburban dweller's own plot. g.,
In this situation" it is stated, "a
challenging opportunity is presented 10
Vocational teachers of home economies
and of agriculture for cooperative eHoIU
IN hpIning these hundreds of thousands
nj Irhsn families with one foot in the
eountrv' to plan out and successfully
faTy out feasible hVe-at-hoihe P-o
grams"
The actual report of the Secretary OF
the Interior is only about $50 words and
deals with the setting up of the Interior
Department as it is constituted today as
compared with the old pre-RooseVelt
set-up. Ickes points out that the Bureau
of Mines has been transferred TO MS
department from the Commerce Depart
ment. and recalls the merging OF the
Federal Board for Vocational Education
with the Office of Education, the estab-
iishment of the new Office of Public
BUILDINGS and Public Parks of the Ma
tional Capital the Soil Erosion Service
and the subsistence homeSteads DIVISION.
There has also been added. he said.
an adviser on the economic status OF
Negroes.
Various Reports Given.
The remainder of the 329-page report
Is devoted to the reports of the solicitor
of the department, the War Minerals
Relief. the Bureau of Reclamation. the
General Land Office, the Office of In
dian Affairs, a report on Indian popula-
tion; Office of National Parks. Buildings
and Reservations. the Geological Sur
vey, the Office of Education, the Federal
Board of Vocational Education. st.
Elizabeth's Hospital. Howard University,
Freedmen's Hospital and the Columbia
Institution for the Deaf.
In his report on education, DR..
George F. Zook, commissioner of edu-