Evening star., 1934-04-29

'HE most StrlKlng pdrtS OF the
exhibition of work done under
the Subsistence Homestead
L Projects, being shown at the
Department of Commerce, are
two completely furnished rooms. All
the articles therein are made by the
unemployed miners and their wives
in the Reedsville, w. Va, experimental
community of the division Of sub
sistence homesteads.
The furniture, copied from de-
signs brought to this project by Miss
Nancy Cook, who runs the Waikiki
furniture shop at Hyde Park for Mrs.
highly polished and waxed. There
are gate-leg tables, chests Of draw
ers, corner cabinets, Welsh cupboards.
cribs for babies, double-decker beds
for children, double bed for adults
and different varieties of chairs. They
are hand made and strongly made by
the men of the community. They
possess considerable elegance.
Women Taught to Weave.
The women have been taught to
weave. On the looms they have
made carpets, coverlets for beds and
chairs from cotton thread, blankets
and material for dresses from wool.
They have been instructed in the art
of weaving by Mr. and Mrs. Shipley
Brown. These two kindly people have
left their home in Pennsylvania and
are going to homestead in Reeds
vile with the miners so that they
may teach them to work the looms
and become, if possible, self-sustain-
ing. The Society of Friends, who
have long been working among the
destitute miners, asked Mr.. and Mrs.
Brown if they would do this. True
to their faith, they went unhesi-
tatingly.
The loom is shown in one Of the
furnished rooms by Miss Elizabeth
Elonies Of Annetsville, w. Va. She is
working on carpet. Mrs. Brown is
exhibiting a knitting machine that
can make pair of socks in half an
hour and alittle girls dress, both
jumper and skirt, in three and half
hours. Enough wool to make the
socks costs 9 cents, wool for the dress
| is 81 cents.
These two productions, the furni-
| ture making and the weaving form
! the industry for the Reedsville pro-
| ject. Orders may be given for the
| furniture. The money made will go
into developing the Reedsville Expert
mental Community.
S25,0O0,000 Appropriated.
The way these subsistence home
steads operate and their objective can
be explained most simply by descrip-
ton of Reedsville, which is approach
| ing the starting point Of its rehabili-
J tation. Last July, under the national
recovery act, $25,000,000 was appro-
priated for the subsistence home
steads. Thirty-five projects have been
| announced to date, extending from
| coast to coast and from Minnesota to
Texas The division of subsistence
homesteads. which was established in
the Department of the Interior under
the direction of M. L. Wilson, hopes
| to create so projects. Each prof.
ect gets its ALLEGATION of funds from
the washington division. Reedsville
was given approximately $1,000.
/ OUJCCI1NC 10 w tdhC 1dulI.
| lies off Federal or State relief pay
rolls, make them self-supporting by
creating an industry for them, if there
| is no nearby industry where they can
work and to settle them on plots Of
land ranging from one to five acres
where they can raise enough vege-
tables, fruit, poultry, possibly hogs and
a COW to feed themselves.
| 1000 Families Applied.
Miss Virginia Wheatley Of Danville,
Va, who has spent the Winter in
Reedsville, helping to start and Or
ganize this project. explained how
| the wheels were set in motion. After
the number of families who could
be taken care of in extent Of land by
the limitation Of the ALLEGATION and
the architectural planning of the
project had been established the
wedding out of applicants began. In
Reedsville, for instance, where 125
families could be placed, 1000 ap-
piled. The specifications for the
families we're that the age limit OF
the man must be between rs and 30,
that there must be at least two chill
dren and that the man must know
something about farming. Both q
physical and an oral examination were