Evening star., 1935-01-22
HOMES FOR $500
INCOMES ATTAINED
Pynchon Outlines Benefits
of Homestead Projects
in Radio Forum.

The subsistence homestead program
now under way has reached the point
where homesteadS can be provided
for families with as little annual in
come as $500 or 5000, and it is hoped
to get it even below this figure,
Charles E. Pynchon. president and
general manager of the Federal Sub
Sistence Homestead Corp. said in a
radio talk last night.
Pynchon spoke in the National
Radio Forum, arranged by The Star,
and broadcast over a network of the
National Broadcasting Co.
He outlined the scope of this plan,
relating that 81 homestead projects
now have been approved, and that
when completed, they will care for
$500 families The expenditures thus
far total in excess of S5,000,000 out
of an appropriation of 25,00O,oOO,
the speaker said
Taking note of criticism, he said:
"They tell us that we have made
mistakes, that in some cases our
errors have been costly. We admit
certain mistakes We admit they
have cost money. know of no
engage in a new enterprise and not
have first costs higher, due to errors
in judgment and the necessity of some
experimentation"
Text of Address.
The text of Mr.. Pynchon address
follows:
From the beginning of time, homes
have held the minds and hearts of
all peoples For "home"-the dwelling
place of his family, the symbol of his
traditions, the repository of his am
bitions the refuge which shelters him
in time of diStreSS-for home" a
man will lay down his life, should the
need arise.
When he is able to own a corner
of good American soil and there bring
up his children among proper social,
economic, and educational surround
ings, he may count himself fortunate
indeed.
Our Government, through the IN
terror Departments Division of Sub
sistence Homesteads. is making it pos
sible for several thousand persons in
the low income groups to do this very
thing.
I suppose this radio audience, like
most audiences to whom I have talked
would like first of all to know just
what is meant by a subsistence home
stead. Subsistence homestead" is a
rather mouth-f1lling title for some
thing that is really we'll known to all
of you. Briefly, it signifies house
and auxiliary outbuildings, located
upon a plot of land upon which can
be produced a large part of the food
required for family use In other
words, it is just such suburban house
and garden, such a semi-rural house
and small farm, as those with which
you are familiar
Idea Not New.
For subsistence homesteading is not
at all a new idea. I suppose that
back in prehistoric days some cave
dwelling family began it. when they
brought some edible roots from the
river bottom and some berry bushes
from the hillside and planted them
within easy distance of the cave
mouth. Then, when the saber-
toothed tiger was on the prowl or
some rival tribe on the rampage, they
could step outside and extract a meal
from the soil without running the
risk of foray over the dangerous
horizon.
Our frontier farmers were subsist-
ence homesteaders. Except for a bit
of barter for tea, or spices, or
molaSses, or rum, the early American
farmer produced for home consump-
ton.
Despite the growth of industrializa-
ton and specialization which divided
the population into consumers and
producers of edible goods, subsistence
homesteading persisted. 1t has been
estimated that out of the population
claSsed as farmers by the 1880 census
perhaps a third were actually in the
subsistence class in that they pro-
duced chiefly for home use and de-
pended for cash income upon some
other lleanS of livelihood.
Even the entry of government into
the promotion of subsistence home
Steading is not new. European gov
ernments have been encouraging a
Small-farmS movement for several
years. So that subsistence homestead
ing, in itself, is no sporadic fad
Advance" to the Farm.
What is novel and modern about
subsistence homesteading is the entry
of this United States Government of
ours upon program calculated to help
a large segment of our people to re-
turn to the land.
Many people call it a back to the
land movement. prefer to think of
it as an on to the land movement, for
it is not a retreat, but an advance. 1t
is an integral part of that great pro-
gram of social equity. put in motion
by President Roosevelt, which we call
the New Deal. 1t is a recognition of
a set of disturbing facts, and offers
a means of solving the problems pre-
sented by those facts.
The facts are these:
For many years we watched the
stream of population flow blithely
from the farms into the cities. The
wheels of industry turned faster and
faster, modern farm methods pushed
agricultural output ever upward, we
were on our happy way on road of
ever-increasing production, with the
end out of sight beyond an infinite
Utopian skyline
Into great industrial areas millions
Of people were packed-millions of
people with only means of support
work for wages.
SO long as the wages lasted a fair
portion of the workers we're reasonably
prosperous. But you all know what
happened, beginning with the Fall of
1929. The gears of the whirring ma
chine clashed, the pace of production
slowed to a jog trot, pay rolls dried
up, thousands of workers we're thrown