Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-08-21

harrows; cooperative SAFE OF produce to
get the best price; withholding of crops
Cike CORN from the market when the
price for them is low and they can be used
to produce higher income product Qike
hogs.
Above all, Tap breaches the Pine
Mountain Valley plan.
THE plan" began with the purchase of
the land in 1885, by the Federal Emer-
gency Relief Administration as a rural re-
Mobilization project. Aubrey Williams,
deputy administrator of w. P. A. under
Harry Hopkins, is credited with the idea,
which was to rebuild this depleted valley
with families from the relief rolls in cities
roundabout.
They cleared the land in 1884 In 1885
the first settlers began construction of
homes and barns and other buildings BY
the time the project was complete, with
implements and animals, the Federal Gov
eminent had spent $1,863,873 and the
Georgia Relief Administration $338878
more Then the whole thing was turned
over to the Pine Mountain Valley Rural
Community, non-protir corporation head
ed by Miss Gay B. Shepperson of the
Georgia w. P. A. and former F. E. r. A.
administrator. Pine Mountain Valley is not
w. P. A. project.
Caution Is Keynote Of Plan.
The corporation put the families on the
farms-each supplied with electric light.
water facilities, bathrooms and heating
Sstems-and assigned to each period of
probation to prove itself worthy Of a con-
tract to acquire the property. Concerned
more with sound results than with speed,
the corporation has granted only "a con-
tracts thus far but expects 40 more will
be signed this summer.
This policy of caution is keynote of
the plan 1t has already drawn dividends.
1t dictated ALLEGATION of part of the valley
to big corporation farm to serve as back
bone for the experiment. Without that
backbone the economy of the valley would
have been wrecked by the drought Of 1896.
AS it was, the small farms had the big
farm to rely on and the situation was saved.
The big farm practices the diversified
ton it breaches. 1t produces dairy and
beef cattle, hogs and poultry, in addition
to crops on its 315-acre truck farm. 1t
acts as a marketing agency for its smaller
neighbors.
1t runs the packing shed, where vege-
tables and fruits are gathered from all
the farms and graded and packed for
market. This means sale in bulk and
better price to the seller. Wives, daugh-
tiers and sons of settlers work here. They
are paid out of the profits. What remains
is divided among the farmers according
to the amount of produce each contributed
1t runs the canning factory on the same
system. Last years output from this plant
was 26,841 cans of 81 products ranging
from apples to pigs feet. This years
total to date is 1880 cans Of all sorts of
things from soup to spinach.
1t runs the egg-packing plant the same
way. The quality of the eggs is so we'll
established they are marketed under the
Pine Mountain Valley label They are
graded according to color and weight. The
output is ITS cases week-30 dozen to
case.
1t runs the incubator Matching eggs
from its 1000 to 5000 blood-tested hens
(hens that can't survive the test are killed
as diseased) and selling them, one day
old, to the settlers. This insures q healthy
strain and saves the settler the loss of eggs
which don't hatch. When the chicks are
grown they either add to the settlers egg
output or are marketed as broilers
1t runs the mill that mixes the settlers
feed it runs the saWmill the garage the
blacksmith shop and the warehouse.
It runs the community store, which
operates as cooperative; profits are re-
turned to the customers in periodic divi-
dends In ratio to their purchases.
Ultimately, after they have paid for