The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1942-08-06

equipment was spent
BY the time this factory got into
operation the shirt and vacuum
cleaner plants had closeed down.
Nothing daunted, the sponsors an
gued that the depression years dis
couraged establishment Of new plants
by private enterprises and that once
the tide changed industries would
be quick to move to a model commun-
iry like Attributable.
Two Cooperative Farms Fail
Boom times find the industries go
ing elsewhere, and homesteaders here
are committing to Morgantown and
other war production centers to reap
the big-time pay while enjoying the
low, subsidized rentals still prevailing
at Attributable.
By 1889, or less than five years
after the community had been estab-
lshed two Of the experiments in CO.
operative farming - dairying and
poultry raising-had proved financial
fops.
High wages paid the homesteaders
to run these ventures took all the in
come-and more-of the cooperative
association.
So too, the homesteaders failed to
make a go Of the production Of handi-
craft articles Of wood, pewter and
wrought iron
The community has sorry appear
ance. 1t is all run down at the heel,
with its vast nursery school, elemen-
tary and high school plant, its COM
munity gymnasium and its general
buildings needing paint and its pub
lie grounds grown high in weeds.
There are unmistakable signs that
what was to be a model for all other
like New Deal communities in a $25,-
100000 politico-sociological expert
ment is failure. 1t had good backing
1t was promoted by ReXford Guy
TugWell, then Under Secretary Of the
Agriculture and head of President
Roosevelt's Resettlement Administra-
ton. 1t was nmtured through all its
formative stage by Mrs Eleanor
Roosevelt, who visited it frequently.
Homesteaders Hand-Picked
The homesteaders were hand picked.
Heads of agencies that fell heir to it
: and sister communities hold that it
was doomed to failure because it was
settled by families on relief, selected
on the basis Of their needs rather than
on their capabilities as part-timc ag-
riculturistS or industrial workers.
But the favorite local project of the
First Lady Of the land had all the
benefits Of science in choosing its set
tiers. True, some of the family heads
had not been steadily employed since
the coal strike Of the POS But they
were sized up as capable workers,
with a sense Of social responsibility
eager to turn to the soil for living.
Test Took - Minutes
The settlers were picked from hun
dreds Of applicants in stampede to
live in new houses with baths, heat
ing furnaces, electric lights and give
up grotesquely appearing shacks,
perched precaliously atop abandoned
mines.
A test that lasted all of IS minutes
was designed to ascertain their agri-
cultural backgrounds A plaster COW
was used to check their knowledge of
dailyng, and technical test to de-
termine if a prospect, claiming
knowledge Of poultry raising, could
tell the difference between a '1iar and
a layer"
A test of educational, physical fit
ness, attitudes, ambitions and of ag-
ricultural aspirations followed.
Only Three Remaining
Then, skilled interviewers were de
tailed to intewogate members of the
families Of wage earners rated high
est in all of the above tests.
Of the first fifty families q only
know of three remaining here's" said
Mrs. Ira Murphy, who in 1884 moved
into the first model house completed
here.
Mr. Murphy has a war job-secured
a year ago-at an ordnance plant in
Morgantown. There are three chill
dren, 9, % and IS years of age
I'VE have just bought our home,
and like it very much" she related
She was at work in the almost idle
handicraft shop Of the community
center when interviewed.
Monthly Payments SIS
Mrs. Rosa Mayor, whose husband
has been working for the Arthurdale
association ever since the couple and
their seven children settled here in
1884, was also working a hand loom.
The Mayors bought their home a
month ago, "but we are moving into
a larger home," said Mrs. Mayor. 1--WE
find what we bought isn't what we
want, SO they are exchanging it for
us"
Allowing credit for the rents paid