The Montgomery monitor. (Mt. Vernon, Montgomery County, Ga.) 1886-current, July 19, 1906, Image 2
„ OUR HOME TOWN. ■mm A Department Devoted to Milage . 4, U^ r ' ' Betterment t Wjfc> T, RICHARD HAMILTON BYRD. * <|pi The editor of thin department desire* to keep in touch with the active oemlKr* of Civic and Local Improvement Annociatinner and evrry one intcrcated in the improvement unit the protection of rural village life. What 1» heinx done In yonr town to encourage -mall induHtriea and for home employment 'r What i* doing aleng the line of atreet improve ment and the beautifying of private iawua and public park.'r Are your local merchant* receiving the support of the local trade Y Experience, plana and nuggeNtiona will he welcomed by the editor of ttiia department und an fur aa poaaihle given place iu theae columns. THE INHERE\DEST TOWN. Make I ach Rural Center Dependent Upon Itself and Its Own Resources. There has lately developed a strong Heniiuieiit looking to the improvement of the home town -milking each eommiiiiity, an much possible, dependent Upon Itselt and its own resources and those ol its sur rounding country, and independ ent of the great centres which are constantly striving to secure a portion of I lie local well llh. This local self sufficiency may he fostereil by an In dividual and co-operative determi nation to bring the town up to its highest possible plant* of comfort, gen eral usd illness and beauty to its resi dents. This may be described as a movement for civic Improvement. The accumulation of considerable wealth in many American villages and towns, during the last ten or twenty yiiirs, the development of popular education and the Increase of leisure, has given an opportunity for the per formance of public duties, sueli as bad not seemed to e\lst to the young man or-woman of the former gener ation, Who. In the effort to seen re a livelihood and establish a home bad given little thought to the duties of citizenship and soda! responsibilities. It Is only within a comparatively few years that, "nature study" lias entered Into any of the public-school work, or even miuninl training, while there are many who yet think that sueli Institutions ns gymnasiums, baths, playgrounds, and even vacutlon sellouts mid free lectures are unneces sary time consumers for the young. Nevertheless the general move lit for a better education along rural lines and for backyard and street Improve meld, and the general betterment of the village and town Is rapidly in n-easing. As mi Instance of this, eve i in such u large city ns St. I.ottls, girls and hoys are given practical Instruction iu gardening, through the Junior School of Ilortlcultui'c of the VI -oiirl botanical Hardens. The children are permitted to sell their own products n decided stimulus to their c erts —and iu this way many of tlie n earn considerable pocket money for vacutlop time. This school has been In oper ation for a number of years and is of great value to the citizens as well as to the children of tin* city, the latter of whom would otherwise know praetj < ally nothing of nature as country children know it. liven In Texas the school garden ami town Improvement Idea has made headway, although there has been greater difficulty iu obtaining popular approval and support, possibly, than in an> other section of the country, owing to the fact, perhaps, that the Lone Star State has vast areas of unoc cupied laud, and to the fact that the liiltueutia! majority lias been but a short time removed from the cattle CLASS IN LIVE STOCK JUDGING CATTLE AND I'LANT LIFB m Waterford. I'a High School. rang# business However, the more eentr*llr.«*d portion of society has taken! the matter up. ami It is stated that the most public spirited ettliens of tin towns and cities, together with the progressive teaehers have made school gardens and runtl «slneation a smvess during the jiast two seasons and hhve aroused such enthusiasm annum the pupils, that wherever it has Ikhmi tried, the school garden has lieoome a fixture., •Let your child plant his own car den, gather his own harvest of fruit and flowers, learn through his own amall experience something of the Influence of the sun. dew and rain, and gain thereby a remote present! tnent es the reciprocal energies ofj nature and a reverent feeling for the divine life and law expressed in, nature. Hie child is a plant, a vege table, and must live out of doors, or tit arly so, as conditions will permit" l roebel realised that health was the basts and test of al! our energies, and j that this was one of the tuorniug ■ stars oQ the new hygiene. THE A GRICUL TUKA L HIGH SCHOOL Successful txamples Described by Lrosby of Department of Agricul ture of Local improvement i hrough Rural Lducation In the new Year Book of the De partment of Agriculture, Just issued, is it description by l>. .1. Crosby, of the office of Experiment Stations, which shows, in u number of Instances, what splendid results are being attained through the introduction of common sense agricultural studies In some of the country village schools, ami bow they directly affect and benefit tla-ir home towns. There Is what appears to be, an almost ideal Pennsylvania village high school, .which the writer visited. lie describes what be saw: In Erie County, l*a., surrounded by a good general farming and dairy country, is the village of Waterford, on the outskirts m) which is the site of Port le Boeuf, of French und India war fame. At Waterford the first school In Krle County was establish I in IHOO, and here as far hack as 1822 was erected a stone academy build ing, which Is used to-day as the main part id' tlie high-school building. The township of Waterford lias a popula tion of 1.1(10 and about one luu. re side In the borough of Will erf -d. 'IT* borough lias its own elementary school, but the high school is support ed and controlled jointly by the bor ough and township. This high school, with- its three teachers and three courses of study (language, scientific, and agricultural!, has an enrollment of Nil pupils, and 35 of these are iu the agricultural course. This course Includes agriculture, five hours a week for four years. The work of tin* first year is devoted to a study of plant life —germination, plant growth, plant food, reproduction, prop agation, transplanting, pruning, and use of plants; the second year to a i study of field, orchard, and garden crops; the third year tp*domestic ani mals, dairying, and soil physics, a 1 the fourth year to the chemistry of soils and of plant and animat life. Text hooks are used in the class rooms; a small library of agricultural reference hooks, reports und bulletins of this Department and experiment stations, and agricultural papers con tributed by the publishers is in almost constant use, and lectures on agricul tural subjects are given before the class and before the whole school by the instructor in agriculture, who is an agricultural college graduate. But the feature of instruction which chiefly distinguishes tills agricultural course from the ordinary high school course is the prominence given to tin* laboratory work and the outdoor priu*- ticum. For the laboratory work there is no elaborate apparatus. The pupils make much of tlieir own apparatus, furnish their own reagent bottles, and. moreover use them. In the plant-life course tin* pupils study not elaborate and carefully prepared drawings, but the plants themselves with reference , to their life history and economic uses. For the outdoor praettcuiu the i school Is unfortunate in having ! neither land nor domestic animals nor fowls, and yet it has a wealth of illus trative material all around it Every good farm Within a radius of 3 or -I miles, nearly every barn and poultry yard itt the village, the butcher shops, and the farm implement stores furnish costly illustrative material and extend vastly the teaching force of the big! school. The farmers and owners of good live stock either bring theh ani mals to the door of the school house to be studied by the class In agricul ture or allow the class to go to their barns and fields for this purpose. It ! is xakl to lie a rare thing for a good ■ horse to come to the village and get away without l»elng examined by the | high school class In animal husbandry. The writer was fortunate in Ivirig the guest of the school one day last i October and In having an opportunity i to listen to some of the recitations in I agriculture A class of 14 boys andl ti girls were studying animal Industry. H i It bad been organized only three or | i four weeks, and yet the Interest man ifested and the readiness with which | the boys and girls described the beef ! type, the dairy type, and various, j breeds of cattle, the mu: <>n anil wool types of sheep, the principal breeds of | draft horses, and some of the stand lard-bred roadsters and trotters, were indeed surprising. At the close of the recitation the class was taken to a barn in the village w ere -> vera fine roadsters were owned. The owner wa> not at home, but the teacher had standing permission to take t. horses from the barn in order that the class might examine them. A fine llamlde lonian mare was led Into the yard and examined critically by the pupils and criticised by them, the different points being brought out by skillful question ing on the part of the teat Fom this place the class went to a livery barn where a spit Tdid black I’ereheron stallion was stabled for the day. A member of the class had dis covered the horse as he was -eing driven in from another town 11 miles away, and following the driver to the barn had got permission for the class to examine him. When the livery barn was reached the driver brought Ids stallion out into the street, put him through his paces, and helped the teacher in calling attention to bis good points and the contrasts between t '«* draft type and the roadster type of horses, and allowed us to take several photographs. It was an instructive lesson not only for the members of the agricultural class, but for the score or more of farmers and townsmen who collected around the livery stable. In much the same way tin* local butcher is the in structor in the high school. The class studying the beef type of cattle, or the mutton slieep, or the different classes of swine is taken to the butch er shop and given a demonstration lesson on cuts and their relative val ues, which of the breeds are apt to produce the better cuts, which the better quality, unc so on. Thus this little village high school, though it pays only $2,230 a year in WATERFOUD HIGH SCHOOL CLASS .THnOTNO A HAMBLETONIAN MARE salaries and only $.'570 for other ex-f peases, has a faculty made up of nu-1 luerous specialists and an equipment! in illustrative material such as few technical high schools could afford. And the pupils are being trained In the “elements of failure and success," not only on “all the farms of the neighborhood.” but In the village shops and markets. This is training for efficiency. It is training for cul ture. for breadth of view, and for sympathy with all that goes to make up the life of the community. Homecraft and Cruft. The “homocroft” idea, referred to by George 11. Maxwell in his address be fore the Biennial Convention of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, is closely allied to the “home arts and crafts” propaganda, in which so many, in and out of the federation, are Inter ested. The bouiecroftor. owning his home and a little patch of ground—an acre ot two. more or less—is of all persons the one most likely to he inter ested in home crafts —little Hues of manufacture, which, added to the pro duce of his ground, may afford a sun port to his family, either constantly or as a substitute for wage-earning em ployment when some great shop or factory may be suspended. Aided, perhaps, by a little gas engine or elec tric motor, he may have a choice of an infinite variety of crafts, in which he and his family may profitably engage. Here is a combination which seems to offer relief from the demoralizing and devitalizing conditions of our present factory system: also a mode of multi plying the number of those citizens, independent of both landlord and em ployer. who art* the backbone of American democracy. Give us the homocroftor and the craftsman in one! Keep I'ulities Out. Every public-minded citizen should make it known that he is absolutely opposed to partisan, political control in the management of public parks, roadside improvement, playgrounds and like town betterments. Nothing can be more detrimental to such de velopment than the interference of liolitics. l'arty responsibility, as a remedy for municipal mismanagement, has beeu prove* a “delusion and a snare.” Such methods have raised to important places bigoted. Incompetent and sometimes dishonest men. wuo. by reason of their weaknesses or mis management. have disgraced what should be honorable and respeet<*d positions. Our citizens should insist absolutely that no political consider ations be allowed to interfer with park affairs, and should visit with marked censure and disapproval all city officials who prostitute their trusts for mere political gain. Fresh Air I'luygrounds. American cities are far behind European cities in making provision for public parks, especially in pro viding for the instruction and amuse ment of children in them. In modem municipal equipment in Europe, much provision is made for the instruction and amusement of children, and in most modernized European cities large 1 sums of money have been expended in > nrocuring open spaces for them in dis j tricts of congested population OPPORTUNITIES AT HOME. PERNICIOUS PHIL OSOPH Y 01 JOHN J. INGALLS’ FAMOUS POEM.- UU\Y HOME OPPORTUNI TIES HAVE REES OVERLOOKER. Solution of the Labor Question to be tounu in the L»cvelopmenl ol Home inuusti ies. Many a beautiful thing is pernicious in its effect. There is no telling how many men have given up a good light ing chance and have literally laid down in harness because they’ had ab sorbed from John J. Ingalls’ i>oeui OPPORTUNITY the idea that they had had their chance, and that for them at least opportunity would not return. Here is the poem: “Master of human destinies am I. Fame, love and fortune on my foot steps wait. C'ities and fields I walk. I penetrate Deserts and seas remote. And pass ing by Hovel and mart and palace, soon or late 1 knock unbidden once at every gate. If sleeping wake; if feasting rise before I turn away; it is the hour of fate. And those who follow me reach every state Mortals desire and conquer every, every foe Save death; but those who doubt or hesitate. Condemned to failure, penury and woe, Seek me in vain, and uselessly im plore; I answer not. and I return no more." A beautiful poem—yes, but pernic ious as is the theory of fate or the twin tenet of predestination. If oppor tunity comes but once, where is the use of,striving :t President James of the University of Illinois during the recent commence- [ ment exercises took occasion to refer to the philosophy of Ingalls’ famous [ poem. “It is false and misleading.” said Mr. James. “It is not a single op portunity which comes to a man; It Is a train. It is a never-ending proces sion, some small, some large, growing perhaps more small and more insignifi cant as the years flow on, but ever and always opportunities too numer ous, too great, and too large for us to utilize fully.” This is good, healthful optimism. There never was a time when opportu nities of all shapes, sizes and colors bobbed up on every corner as they do to-day And they are not confined to any particular country or locality. They are waiting everywhere. Under the rapidly changing industrial and economical conditions they are spring ing up in odd and out-of-tlie-way pluees. Old settlements—old villages, moss-grown and for years silent as the cemetery that clings to their skirts, a-e finding new youth in the revival of occupations and simple in dustries which twenty years ago were deemed impossible. The abandoned farms of New England—The farms that were left tenantless because it was thought that the only opportun ities for success were to be found in the West—are receiving new leases of life. PENDULUM IS SWINGING BACK. For a full half century the American people have been money-mad. Every thing lias been sacrificed to the one idea of accumulation. The dollar sign became the sole badge of honor, and a man's success was measured not by what he made of himself, not by what lie accomplished for Ids fellows or the world at large, but by the size of his pile. This standard of success has wari>* ed the Imagination of the whole peo ple. The merchant and professional man bend every energy to the pil ing up of gold bricks. And the farmer, not to be outdone, lies awake nights thinking how he may get more land, lie has now more than he can till, but the land lust has seized him and home comforts and a quiet life are sold in the market in order that the line fetiee may be removed This ,has been the condition for many years, and it requires careful observation to detect any change. But a reaction has set in. The pendulum is swinging back. A growing sentiment in favor of a moderate success, a quiet life and borne surroundings is appar ent With this comes a desire to get back to original principles; to abandon the cities and seek the healthful life of the farm and the village. The growth of our cities has l»een abnormal—the direct result of ab normal transportation conditions. “To Mm that hath shall be riven, and to him that bath not even that which he hath shall be taken away.” has been the working poliov of modern com mercial transportation companies. The small town has been sacrificed to the city. This was the natural resntt of competition. In centers where numerous railroads meet, low rates are given to both the in-going and out going freight but there is but one road, the traffic is taxed all that It will bear. This condition has had aj (Ooatwuol <*i column (v BE A HOMECROFTER Learn by Doing. Work Together. Give every IVLan a Chance. THE SLOUAN OF THE HOMECROFTERS IS “learn by Doing—Work Together—Give Every Man a Chance." “ Every Child in u Garden—Every Mother in u Horneerolt, and Indi. viduul, Industrial Independence for Every Worker in a Home of his Own on the Laud." "A little croft we owned a plot of corn, A garden stored with peas and mint and thyme. And flowers for posies, oft on Sunday morn, IPlucked while the church hells rang their earliest chimes.” Wordsworth. "The Citizen standing in the doorway of his home —contented on his threshold, his family Fathered about his hearthstone, while the evening of a well spent day closes in scenes and sounds that are dearest he shall save the Republic when the drum-tap is futile and the barracks are exhausted .'-Henry H . UraJy. EDUCATION [[INI HOMECROFTS OPPORTUNITY filll COOPERATION fflggjl THE FIRST BOOK £ HOMECROFTERS HAS JUST BEEN PUBLISHED AND AMONG ITS CONTENTS ARE THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES OF ABSORBING INTEREST The Brotherhood of Man Charity that is Everlasting The Secret of Nippon’s Power Lesson of a Great Calamity The Sign of a Thought Copies Os “THE FIRST BOOK OF THE HOMECROFTERS” con be obtained by sendinC twelve two-cent stamps with your name and address (carefully and plainly written) to to The Home crofter’ Clld of the Talisman, 143 Main St., Watertown, Mass. This book is the first of a Series operation the Platform of the Talis that will Chronicle the Progress of the man. The following is taken there- HOMECROFT MOVEMENT and inform all who wish to co-operate with it how they may do so through the formation of local Homecrofters’ Circles, Clubs or Gilds to promote Town and Village Betterment, stimu late borne civic pride and loyalty to home institutions, industries and trade, improve methods and facilities of edu cation in the local public schools, and create new opportunities “At Home” that will go far to check the drift of trade and population to the cities. The first Gild of the Homecrofters has been established at Watertown, Massachusetts. The Gildhall, Shops and Gardens are located at 143 Main Street, where the Garden School is now fully organized and over one hundred children are at work in the Gardens. The departments for train ing in Homecraft and Village Indus tries are being installed. The Weavers are already at work at the looms. It is not designed to build here an isolated institution, but to make a model which can be duplicated in any town or village in the country. There is New Hope and Inspiration for every Worker who wants a Home of his own on the Land in the CREED AND PLATFORM OF THE HOMECROFTERS’ which is as fol lows: “Peace has her victories no less re nowned than war.” EDUCATION CO-OPERATION OPPORTUNITY HOMECROFTS We believe that the Patriotic Slogan of the Whole People of this Nation should be “Every Child in a Garden— Every Mother in a Homecraft —and In di\ idual Industrial Independence for Every Worker in a Home of his Own on the Land,” and that until he owns such a Home, the concentrated purpose and chief inspiration to labor in the life of every wage worker should be his determination to “Get an Acre and Live on it.” We believe that the Slums and Tenements and Congested Centers of population in the Cities are a savagely deteriorating social, moral and polit ical influence, and that a great public movement should be organized, and the whole power of the nation and tlie states exerted for the betterment of all the conditions of Rural Life, and to create and upbuild Centers of So cial and Civic Life in Country and Suburban Towns and Villages, where Trade and Industry can be so firmly anchored that they cannot be drawn , into the Commercial Maelstrom that is now steadily sucking Industry and Humanity into the Vertex of the Great Cities. We believe that every Citizen in | this Country has an inherent and , Fundamental Right to an Education which will train him to Earn a Liv ing, and, if need be, to get bis living , straight from Mother Earth; and that he has the same right to the Opportun ity to have the Work to Do which will , afford him that living, and to earn not only r. cor'ortable livelihood, but enough more to enable him to he a Ilomecrofter and to have a Home of his Own, with ground around it sufficient to yield him and his family a Living from the Land as the reward for his own labor. We believe that the Public Domain is the most precious heritage of the people, and the surest safeguard the nation has against Social Uniest. Dis turbance or Upheaval, and that the Cause of Humanity and the Preserva tion of Social Stability and of our Free Institutions demand that the absorp tion of the public lands into specula tive private ownership, without settle ment, be forthwith stopped; and that the nation should create opportunities for Homecrofters by building irriga tion and drainage works to reclaim land as fast as it Is needed to give every man who wants a Home on the Land a chance to get it. We believe that, as a Nation, we should be less absorbed with Making ! Money, and should pay more heed to raising up and training Men who will be Law-Abiding Citizens; that the wel fare of our Workers is of more con sequence than the mere accumulation of Wealth: and that Stability of Na tional Character and of Social and Business Conditions is of greater im portance to the people of this country as a whole than any other one ques- I tion that is now before them: and we I believe that the only way to Preserve such Stability, and to Permanently ! Maintain our National Prosperity, is to carry Into immediate effect < and - L1 i tit* - from: EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT \\n HOMES ON THE LAND. ‘ That children shall be taught gardening and homecraft in the public schools, and that Homecraft and Garden Training Schools shall be established by county, municipal, state, and national governments, where every boy and every man out of work who wants employment where he can gain that knowledge, can learn how to make a home and till the soil and get his living straight from the ground, and where every boy would be taught that his first aim in life should be to get a borne of his own on the land. BUILD HOMECROFTS AS NATION AL SAFEGUARDS. That the New Zealand system of Land Taxation and Land Purchase and Subdivision, and Advances to Set- 1 tiers Act, shall be adopted in this country, to the end that land shall be subdivided into small holdings in the hands of those who will till it for a livelihood, and labor find occupation in the creation of homecrafts, which will be perpetual safeguards against the political evils and social discontent resulting from the overgrowth of cities and the sufferings of unem ployed wage-earners. PROTECTION FOR THE AMER ICAN HOMECROFT. That Rural Settlement shall be encouraged and the principle of Pro tection for the American Wageworker and his Home applied directly to the Home by the Exemption from Taxa tion of all improvements upon, and also of all personal property, not ex ceeding $2.5()0 In value, used on and in connection with, every Homecraft or Rural Homestead of not more than ' ten acres in extent, which the owner occupies as a permanent home and cultivates with his own labor and so provides therefrom all or part of the support for a family. ENLARGEMENT OF AREA AVAIL ABLE FOR HOMEMAKING. That the National Government, as part of a comprehensive nation al policy of internal improvements for river control and regulation, and for the enlargement to the utmost possible extent of the area of the country available for agri culture and Homes on the Land, and for the protection of those Homes from either flood or drouth, shall build not only levees and revetments where needed, and drainage works for the reclamation of swamp and overflowed lands, but shall also preserve existing forests, reforest denuded areas, plant new forests, and build the great reser voirs and other engineering works necessary to safeguard against over flow and save for beneficial use the flood waters that now run to waste. OPPORTUNITIES AT HOME. * tendency to draw the manufacturing interests into the great transportation centers, the tide has flowed stronglj toward the city and the small town Las had a hard struggle to retain its ov n. In this respect, however, the pendu lum is swinging back also. The con ditions surrounding the workmen in the cities, the lack of home life and the presence of accumulated vice, have demonstrated to the satisfaction of every one that we will never reach our highest industrial success until the average workman is placed where he can, have fresh air, a family, and a home for that family. The small town, everything else being equal, is the \ place for industries. A man with a home, and who spends his evenings with his family beautifying that home, is not only a better citizen, but he is worth infinitely more to his em ployer than his brother laborer who has no interest other than that he finds with his saloon companions and in ward politics. When the reformers have settled the industrial labor questions they will not be calling for less hours of work, but a distribution of the hours of work. Six hours in the factory or the mine and the balance at home working on an acre of ground may be made a solution of the whole question between labor and capital. Any man with a home and one acre of the earth s sur face that he can call his own, and with employment at fair wages during five or six hours of the day. need never fear want for himself or bis fami Under such conditions his family ca.i -- be reared and educated and live unde the advantages of a wholesome sock: atmosphere, •