HE POOR AND THE LAND H. RIDER HAGGARD Hntt (College of AgriCttltuw At (^atnell itnfueraitg iCtbratg TiwaK;iJS,IS,5!e'?9arepor,on 3 1924 013 717 909 B Cornell University M Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013717909 THE POOR AND THE LAND BY THE SAME AUTHOR. RURAL ENGLAND : being an Account of Agri- cultural and Social Researches carried out in the years igoi and 1902. With 23 Maps and 75 Illustrations. 2 vols. 8vo, 36s. net. A FARMER'S YEAR: being his Commonplace Book for 1898. With 36 Illustrations and 2 Maps. Crown Svo, ^s. 6d. net. A GARDENER'S YEAR. With 26 Illustrations. Svo, I2S. 6d. net. LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO., 39 Paternoster Row, London, New York and Bombay. IREIGATION HITCH, I'OKT HUMIE. IKHIGATION FLTTME. I'OUT HOMIE. THE POOR AND THE LAND BEING A REPORT ON THE SALVATION ARMY COLONIES IN THE UNITED STATES AND AT HADLEIGH, ENGLAND WITH SCHEME OF NATIONAL LAND SETTLEMENT AND AN INTRODUCTION H. RIDER H.AGGARD AUTHOR OF " RURAL ENQLAMD," ETC. IVITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 1905 INTEODUCTION Blue-books never have been and probably never will be a popular branch of literature. Hov^ever difficult it may be, indeed, to collect the material and to write a treatise of this nature, it is undoubtedly far more difficult to persuade any one to study the same when written. Whether it is the colour that repels, or the size, or the big, closely printed page, the fact remains that no one reads a blue-book unless he is absolutely compelled so to do, and then not infrequently he contents himself with the Synopsis of Documents at the beginning and, perhaps, the concluding paragraphs. Moreover not one person in ten thousand is aware that such works, like others, can be purchased through any bookseller, that is by ordering them, since they are not usually kept in stock. These, with the hope that thus it may reach a wider pubHc, are the considerations, and not any expectation of gain, that have induced the author and, I may add, the publishers of the following pages to seek the kind permission of His Majesty's Treasury and of the Ehodes Trustees to re-issue [Cd. 2562] in its present form. The original and official title of [Cd. 2562] is " Eeport on the Salvation Army Colonies in the United States and at Hadleigh, England, with Scheme of National Land Settlement, by Commissioner H. Eider Haggard ". This Eeport with its annexed documents was presented vi INTRODUCTION to both Houses of Parliament by command of His Ma- jesty in June, 1905, and has now, I read, been refetred to the consideration of a Departmental Committee. Perhaps it will be as well to begin this Fore-word or Introduction with a very brief summary of the Eeport itself in the hope that the reader may be sufficiently interested thereby to be induced to attempt the effort of a more intimate acquaintance with its substance. In February of the present year, on the initiative of the Ehodes Trustees who contributed a sum of money to meet expenses, I was nominated a Commissioner by the Secretary of State for the Colonies and despatched to the United States for the purpose of inspecting three land settlements which have been established in that country by the charitable and social Organisation known as the Salvation Army, viz., in California, not very far from San Francisco, in Colorado, and in Ohio respec- tively. The object of this investigation is very clearly set out in the second paragraph of my letter of commis- sion, which runs : — " It appears to the Secretary of State that, if these experiments are found to be successful, some analogous system might, with great advantage, be applied in trans- ferring the urban populations of the United Kingdom to different parts of the British Empire ". Further, I was authorised, in the event of the experi- ments by the Salvation Army recommending themselves to me, to include in my report any practical suggestions that might occur to me, as to the means and methods whereby the example can best be turned to use in con- nection with the projected transfer of urban populations of the United Kingdom to different parts of the British Empire. I will now sum up the results of this Mission and recapitulate in few words the recommendations and INTEODUCTION vii suggestions which I have ventured to offer to His Majesty's Government. I was on the whole extremely well satisfied with the CaHfornian and Colorado Settlements which are named Fort Eomie and Fort Amity. Fort Herrick in Ohio, which I visited also, may be left out of the account, in- asmuch as it is in the main devoted to the redemption of inebriates and to the carrying out of certain agri- cultural experiments. At both Fort Eomie and Fort Amity, as may be seen by my Eemarks on those places, I found the settlers healthy, happy, hopeful, and, almost without exception, doing well. Beginning in nearly every case with nothing, moreover, in the course of about four years at Fort Eomie these settlers are now worth an average of over £400 per head above all their debts and liabilities to the Salvation Army and others, and at Fort Amity an average of over £200, which is, needless to say, a great deal more than they could possibly have accumulated during the same period as day-labourers on the land or in the cities. The venture, however, has not proved so prosperous to its founders, the Salvation Army, who on these two settlements have incurred a total loss of about £10,000. This loss, not very large it is true, although quite as much as any charitable Body can wish to face, is due to four causes : (1) The facts that the Settlements were established by aid of money borrowed at a heavy rate of interest, namely 5 and 6 per cent., and that the settlers were charged too little for their holdings which they pay for by instalments. (2) The considerable initial cost of the estate both at Fort Eomie and Fort Amity. (3) The fact that the settlers were first estab- Ushed at Fort Eomie before the soil had been properly irrigated and at once confronted by a three years' drought. (4) The circumstance that at Fort Amity the land, which was virgin prairie, proved exceptionally viii INTEODUCTION hard to work ; also to be impregnated with alkali or natural salts, whereof the presence was totally unsus- pected at the time of buying, of which alkali it has cost much money to be rid by deep-draining. So it comes about that although the settlers are doing so well, the Salvation Army have been called upon to pay £10,000 for their experience. My own view is that under all the circumstances and in face of the principles demonstrated and the success won in every other direc- tion, this has been very cheaply bought. Further, I can- not see any cause to fear a repetition of that loss in the future application of those principles. It is therefore totally inaccurate to say, as has been done widely in press summaries of my report, that these Settlements are " financially a failure ". Indeed if the Settlements are carried out on the lines which I suggest, and especially if they are located upon good land which has cost the controlling Authority nothing, there should be, as is indicated by the tables that I have furnished, no loss but a considerable gain. Here I may state that this opportunity has arisen, since I was sufficiently successful in convincing the Government of the Dominion of Canada of the sound- ness and practicabihty of my scheme to induce them to make a formal offer of 360 square miles of territory to enable it to be put into operation as a beginning, with the promise, should it prove successful, of as much more land as may be required. This means that a huge estate of some of the best land in America, worth, even in its undeveloped condition, a great sum of money, is lying there waiting our good pleasure to occupy it and turn its emptiness to wealth. As for the scheme itself it is so simple that I can only wonder no one has propounded it before. Also I believe that whenever it is put to work, as soon or late must certainly happen, it will be found very far-reaching in INTRODUCTION ix its effects. Here it is in a sentence : To combine a judicious use of the Public Credit with that of what I have called the " waste forces of Benevolence," and by means of these two levers to hft some of the mass of human misery which demonstrates itself in the great cities of civilisation to a new level of plenty and con- tentment. There are those who urge, however, that all such efforts are misconceived and useless. Thus I will quote from a discussion of my scheme by an ably conducted provincial journal which I respect although I, who have no faith in the shibboleths of Party and am not of its bond-servants, do not always agree with certain of its judgments. It says : "No attempts to dispose of social wreckage in special ways will avail, so long as a defective social organisation is allowed to con- tinue producing wreckage. The business of reformers is not to discover special methods of dealing with our social and industrial failures, but so to remedy the normal and ordinary condition of things as to cease producing a class that has to be watched and selected and labour colonised." Counsels of perfection indeed and very well put ! But what do they come to ? That we must wait for something like a revolution followed by a millennium, for surely nothing short of these will produce so won- drous a change in our national conditions and thus pre- vent the production of "wreckage," that is of the desti- tute poor. But sudden and violent remedies are not in the way of an ancient people who prefer to glide " from precedent to precedent," also revolutions of whatever sort have not been observed to precede millenniums. Such a doctrine seems to me indeed to violate aU the laws of political or personal medicine. It is as though one said : These children are very ill, but some of them at any rate could be cured and become splendid citizens, X INTRODUCTION soldiers, farmers, wives and mothers. Do not, however, attempt any such thing. Much as wholesome popula- tion may be needed, let them rot and die. Devote your efforts to preventing unhealthy folk from marrying in future, or if that is not feasible, ask them to be good enough to have no diseased children, or, if necessary, as a last resource, wait till a miracle occurs which makes everybody healthy. In answer to such arguments I can only say that, being anxious that something should be done within the next few generations, I am content to face things as they are. I do not believe in any panacea that will remedy their " normal and ordinary condition ". I do not know what such a nostrum can be, or whence it can come : I wish that I did. Was it not said of old that the Poor are always with us ? But the Speaker did not add that on this account we should abandon as futile our attempts to help the Poor. In short, be- cause we have neither the means nor the material to build palaces of inarble and set them to live therein in riches, I do not think that we should therefore despise warm, if humble dwellings of moulded clay that will serve to shelter many a houseless one from the fury of the storm and many a lost child from the cold and the dangers of the night. To return : that much benevolence is uselessly diffused, losing itself in the sands of vain or ill-directed effort, and that more runs to absolute waste, no one of ex- perience will deny. To give an illustration : With all this diverse flood of unutilised kindness and brotherly love that yearns to help but lacks the means or knows not how, I would do what the electrical engineer does with a noble and convenient torrent. Thus for unnumbered ages the great Zambesi in Africa has thundered down its cliffs in beautiful but useless foam, which, when it is harnessed, IXTRODUCTION xi will drive every engine vrithin a thousand miles. The citizen of Pretoria or Johannesburg may never have seen the Zambesi Falls, yet those far-off Falls, that for all the past have been unserviceable to man, vsill one day be at work continually, stamping the ore in his mine, running the carriage in his street, lighting the lamp by his bed ; making life cleaner, cheaper, easier. Thus, I believe, it may be too with those waste forces of Benevo- lence whereof I speak, when by help of that machinery of the Public Credit they are applied to the salvation of the poor, and so dedicated to the welfare of the earth. I think also most of my readers will agree with me that, notwithstanding the all-prevalent evil which in a thousand shapes haunts the footsteps of our race, Good is still the mightiest power in the world, and, if its aim- less strength could be concentrated and directed, would go far towards effecting a reformation of the world. This is a large proposition, but, to confine it to the matter in hand, under these circumstances that power of charity which never faileth and covereth all things would certainly suffice to empty the sinks of our cities, to re-distribute population, to give to the starving that food which awaits them in such abundance on the bosom,, of the earth, to provide the slum-stifled child with pure air and space wherein to grow to a wholesome and unfettered maturity, and to replenish the nations vrith that vigour which the press and sorrow of the towns are sapping from their wearied blood. The reader rtay ask how this combination of credit and charity is to be arranged. I answer thus : (1) Through the guarantee by the State of the interest on loans, for the repayment of which loans and interest the land to be settled should prove a sufficient security, since that land vdll be sold — not given — to the settlers and (paid for by them in instalments. (2) By making xii INTEODUCTION use of any willing, approved and well-established charit- able Body, Organisation or Society, to administer the loans and Settlements under proper Government au- thority and control. In this fashion the cost of local official direction, which would, I believe, prove almost fatal to the scheme as a business proposition, may be obviated, and that bond of human sympathy and kind- ness inspired by love and not by lucre imported into its working, which, in my view, is, in fact, necessary to its complete success. Says one of my critics : " We cannot understand what Mr. Eider Haggard means when he says that the cost of adequate Imperial supervision would be pro- hibitive. Surely what the Salvation Army can do, the Government is also able to do ? " If this writer had thought the matter out surely he would have understood. The proposal is to select suitable poor persons from the cities, to convey them to distant lands, establish them there, instruct them, live vnth them for thirty years in the various settlements, all of which, under my plan, will be done by charitable Bodies using highly trained and specialised men, at the price of their out-of-pocket expenses only. AVhat would such men cost in the market, if, in any number, they are obtainable at all ? A large figure I imagine. Moreover, if they can be obtained — quis custodiet ipsos custodes ? — who would or could look after them at the ends of the earth and be sure that they kept industrious, sober and honest, or did not waste, mismanage or op- press? Philanthropic Organisations with their own credit at stake and representatives in every Colony alone have this in their power ; moreover, the servants of such Organisations in most cases are subject to a stricter master, namely, their own consciences. The matter, however, could easily be put to proof. Let two colonial Settlements be organised, one on the INTKODUCTION xiii lines of my Scheme and the other directed from London by the Imperial Government alone without assistance of any kind. Then let the results be tabulated and their cost compared. Indeed there is no vital principle involved in such an alteration of my plan. If the Nation or its Government wishes to reject all philan- thropic assistance and to retain the selection of settlers and the subsequent management of the settlements entirely in its own hands, and is prepared to defray the extra cost, by all means make the experiment. Only then there is a danger that the Country may weary of paying the bill. Also the project that I had hoped to inaugurate is one of imperial investment, not of imperial charity. Such is the scheme which I have submitted for con- sideration in this Eeport. Needless to say, if I may judge from what I have heard and the great number of press notices that I receive, already it has been vddely criticised. Most of that criticism, so far as I am acquainted vdth it, is, I am proud to add, remarkably favourable in its character, while some of that which is unfavourable evidently has been founded, not upon the Eeport itself which the critic has found no oppor- tunity of perusing, but upon a telegraphic summary whence many vital points and qualifications have been omitted. Still certain comments have been advanced adversely with which I will try to deal as best I can. The first and chief of these, for with the principle of the State guaranteed loan secured upon the settler's land and repayable by instalments little or no fault seems to be found, at any rate in the press, is that my .plan would amount to an " endowment " of the Salva- tion Army, or to the " subsidising of a voluntary Agency ". Variants of this objection are that the work should be carried out from start to finish by an Imperial Emigra- tioo Departnjeut only, which, as I demonstrate, could xiv INTEODUCTION only be done at a crushing expense ; that the Salvation Army is not to be trusted ; that it would be unwise to hand over the task to them ; that there should be com- plete State control, even in the details of distant local administration, and that the employment of the Salva- tion Army for this purpose might involve undue reUgious pressure. If we except the second head, namely, the proposal that none except the Imperial Emigration Authority should touch the matter, and the third, that of the amount of confidence that may be given to the Salva- tion Army, which, after all, must remain a matter of opinion, I can only suppose that the framers of these arguments have not adequately studied the suggestions made in my Eeport. No endowment or subsidising of the Salvation Army is therein proposed, nor is it proposed that they should be exclusively employed in this business. The actual words of my suggestion are " that the Salvation Army, or any other well-established and approved social, charitable or religious Organisation, should be deputed to carry out the work of selecting, distributing and organising the settlers on land-colonies anywhere within the boundaries of the British Empire, who should remain in charge of such Organisation until all liabilities were paid ". Thus, if they could pass certain necessary tests, it would be open to any Corporation to take advantage of this scheme in order to establish land-settlements at home or abroad for the benefit of poor persons of British origin. For example, I observe that the Church Army pro- pose to form certain colonies of this nature in England, and are appealing, or are about to appeal, for subscrip- tions to aid them in their good work. If my scheme were in operation they would be entitled to come to the Superintendent of Land-Settlements aed, 8,fte? ^atis- INTEODUCTION xv fying him and his superiors of their bona fides and the feasibility of their proposal as a workable undertaking, to claina a per capita grant upon the arranged terms in order to enable them or to assist them to carry it out. Again, it might help the Jewish community in the matter of the Zionist Settlements for poor Hebrews, which are so much discussed among them at the pre- sent time. And so forth ad infinitum. At present, however, the Salvation Army are in the position of sole tenderers. At least I am not aware of the existence of any other Body of the sort that is prepared, to whatever extent may be desired, to trans- port persons from the cities to distant colonies and there to take charge of them and instruct them over a long period of years, receiving in return only actual out-of- pocket expenses and the loan of the funds necessary to the enterprise, or rather the authority, subject to proper audit, to administer that loan upon particular settlements. When such Bodies arise and appear their applications would doubtless receive fair and proper con- sideration. Meanwhile it may be pointed out that the Salvation Army have many qualifications for the work, inasmuch as they are well established in almost every British colony and already possess a large staff of trained officers well fitted to direct agricultural settlements, which staff they are willing to increase indefinitely. Also they have the advantage of the confidence of the Government of Canada and, I beheve, of that of other British colonies. Indeed, although there are circumstances in his case that might have been expected to incline him to a different opinion. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Prime Min- ister of the Canadian Dominion, informed me expressly at an official interview that he considered that there was no Institution so well fitted to carry out such a scheme as I had in my mind as were the Salvation Army. b xvi INTEODUCTION Whether or no this Salvation Army can be trusted in other ways, as I have said, must remain a matter of opinion. My own views thereon may be gathered from my Eeport, and certainly they enjoy to a remarkable degree the confidence of those classes that it is proposed to help ; indeed countless numbers of the poor of all races throughout the world trust them entirely. This, I con- sider, is sufficiently demonstrated by the circumstance that during the present and last years (1904-1905) they have with remarkable success emigrated to Canada many settlers, I beUeve about five thousand. If, how- ever, they should be proved to be untrustworthy, or should fail in the duties which they undertake, it must be remembered that the system of capitation grants is one that is easily controlled, as it is, in effect, a system of payment by results. Meanwhile I am content to obey an ancient precept and to judge the tree by its fruits. To come to the question of the possibility of the exercise of undue religious pressure upon settlers or their children. If the reader will turn to my Remarks upon the Fort Eomie Colony, he will see it stated there in paragraph 23 that I ascertained that the Salvation Army place no religious pressure upon the colonists and enforce no reHgious tests, moreover that among these colonists are members of the Eoman Catholic and other faiths. At Hadleigh also I found that on the Sunday pre- vious to my visit the manager of the Colony had taken about a hundred of its inhabitants to attend the parish church. Further, in the Memorandum of Information drawn up by the Salvation Axmy respecting their colony at Fort Amity, it is stated expressly that " the Colony is not in any sense intended for Salvationists only ; in fact the majority of the residents here are not members oi the Organisation ". Lastly, I believe that I am right in INTRODUCTION xvii saying that the Salvation Army are non-sectarian in their work, and that they shelter more than 20,000 persons daily in their refuges and institutions throughout the world, of which great number less than 5 per cent, are Salvationists. Arguing from all these premises, therefore, I consider that it would be easy to over-rate the danger of any narrow or bigoted treatment by the Salvation Army of the colonists whom the State might entrust to their charge. Also provisions are inserted in the Eeport to guard against any such contingencies, and, as I have stated, the work need not, and, I trust, would not be confined to any single Society. The second main objection is — and this I find in sundry places — that, if my scheme is put to work, without doubt it v/ill take a great many people out of Britain. Evidently this is so, but I will premise my remarks upon the subject by pointing out that such emigration was what Mr. Secretary Lyttelton had in his mind when he directed me to report, as may be seen from paragraph 2 of his first letter of Commission to myself. I was therefore bound to confine myself to that side of the subject. I have, however, in paragraph 39 of my Eeport, anticipated this criticism with which I express myself in " great sympathy ". Indeed, to tell the truth, I have always considered this aspect of the ques- tion much more important than any other, as, I think, will be admitted by readers of my work, Bural England. Also I have ventured, should I be so directed by His Majesty's Government, to offer to prepare a separate report upon the Home prospects of the matter, namely, as to whether it would or would not be possible to estab- lish rural colonies in the United Kingdom. As I may possibly be ordered to investigate and express a formal opinion upon this business, the reader will understand ^hat for the present, so far as it is concerned, my lips xviii INTRODUCTION are closed. I will only add, therefore, that in this direction also I think that I can see glimmerings of light, but I should like to inspect the small holdings of Denmark, and, if possible, those of New Zealand, made under the Advances to Settlers Act, before expressing a final opinion. It is, however, perhaps allowable to say generally, that the problem is quite different from that dealt with in these pages. That, if formed more or less upon the lines I have advanced, such settlements can be set up upon highly fertile land in Canada, given free of cost to the Home Government by that of the Dominion, or, under similar conditions, in other places in the British Empire, and pay their way, I am as sure as I can be of anything in this uncertain world. In the United King- dom, however, the conditions are different. Here the land must be bought for no mean sum, and there are such things as Eates, Tithe and Taxes to be faced. Also that land would probably lie in the power of Eural District Councils, Bodies against whose decisions, how- ever wrong and unreasonable they may be, there seems to exist no effective appeal, so that the cost of housing the settlers would be much greater than it is in Canada - and other Colonies. For these reasons and others which I need not enter into, it would be rash to assume that a report made by any competent and honest man who keeps before him the desirabihty of preventing such schemes from be- coming a burden upon the tax-payer or the rates, would of necessity be of a favourable character. That it might be so, in common with thousands of others I earnestly hope, since after the very extensive investigations which I have chiomcled. in By/ral England, no person is more alive than myself to the vital need to the nation of keeping our best blood vrithin our shores. How can it be otherwise in a country whereof, I am informed. INTKODUOTION xix but one-seventh of the population now remains upon the land, the rest being heaped up in the urban dis- tricts ? Also the subject should be considered from the point of view of the safety of the Nation. It is not pleasant for Englishmen to read such reports on the quality of our soldiers as one that appeared in the columns of the Times not a month ago : — " They were not men, and were not of the type and condition that ever will grow into men. ... It is doubt- ful if more than 50 per cent, of the Line Infantry present on Laffan's Plain could have endured the parade if they had been in full marching order. Yet of what value would an infantryman be in war against Continental troops if he could not stand half a day with 60 lb. on his back? . . . When one sees the fine type of robust and intelligent young fellow that the Yeomanry draws, and compares him with the puny pigmy whom we _. have to pamper to procure at all, one realises that our system of recruiting is wrong." Yes, and for an obvious reason. If the writer in the Times were to pursue his investigations he would, I think, discover that the great majority of these " puny—, pigmies " spring from towns or town-bred parents, while the " robust and intelligent " yeomen are country born^ With these few comments I must perforce leave this branch of the matter. There are, however, other faces to it of which I am free to speak. Thus : to object to the emigration of suitable persons from the cities of the United Kingdom to various parts of the Empire where they are needed seems to me unreasonable and unsound. For that they are not needed in those cities is, as every rate-payer knows, unfortunately but too evident. What may be the exact sum of individuals who are partially or wholly supported by parish relief and charity in Great Brit£|.ii} XX INTRODUCTION and Ireland in any given year I am not sure, but it must be well over a million.^ Every winter we see the same sights and hear the same voices, which, summed up, paint one picture and echo one chorus — heart-rending poverty, inconceivable misery, national degeneration, perplexity and despair. Even in the midst of summer the unemployed of Lei- cester march upon London, and thence, poor creatures, are marched back again no richer and no happier than they started. Moreover, just above and merging with the class who are forced to expose their bitter need to the relieving- officer, are other hordes who drag out existence in a state of piteous destitution, and at length but too often are sucked into the black whirlpool upon whose lips they have struggled so long, that vortex of beggary and destruction whereof the uttermost pit is a pauper's grave. For instance, in an interval of correcting these proofs, I have just taken up a paper, the Daily Express, to look at the news. Here is the first item of it that my eye fell upon under the heading, "How the Poor Live and Die ". It is the story of the inquest on a certain Mrs. Higgs who lived in North London and died shortly after find- ing pinned upon her door a landlord's notice to quit her room on account of non-payment of rent. The family consisted of four, Mrs. Higgs, a recent widow, and her three daughters. Their only support ' The number of persons in receipt of poor law relief (exclusive of that of private charity) on 1st January, 1905 (in England and Wales only), appears to amount to the gigantic total of 932,267, of whom 148,013 lived in London. That is to say, that one in every thirty-six of the population was, at that very recent date, being more or less supported by the public purse. These fearful figures, which of course take no account of the millions of very poor who are not actually in receipt of relief from the rates, tell'their own tale s,ni nee4 no comment, — n- »■ H, INTRODUCTION xxi was half a crown a week earned by the eldest daughter, Emily, aged fourteen, the rent being 3s. 6d. a week, Mrs. Higgs herself having become too ill to work. The verdict of the jury was " Death from Heart Dis- ease, accelerated by want of food ". The sustenance of the family during the week pre- ceding the death consisted, according to the Coroner's ofl&cer, of "nothing but bread and dripping, and very often not that ". A few weeks previously the fourteen- year-old Emily fell out of work, whereon at last the mother apphed for rehef, but was only allowed some milk. On Emily reaching her present mature age of fourteen, however, this rehef was stopped. Not long afterwards Mrs. Higgs died. Under all the circumstances it does not seem strange that this poor child should have " burst into tears " in the course of her public examination. Here is a second instance of a different sort. A servant of my own, an old woman, has a son-in-law, a teetotaller of good character, who has presented the State with nine children, all living. Last February twelvemonth he was discharged from the London gasworks in which he had been employed for fifteen years, on account of the slack- ness of work. He sought it elsewhere but was refused because of his age, which is fifty years. Indeed I am informed that " he has worn the boots right off his feet in walking about looking for work," but all that he has obtained has been a temporary job which I secured for him through the kind offices of the Salvation Army. Meanwhile he and his wife and children subsist on ten shillings a week allowed to them out of the wages of m.y servant. Now, I ask, would not the Higgs family and this man with his nine children be better off upon the vast un- occupied lands of Canada, and would their departure from its shores be any real loss to this country? _^ xxii INTEODUOTION Putting aside for the moment the question and possibiKty of settlement on our Home lands, can it be right to keep so many people with their delicate, out- worn women and little children in a state that the imagination of most of us has not the power to appre- ciate or even to understand ? This, too, when if they may but be brought there, there exist milhons of acres of fertile soil on which in a few years' time their former condition would become to them but as the memory of some hateful vision of the night? "Who will be bold enough to declare that it is right, remember- ing that if they go, not only do they relieve pressure and benefit themselves, they also benefit our Empire abroad, where, if they be decent folk, their advent will be held a blessing ? Of this latter fact I will take one example, and that an old one. In the year 1820 after a period of great distress in England 6,000 settlers were chosen out of 90,000 applicants to be sent by our Government of that day to the Cape Colony. Everything connected with their emigration was mismanaged in a fashion that I trust would now be impossible, with the result that on arrival after a three months' voyage the settlers underwent great miseries. In some way, however, they found themselves homes, and now their blood is everywhere in South Africa. The issue, put briefly, is that, had those settlers not been sent, I do not believe that the Cape to-day would continue to belong to the British Crown. May not what has happened in the past occur again ? If six, or sixteen, or sixty thousand persons from our towns are emigrated to, let us say, Ehodesia, may not the time come when Britain will owe her continued pos- session of that country to their presence or to that of their descendants ? This is a digression illustrative of the Imperial side of the affair only, which I know is not popular with INTEODUCTION xxiii every one. Still, regarding it strictly from our home standpoint and leaving the Empire to look after itself, I say that we have no right to keep these people meshed in their net of sorrows, if we are not prepared to afford them the opportunity of leading a life of reasonable decency and comfort in return for the labour of their hands. This, it seems — unless home land-settlement on a large scale is proved to be feasible, and then it could provide for most of them — our circumstances do not make it possible for us to do. Therefore I think it is ethically wrong and even cruel to keep such folk decaying in masses in our towns, seeing their children grow up to lives of uselessness, shame and often sin, if the oppor- tunity does exist of moving numbers of them to happy homes under the British flag elsewhere. Such an op- portunity, I maintain, my plan furnishes with very little risk of loss to the nation. Also they are going away already — tens of thousands of them are going every year, for the most part to foreign countries where they will create wealth and compete with us — the land that bred them and paid for their education and upbringing. Thus I believe that in 1903 123,662, and in 1904 over 100,000 emigrated to the United States alone, many of whom, had my scheme been in operation, might have been diverted to British Colonies. Further, we can well part with a considerable proportion of our poverty-stricken, city-dwelling, middle- aged working men with families who make the best land-settlers and colonists, for rich as we may be, we cannot afford to pension them, which is the only alter- native, and if we could, we cannot pension their children. Such folk are not needed by the master farmer or the city employer in any country, therefore the soil, where they are needed as husbandmen on their ovTn account, is their only refuge. Moreover, land-settlement schemes, whether at home or abroad, are the very best form of xxiv INTRODUCTION pension, since when the settler dies he leaves his estate and accumulated property to his children. It must be remembered too that the single man and the single woman are everywhere driving the married man and woman to the wall, for the employer, being in competition with other employers in all countries, is obliged to do the best he can for himself, and finds that best in the hiring of single folk. Also by removing such middle-aged married people from the field of internecine struggle for mere food and raiment to where the earth will yield them both in plenty, we open a door which must leave a wider field for the young people to occupy and enable them to marry and settle down at home. By the time that such young people have reached the same "too-old-at-forty " stage, we can hope that conditions may have improved and that it will no longer be necessary for them to leave the country in their turn, but should it prove necessary, the same remedy will still be appli- cable, and they too can be settled on the land either in this kingdom or abroad. The only other remedy, for we are face to face with hard facts that will not budge, seems to be to break up the home, disposing of the parents in this State or charitable institution and of the children in that, and bearing the burden of their support as best we may. This process has been called " domicide," which in the opinion of many is as bad, or worse, than homicide. Surely " domiculture," the perpetuation of the home and the creation of more homes, is better than this merciless, unnatural and uneconomic proceeding, and to it we should turn in our difficulty. Further, by creating hope in the breasts of those who are left behind, such hope as will come with steady work and the possibiUty of rising in the world, we offer to them the greatest possible inducement to self -reformation and self -improve- ment. That many can be improved who are commonly INTRODUCTION xxv looked upon as lapsed and lost, if suitable means are employed, has been demonstrated again and again. But those means must be at hand, and chief among them is the opportunity of earning an honest living. On the other hand, there are multitudes who are so deeply sunk in the sloughs of drink, disease and degra- dation that in fact they cannot be improved. I have been told that my plan is futile because " it does not go to the root of the question," that is because it does not provide for the scum and the dregs of our city society. I admit that this is so, for my scheme is on business, not on pauperising lines ; indeed I go further and say that no system formulated by the brain of man can provide for these people except through pure charity, or in the vyorkhouse and the jail. The adult "dead-beats," " born-tireds," "breakages," "alcoholics," tramps, "hoboes," criminals, "sneaks," "half-vnts," dissolute women and the like are for the most part beyond redemption, that is in the sense of turning them into useful and hardworking citizens. With their children something can be done — perhaps ; with themselves little or nothing. The generation which has suffered them to arise and haunt the courts and alleys of great towns, must bear the burden of their maintenance. No colony would receive them, nor can it be expected to do so. To employ them at the public expense means scamped work, executed at great cost and trouble ; to advance them money to enable them to help themselves means money lost. Eepresentatives of their stamp are to be found in every class of society, from those of good birth who year after year suck up the savings or the necessary pittance of their mothers, wives and sisters, down to the danger- ous, sturdy beggars who do violence, whine or threaten on the roadway, and the wide-coated, spirituous knaves whg lear and linger at street corners. All such must be xxvi INTEODUCTION the care of the ministers of religion or of the law, not of those who wish to enable good-hearted or repentant if unfortunate persons to help themselves. To say therefore that a scheme which would assist thousands and tens of thousands to regain a lost foot- hold or to find a new one, that would benefit the land, the Country and the Empire and prevent countless chil- dren from sinking into death, ill-health, vice or idleness, should be thrust aside as of no worth because it cannot be made to include this evasive and immoral class, is in my humble judgment to say a vain thing. In fact, no such scheme is possible, or so I believe. There is but one more criticism upon which I need to comment, that which is directed against my proposal that the various Municipalities and Boards of Guardians of the Poor-law Unions might be asked to contribute towards the Emigration or Settlement funds, should they choose to do so. The argument is that nothing of the sort should be allowed, because it would increase the rates and discredit the whole movement. I confess that it is one which I cannot foUow ; indeed I doubt whether my position has been correctly apprehended by these critics. The contributions I have suggested would be of a purely voluntary nature, and whether or not it might prove more expensive to keep families for long periods of time out of the rates, or to pay a lump sum down and be rid of the burden for ever, is a matter of calcu- lation which each Board or other Corporate Authority could work out for itself. One point I have overlooked, namely, the contention that it would be unjust to confine the benefits of any land-settlement scheme to the inhabitants of cities, since agricultural labourers and other country dwellers have an equal claim to all such advantages. This may be so, but at present it is the city problem which I was directed to consider; also I may remark that to employ such INTKODUCTION xxvii agencies for the purpose of emigrating farm labourers would be to increase that depopulation of the English soil which is so mischievous and so widely deplored. The possibility of setting up industrious rural workers upon small holdings of their own I will not discuss here, as it belongs to a part of the question from which I am debarred. But that it is quite possible under certain conditions, I have small doubt. It only remains for me to add that I trust that all who are interested in these very important matters will be at the pains to read the following Eeport and its accom- panying documents and to judge of them for them- selves. It little becomes an author to speak of his own work, yet under the special circumstances I vsdll be bold enough to say that those who ponder my pages patiently and impartially, even if they do not agree v?ith all of them, may perhaps find therein some spark of leading light. So I think, at least, who have studied these problems for many years and during the last six months have given to them an attention so complete that, if it is to be continued indefinitely — and great reforms on which the whole heart is set are ill company to be rid of — may, it has occurred to me, in the end prove somewhat perplexing to a person with other obligations to fulfil. At least, believing thoroughly in my conclusions, I submit them with humiHty and respect to the con- sideration of my fellow - countrymen. This I do in the hope that perhaps a sufficient consensus of public opinion may be evoked to induce our Government to take some really broad and effective action towards the attainment of the object that I have set before myself, namely, the lessening of our difficulties and of the miseries of our poor by the transference of those who may prove suitable and wilUng among them from their darksome city dens to the depopulated lands of the xxviii INTKODUCTION United Kingdom or to the fertile and uninhabited wastes of the Empire overseas. I admit, however, that I am not too sanguine of success, for in this country, stiff-jointed as it is with age, we cannot stoop readily to a new idea. Nor is it to be expected that the Government of the United Kingdom will prove as generous and as open to conviction as I found that of the Dominion. For example, as regards the Salvation Army and its capacities, I, who have seen, may know the truth, but to convey that sure and certain knowledge to minds pre-occupied with many impor- tant matters, is no easy task. In Canada also, where week by week they behold this same Salvation Army disembarking its quota of emigrants and conducting them, thousand after thousand, without scandal, hitch or mismanagement, every man to the situation that has been found for him, they may and do appreciate its quality. But here, though multitudes of the poor could tell him better, what does the mention of the Salvation Army suggest to the average educated person ? A vision of poke bonnets and military caps worn by professors of " corybantic Christianity" and all kinds of music — no more ! This is one of the reasons why my suggestions as to their employment for these great purposes are some- times greeted with a tolerant and superior smile. "Make use of a set of cranks ! It is absurd ! Keep clear of all the tribes of religious fanatics, whatever they call them- selves " — and so on. One hears Uttle of such talk in Canada and the United States, where, to the public knowledge, these " cranks," though they number " not many mighty, not many noble," are fulfilling their great and self-imposed office with a whole-hearted humility and patience worthy of the first founders of the Christian faith. There are so many different voices to be heard INTRODUCTION xxix also, so many divergent interests to be reconciled. One party would allow of no rural Settlement unless the whole of our system of land tenure is first passed through the fire of Eevolution, a proviso which must postpone everything till the Greek Kalends. Another, that of the Socialists, seems to object to Emigration on principle and clamours for State employment at high wages for all who seek reHef. The Exchequer authori- ties look askance on general grounds at the guaran- teeing of loans for any purpose, even if those loans can be repaid. Eoyal Commissions and Departmental Committees have before now proved themselves to be splendid sextons, and even if their reports are favour- able, they do not often lead to efficient legislative action. Eeligious, yes, and Social Organisations, cry out against other Organisations and vpill see no good in them or their methods. And so forth. In the storm of all these forces blowing from east and west and north and south, it may well happen therefore that my ark of refuge will founder as others have before: that nothing effectual will be done. And if nothing is done, what then ? Every winter a clamour and a crisis with wild threats and violence, appeased for the hour by ever-increasing inroads on the rates and other pubhc funds. Then when the next winter comes the same desperate, ominous shapes of Misery and Want, and in their hands the swords of Sociahsm. Still I possess my soul in patience and with pen and tongue humbly labour on by every avenue that is open to me, greatly comforted from time to time by the "hearty sympathy" of such prescient leaders of men as Mr. Eoosevelt, President of the United States, who writes to me after studying my Eeport that he agrees " absolutely " vdth my purpose and the general outline of my plan. Still I hope that some day the Nation vyill come to understand that the true cure or palhative for XXX INTEODUCTION these and many other troubles is to be found, not in workhouses or in other State-supported institutions, but upon the land, whether it be the land of Britain or that of her immeasurable Empire, which between them, were our poor ten times as many, could provide for every one, and, understanding, will insist, before it is too late, upon some well-weighed and general application of this simple remedy. May we venture to hope that the new Eoyal Com- mission which is to be appointed to consider the working of the Poor-Law and kindred matters will consent to consider this solution of the problem ? H. EIDEE HAGGAED. Ditohingham, 1st July, 1905. CONTENTS. INTBODUOTION ^No*' From and to whom. Bate. Subject. Page. i. To Mr. H. Rider Haggard. 31st Jannary, Nominates him as Commissioner 1906. to inspect and report on the Salvation Army agricultural and industrial establishments in theUnited States of America and conveys instructions, xxzix li. Mr. H. Rider Hag- 1st Febmary, Accepts with thanks the nomiua- 1905. tion in No. i. ; notes instruc- tions and submits suggestions, xl To Mr. H. Rider 7th February, Concurs that if the Salvation Haggard. 1905. Army experiments commend themselves to him he may make practical suggestions for the projected transfer of urban populations of the United Kingdom to different parts of the British Empire. xU MR. RIDER HAGGARD'S REPORT. To the Seoretajy of State for the Col- onies from Com- missioner H, Rider Haggard. 5th May, 1905. Report on the Salvation Army Colonies in the United States, and at Hadleigh, England, with scheme of National Land Settlement and general re- marks by Commissioner H. Rider Haggard. Ditto. 11th March, Notes* of conversation between 1905. President Roosevelt and H. Rider Haggard. * Not Printed. xxxi CONTENTS Serial No. From and to whom. Subject. Page. 3 To the Secretary of State for the Col- onies from Com- missionerH. Rider Haggard. 8th March, Notes of interview between the 1905. Honourable James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture for the United States, and H. Rider Haggard. Prom Commis- 13th April, Asking Sir Wilfrid Lauiier siouer H. Eider 1905. whether the Gtovernment of Haggard to Sir the Dominion of Canada Wilfrid Laurier, would be prepared to donate Prime Minister a tract of suitable land for of the Govern- the purpose of the settlement ment of Canada. of carefully selected families taken from among the poor of Great Britain, and stating that this communication is made entirely on his own responsibility. 31 5 From Governor- General Earl Grey to Sir Wil- frid Laurier. 13th April, 1905. Letter to Sir WUfiid Laurier covering that of even date from H. Rider Haggard. 6 From Sir Wilfrid Laurier to H. Bider Haggard. 10th April, 1905: (This is an error — the letter was written on 14th April, 1905.— H.R.H.) Acknowledging receipt of letter from H. Eider Haggard of 13th April, and stating that he will have much pleasure in discussing the project written of therein. 33 7 From the Honour- able Clifford Sifton to H. Rider Haggard. 16th April, Approving of Commissioner H. 1906. Rider Haggard's scheme of Land Settlement, oflTering to serve upon a Canadian Com- mittee in order to carry it out, and stating that he regards this scheme as an embodiment of the truest and best form of Imperial patriotism. 34 8 From H. Eider Haggard to the Honourable Clif- ford Sifton. 17th April, 190^ Agreeing with the views ex- pressed by the Honourable ClifiFord Sifton and expressing the hope that, after reflection, the Canadian Government will see its way to assisting in the matter of a guarantee of the capital necessary to put the Immigration Scheme into operation in Canada. 35 CONTENTS Serial No. From aud to whom. Subject. Page. 9 From Sir Wilfrid Laurier to Cora- missioner H. Rider Haggard. 17th April, 1906. Despatch to- Commissioner H. Eider Haggard, stating that the Government of Canada will be prepared at any time to set aside ten townships (240,000 acres) for the objects set forth by the said H. Rider Haggard. Stating further that if the experiment proves sncceasful other lands will no doubt be available, and that the Government of Canada is satisfied that if a proper class of settlers is secured such a scheme as that propounded by the said H. Rider Haggard ought to be completely suc- cessful. Expressing the hope of the Government of Canada also that the said H. Rider Haggard will be allowed to carry it to completion. 10 Prom Commis- sioner H. Rider Haggard to Sir Wilfrid Laurier. 17th April, Acknowledging despatch from 1906. Sir Wilfnd Laurier of equal date, thanking the Govern- ment of Canada for their liberal offer, and stating that the same will at once be laid by him before the Imperial Government. 37 11 To Secretary of State for the Colonies, from Commissioner H. Rider Haggard. Remarks by Commissioner H. Rider Haggard on the Port Romie Colony of the Salvation Array in California, United States of America. 12 Ditto. 27th March, Verbatim notes of interview be- 1905. tween Commissioner H. Rider Haggard and various officers of the Salvation Army held at the Fort Romie Colony. 45 18 Ditto 27th and 28th Notes of interviews between March, 1905. Commissioner H. Rider Hag- gard and the Colonists on the Fort Romie Colony. 56 14 Ditto. 29th March, Affidavit of Thomas Holland re 1905. prices paid for land at Fort Romie, etc., sworn to before Adeline Copeland, Notary Public. 62 CONTENTS Serial No. From and to whom. 15 To Secretary of State for the Colonies, from Commisaioner H, Bider Haggard. Subject. Page. 29tli March, Afldavit from W. H. H. 1905. Metz, Supervisor of Monterey County, California, as to valu- ation of Fort Romie Colony. 62 16 To the Secretary of State for the CoU onies from Com- missionerH. Rider Haggard. 29th March, 1905. Affidavit of W. H. Bingamau, Real Estate and Insurance Broker, of Soledad, California, as to the valuation of Fort Romie Colony. 63 17 Bitto. 29th March, Valuation by W. H. H. Metz 1905. and W. H. Bingaman of Land, Plant, Buildings, Water Sup- ply, Stock and Crop on Fort Romie Colony. 18 Ditto. 1st April, 1905. Statement showing the financial position of the colonists of the Salvation Army, Fort Romie Colony. 19 Ditto. Remarks by Commissioner H. Rider Haggard on the Fort Amity Colony of the Salvation Army in Colorado, United States of America. 67 20 Ditto. 5th April, Verbatim notes of interview 1905. between Commissioner H. Rider Haggard and various officers of the Salvation Army held at the Fort Amity Colony. 73 21 Ditto. 5th, 6th and 7th Notes of interviews between April, 1905. Commissioner H. Rider Hag- gard and the Colonists on the Fort Amity Colony. 83 22 Ditto. 7th April, 1905. Affidavit by P. de la Tour Booth Tucker and Alfred Hamon as to the correctness of figures furnished re valuation, etc., of Fort Amity Colony. 102 23 Ditto. 7th April, Affidavit by Joseph S.McMurtry 1905. as to the correctness of his valuation of the Fort Amity Salvation Army Colony. 102 CONTENTS XXXV From and to whom. Date. SubjecU Pajek 24 To the Secretary of State for the Col- onies from Com- miasioner H. Rider Haggard. 1st April, 1905. Statement showing financial position of Fort Amity Colony (not including Colonists' hold- ings) as per valuation made by J. S. MoMurtry and duly sworn. 104 25 Ditto. 1st April, Further statement showing fin- 1905. ancial condition of the Fort Amity Colony as per valua- tion made by J. S. MoMurtry and duly sworn. 106 26 Ditto. Short histories of the Amity Colonists. 108 27 Ditto. 4th April, Statement showing the financial 1906. position of the Colonists of the Salvation Army Fort Amity Colony. 110 28 Ditto. Memorandum of information re- specting the Salvation Army Colony at Fort Amity. Ill 29 Ditto. 10th April, 1905! Eemarks by Commissioner H. Rider Haggard on the Fort Herriok Colony of the Salva- tion Army in Ohio, U.S.A. 115 30 Ditto. 9th April, 1905. Verbatim notes of interview be- tween Commissioner H. Rider Haggard, Commander Booth Tucker, and Colonel Biggins, of the Salvation Army, as to the Fort Herrick Colony of the Salvation Army in Ohio, U.S.A. 119 31 To Commander Booth Tucker of the Salvation Army from Com- missiouer H. Rider Haggard. 20th April, 190R Asking officially for various as- surances from the Salvation Army. 122 32 From Commander Booth Tucker of the Salvation Army to Com- missionerH. Rider Haggard. 24th April, Giving the assurances asked for 1906. by Commissioner H. Rider Haggard in his communica- tion of 20th April, 1905. 123 CONTENTS ^J~ From and to whom. Subject. Page. 33 To the Secretary of State for tlie Colonies from Commissioner H. Bider Haggard. 24th AprU, ISOR Bemarks by Commissioner H, Eider Haggard on the Salva- tion Army Colony at Had- leigh, in Essex, England. 126 34 To the Secretary of State for the Col- onies from Com- missioner H. Rider Haggard. Bemarks by Commissioner H. Eider Haggard on the work of the Vacant Lots Cultiva- tion Association at Philadel- phia, U.S.A. 137 35 Ditto. Estimated cost in Pounds Ster- ling of Canadian Colonisation Scheme exclusive of value of land. 141 36 Ditto. Approximate statement showing annual charges, income and probable surplus of Canadian Colonisation Scheme. 142 37 Ditto. Approximate statement showing security for loan to carry out suggested Canadian Colonisa- tion Scheme. 143 38 To Commissioner H. Bider Hag- gard from Earl Grey, Governor- General of Can- ada. (Telegraphic.) 19th April, Expressing the hope that Com- 1905. missioner H. Bider Haggard's report may weave Canada closer than ever to England, and be the means of providing happy homes for thousands who, without hope, throng the city life of Great Britaiu. 144 FBBSS OpiNIOIfS , 145 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Irrigation Ditch, Fort Eomie Frontispiece Irrigation Plume, Fort Bomie ,, Children at Play, Fort Bomle To face page %i General View of Fort Eomie The Sanatorium, Fort Amity Colonist's Cottage, Fort Amity A Group of Colonists, Fort Amity Colonists Harvesting Kafir Corn .... Infants' School, Fort Amity Town Site Stores, Fort Amity Colonist's House, Fort Romie .... . . Colonist's House, Fort Romie 67 67 104 104 141 141 No. I. COLONIAL OFFICE TO ME. H. EIDEE HAGGAED. Downing Street, Slst January, 1905. Sib, I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton to inform you that he has nominated you to be a Commissioner to proceed to the United States and to inspect and report to him upon the conditions and character of the agricultural and industrial settlements which have been estabhshed there by the Salvation Army, with a view to the transmigration of suitable persons from the great cities of the United States to the land and the formation of agricultural communities. 2. It appears to the Secretary of State that, if these ex- periments are found to be successful, some analogous system might, with great advantage, be applied in transferring the urban populations of the United Kingdom to dififerent parts of the British Empire. 3. You should pay special attention to the class of persons taken by the Salvation Army, their training and success as agricultural settlers, and the general effect upon character and social happiness : you should also consider the financial aspect of the experiments. 4. It would be desirable that after you have inspected the several settlements you should proceed to Ottawa and discuss the subject with Lord Grey, who has taken great interest in it, as weU as with such local authorities as may be indicated to you by the Governor-General as likely to aid you with advice and assistance as to the application of the system in a British Colony. 5. The Ehodes Trustees, with whom the suggestion of the inquiry originated, and by whom Mr. Lyttelton has been asked to nominate a Commissioner, have made a grant of £300, including all travelling expenses, to meet the cost of the inquiry. I am, etc., Peed. Gbaham. Oi xxxix xl No. II. ME. H. EIDEE HAGGAED TO COLONIAL OFFICE. (Eeceived 2nd February, 1905.) Ditchingham House, Norfolk, 1st February, 1905. SlE, I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 31st January wherein you inform me that I have been nominated by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton to be a Commissioner to proceed to the United States for certain purposes which you detail and to report to him thereon. 2. I take this opportunity to offer to the Secretary of State my thanks for the confidence he has placed in me and to express the hope that I shall be able to carry out my mission to his satisfaction. 3. With reference to paragraph 2 of your communication, I presume that, in the event of my investigation showing me that these experiments in land settlement are in fact success- ful and that their principle is capable of wide application, it is wished that I should include in my report any practical suggestions that occur to me as to the means and methods whereby the example might best be turned to use in order to relieve the pressure upon our urban populations, and at the same time advantage other portions of the Empire. 4. I note the various instructions which you convey to me and will obey the same. 5. I have booked passages for myself and my daughter, Miss Angela Eider Haggard, who accompanies me as my secretary, upon the Teutonic, which sails on the 22nd instant. I am, etc., H. EiDBE Haggaed. xli No. ni. COLONIAL OFFICE TO ME. H. EIDEE HAGGAED. Downing Street, 7tli February, 1905. Sib, I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton to acknow- ledge the receipt of your letter of the 1st instant notifying your acceptance of the commission to proceed to the United States of America to report on the Salvation Army agri- cultural and industrial settlements established in that coun- try and to express his concurrence in your suggestion that in the event of the experiments by the Salvation Army commending themselves to you, you should include in your report any practical suggestions which may occur to you as to the means and methods whereby the example might best be turned to use in connection with the projected transfer of urban populations of the United Kingdom to different parts of the British Empire. 2. I am to inform you that the Government of the United States wiU be requested, through the proper channel, to afford such facilities as may be possible for the furtherance of your mission. I am, etc., Feed. Graham. EEPOET AND SCHEME OF NATIONAL LAND SETTLEMENT BY COMMISSIONEE H. EIDEE HAGGAED. No. 1. Sm, 1. I HAVE the honour to report that, m pursuance of instructions received from you under dates 31st January, 1905, and 7th February, 1905, I proceeded to the United States of America, and there visited the Salvation Army Land Colonies, situated respectively at Fort Eomie, Cali- fornia, Fort Amity, Colorado, and Fort Herriek, Ohio. Of these Colonies full descriptions will be found under their separate headings, and with them minutes of conferences which I held with Officers of the Salvation Army at each place, notes of interviews with the Colonists, various sworn valuations, and other statistics and documents. 2. Also, during my travels in the States, I investigated at Philadelphia the plan of Vacant Lot Cultivation there in force, of which I append a descriptive note, while at Wash- ington the system of irrigation and land settlement which, under a recent Act, has been inaugurated by the Govern- ment of the United States, was explained to me by Mr. F. H. Newell, Engineer of the United States Geological Survey and Superintendent of the Eeclamation Service. This system I was enabled to study at various places, especially at Yuma, 2 THE POOR AND THE LAND in Arizona (where I was detained for some days by a " wash- out " of the Colorado Eiver). 3. Further, at Salt Lake City, I collected information from the President and other Authorities of the Mormon Church as to their methods of Land Settlement by " small holders," of whose tidy and prosperous farms I saw many. 4. At Washington I had interviews with President Eoose- velt and with Mr. Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture. Of these interviews I attach notes to this report, those describing that with Mr. Secretary Wilson, which have been submitted for his approval and passed by him as accurate, for publica- tion, and those of my interesting conversation with Mr. Eoosevelt for your private information only,^ as in this instance the summary, although I believe it to be quite correct, has not been perused by him, nor have I asked his permission to print the same. 5. Having finished my business in the United States, I proceeded to Ottawa, where, after a long and arduous journey round the Continent, I arrived on the 13th April, 1905, and, with my daughter, was invited by His Excellency Earl Grey, &e Governor-General of Canada, to be his guest at Govern- ment House. During my visit to Ottawa I had various interviews with Sir Wilfrid Laurier, G.C.M.G., the Prime Minister of the Canadian Government; the Honourable Clififord Sif ton, till recently Minister of the Interior, a states- man of much experience and authority ; Mr. E. L. Borden, the leader of the Opposition ; the Honourable W. S. Field- ing, Minister of Finance ; Mr. W. D. Scott, Superintendent of Immigration ; Doctor Bryce, Medical OflBcer of Immigra- tion; Professor Eobertson, the well-known educational au- thority; Mr. White, of the Canadian Pacific Eailway, and others. 6. Also, I addressed a distinguished and earnest gathering of about four hundred members of the Canadian Club on subjects connected with Land Settlement, at a luncheon which was given in my honour and in that of Commander Booth Tucker, of the Salvation Army, who journeyed from England to meet me at Fort Amity, and accompanied me to Ottawa. ' Not printed. THE POOR AND THE LAND 3 7. The results of these conferences are very clearly shown in the documents which I append to this report. These are : — (a) Letter from Commissioner H. Eider Haggard to the Eight Honourable Sir Wilfrid Laurier, dated 13th April. (6) Letter from His Excellency Earl Grey to the Eight Honourable Sir Wilfrid Laurier, covering my com- munication of the same date. (c) Letter from Sir Wilfrid Laurier to H. Eider Haggard, dated in error 10th April, but in reahty written on the 14th in answer to his of the 13th. (d) Letter from the Honourable Clifford Sitton to H. Eider Haggard, dated 16th April. (e) Answer from H. Eider Haggard to the Honourable Chfford Sifton, dated 17th April. (f) Despatch from the Eight Honourable Sir Wilfrid Laurier to Commissioner H. Eider Haggard, dated 17th April. (g) Despatch from Commissioner H. Eider Haggard to the Eight Honourable Sir Wilfrid Laurier of even date. 8. These documents accurately set out the progress and successful conclusion of my discussions with the Canadian Government. I will, however, comment upon them briefly. By working in the trains I was enabled roughly to draft my reports upon the Land Colonies in time to submit the same to the Governor-General and his Ministers upon my arrival at Ottawa. His Excellency studied these and the documents annexed to them very thoroughly. Considering them satisfactory, he announced that he was prepared to commend to the favourable consideration of his Ministers the views and suggestions which I had the honour to lay before him. These included a request for a free grant of land from the Canadian Government suitable for settlement, and amounting in area to not less than ten townships or 240,000 acres (say, 360 square miles), with a promise of extra land to be given if necessary in the future. This area, allowing 160 acres per family, which is the ordinary Canadian homestead 1* 4 THE POOR AND THE LAND lot, would accommodate about 1,500 families, or, if an aver- age of five persons is reckoned-per family, 7,500 souls. The cost of the transportation and the settling of that number of people in Canada, where the land is given, may, I think, be put down roughly at about £200 per family, or £300,000 in all. This, however, is only an approximate, not a final estimate. In addition to the land grant, if I could obtain the same, I sought an expression of the wiUingness of the Canadian Government, at any rate to a certain extent, to assist in guaranteeing the interest on a loan which would provide the capital necessary to put my settlement scheme, if approved, into operation in the Dominion. It will be seen from the Prime Minister's despatch of 17th April that, so far as regards the former of these requests, I have succeeded beyond my expectations, inasmuch as the Canadian Government, under the authority of His Excel- lency the Governor-General in Council, states therein that it is prepared at any time to give ten townships for the object propounded by me, on the sole consideration that the liberal conditions of settlement prescribed by the laws of Canada be complied with. It states further that the Prime Minister has no doubt that his Government will be disposed to set aside other tracts of land under similar conditions, the selection of all such land, and this is a very important boon, being left entirely to the judgment of the Commissioner appointed by His Majesty's Government, who would, how- ever, be assisted in his labours by the expert agents of the Canadian Government. It adds that the Government of Canada is satisfied that if a proper class of settlers be secured such a scheme as I have in mind ought to be completely successful, a conclusion which I must regard as most satisfactory. With this scheme I will deal later. 9. As regards the second point, namely, that of obtaining a limited monetary guarantee from the Canadian Govern- ment, I regret to report that in this matter I have, up to the present, failed to secure any such guarantee. At a conference which I held with the Honourable W. S. Fielding, Minister of Finance, at Government House, on the 17th April, however, he told me that he would consult with THE POOE AND THE LAND 5 his colleagues on the question, and, perhaps, write or cable to me their further views. This was as far as I was able to take the matter, nor do I wish it to be understood that any- thing definite passed thereon, although that it is to be further considered is doubtless a gain. 10. I venture to suggest, therefore, that, should it wish to proceed with this great scheme, the Imperial Government might with advantage communicate with the Government of Canada and lay before it any opinions they may form upon this point. That the Government of Canada has acted with much liberality in making so splendid an offer of valu- able free land there is no doubt, but I dare to hope that if formally approached they may yet prove disposed to add to it by facilitating the raising of a loan in conjunction with the Imperial Treasury, especially as I can see little reason to fear that any permanent financial risk or burden would there- by be incurred by the guarantors, whoever they may be. It may be thought desirable, however, that any such loan should be guaranteed by the Imperial Government only. 11. I would call especial attention to the Honourable Mr. Sifton's letter of the 16th April to myself, as it is a docu- ment of no small importance ; also to my answer to the same of the 17th April, wherein I put before him briefly the views which I have expressed above on the question of a guarantee of capital. I will premise my remarks upon this letter by saying that on all such subjects no statesman in Canada carries more weight, or, by common consent, has greater experience or a sounder judgment, than the Honour- able Mr. Sifton. To his appreciation of my scheme, indeed, I am largely indebted for whatever measure of success may be held to have attended my discussions with the Canadian Government. It will be observed that after reading my reports and the other documents, and listening to the arguments which I submitted to him and to the officials and experts whom I approached, Mr. Sifton says that he is convinced that this scheme has the promise of success. Further, he offers to be a member of a Canadian Committee to assist in the carrying of it out. He adds these remarkable, and in every way most encouraging words : — " I regard your scheme as an embodiment of the truest 6 THE POOR AND THE LAND and best form of Imperial patriotism, because it is building for the future by helping to give a solid British basis to the population of our great West ". This is a sentiment with which, as I have said in my answer, I heartily agree. Should the plan come to fruition I humbly submit that the Imperial Government would do wisely to avail itself of Mr. Sifton's proffered assistaace. 12. Having made these comments upon my discussions with the Canadian Government, in pursuance of the au- thority which you have given me so to do, I will now proceed in general terms to outline the plan which I have evolved for putting into practice upon a large scale the principles that underUe the Land Settlements of the Salva- tion Army in the United States. Before doing so, however, I think it may be advantageous if I make a few general comments upon those Settlements, summarising the infor- mation and views which wiU be found set out in fuU in my Eemarks upon Fort Amity and Port Eomie. 13. As may be gathered from my observations upon these Colonies I am very glad to be able on the whole to give a favourable report of them. Port Herrick, the third place which I was directed to visit, although it has been called a Colony, is, in reality, at any rate at present, little more than a farm where experimental work is being carried on, and a home for inebriates. For the purposes of this report, therefore, it may in practice be omitted. A study of my Eemarks will show that both at Fort Amity and Port Eomie certain mistakes have been made and certain failures incurred. The system of finance practised by the Salvation Army in reference to its Land Settlements is one that I found somewhat difficult to unravel. I believe, how- ever, although there may still be minor discrepancies and mistakes, that finally I fathomed it, and it will be noticed that the sworn figures given to me show upon these two Colonies a total loss of, roughly speaking, about £10,000. In the case of Fort Eomie the loss was incurred during the first abortive settlement, which having been rather rashly undertaken before the land was thoroughly irrigated, was brought to an end by a great and prolonged drought. In the case of Fort Amity it was due to the necessity of unexpected expenditure and to unforeseen difficulties arising THE POOR AND THE LAND 7 from the character and peculiarities of the soil, as will be found more fully explained in the record of my investigation of that Colony. Also a portion of it in either case must be set down to the high rate of interest at which the Salvation Army borrows money, these settlements having been financed almost entirely by means of loaned capital. Lastly, so far as I was able to discover, certain sums have been charged against the Colonies' account which, strictly speaking, it should not have been called upon to bear. I wUl add at once that when the remarkable results achieved are taken into consideration, this loss, in my opinion, is insignificant, and, indeed, is more than counter- balanced by the great value of the experience gained. Moreover, it seems to me that had a somewhat heavier charge been made against the Colonists for their land, as, under the circumstances, should have been done in fairness to the Army, notwithstanding the early difficulties encoun- tered, no loss at all would have been incurred. That the price asked from these Colonists was too low is, I think, proved by the very considerable " equities " which, it wiU be observed, they have acquired after a few years' settlement ; that is by the surplus value of their assets over aU their liabilities to the Salvation Army and others. (See Eemarks on Fort Eomie and Fort Amity.) When their accounts show so large a gain, surely that of the Salvation Army ought not, in justice, to be debited with a loss. Outside of this slight failure of finance, which will, I believe, be recognised as temporary, accidental, and easy to be avoided in future enterprises, the two experiments seem to me to be eminently successful, and to demonstrate, in the case of Fort Eomie, that indigent people of the agri- cultural labourer class can be settled upon land and there do well, and in the case of Fort Amity that such persons can even be taken from towns and yet prosper. I think that a careful perusal of the annexed documents wUl support my opinions on this matter. 14. Unless, therefore, those opinions are unsound or the conclusions I deduce from them can be shown to be erroneous, it seems evident that from these particular examples may be extracted lessons that are easy of apphcation upon any scale which is desired. 8 THE POOR AND THE LAND 15. The first of these lessons is to avoid the mistakes of the past, especially by refusing to attempt any further settlement unless sufficient capital is available to inaugurate and to carry it on upon proved and business-like principles. The second is that the land should be cheap as well as suitable. The third that the Colonists should be very care- fully selected, all the circumstances and conditions of the individual families being considered. The fourth that they should pay a fair price for their land, spread, however, over a considerable number of years ; and the fifth, perhaps the most important of them all, that they should remain during that period under skilled, but sympathetic management. Markets also, with the accessibility and convenience of location, should be borne in mind, while the principle of settlement in communities ought, in my judgment, to re- ceive strict adherence as it has many social and other advantages. I may add that possibly it might be found wise to form the individual communities of persons collected from the same town, or district. Given these requisites, it will, I consider, be strange if success is not attained even in the case of poor persons taken from the cities, provided that they are steady in char- acter, the victims of misfortune and circumstances rather than of vice ; having had some acquaintance or connection with the land in their past lives, and having also an earnest desire to raise themselves and their children in the world. Any scheme, therefore, that is to succeed should, in my judgment, provide for the fulfilment of these essentials, at any rate to a large extent. 16. I will now outline the plan which I have evolved, although first I wish to make it clear that if it is held to be inadequate or faulty no one is responsible for it except my- self, its author. On the other hand, I may mention that various very able and experienced gentlemen to whom I sketched my suggestions, such as President Eposevelt, Mr. Wilson, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and Mr. Sifton, appear to have thought them workable and sound. These suggestions are as follows : — 17. That a sufficient loan, whereof the exact amount may be decided hereafter, or rather the interest on such loan, shall be guaranteed by Hia Majesty's Government, or, in THE POOR AND THE LAND 9 cases where the Governments of individual Colonies are will- ing to co-operate, by His Majesty's Government and such Colonies jointly ; it being agreed that each Colony shall share in the benefits of the Land Settlements to be made under the loan in proportion to the amount of its guarantee plus the value of its land grants. The absolute necessity of such a loan by whomsoever guaranteed is obvious, but if further arguments in its favour are needed they will be found in the histories of Fort Eomie and Fort Amity which the Salvation Army have acquired and developed on credit, by means of money borrowed at 5 per cent, and 6 per cent., thereby incurring the greater part of their loss. If land settlement is to be successful it must be conducted upon the strictest business lines, such as would be adopted if the building of a railway or any other industrial enterprise were concerned, and these, of course, include the provision of sufficient capital at a reasonable rate of interest. If such capital is not forthcoming it would be better to leave the scheme untouched, since to undertake it relying upon what I may call a Trust-in-Providence system of finance wiU be to court disaster, and possibly to throw the movement back for many years. Nor can the gifts and contributions of the rich, or any other form of charity, which is often fickle in its preferences and uncertain in its action, be depended on in such a case. To reUeve our congested cities, and place those that are suitable among their people upon the empty or depopulated lands of the British Empire is a work which the Empire should undertake for its own general good. Nor, in my opinion, need it fear that it will lose by this venture, even in money, for which the land settled and the improvements thereon would be the security, while its gain in other directions must be very great. 18. When this question of a guarantee comes up for dis- cussion, however, it will be well worthy of consideration as to whether the large Municipahties of the United Kingdom should not be asked in what shape they would be prepared to assist the movement so far as the law allows, or by emendation can be made to allow. Probably they could best do this by promising a fixed sum towards the expenses of any indigent but deserving and suitable family who might 10 THE POOE AND THE LAND be taken off their rates. The same suggestion applies to the Poor Law Unions throughout the land. Of course aU such contributions would be purely voluntary, but that difiS- oulty might to some extent be met by giving preference in the matter of the emigration of families to those towns and Unions which elect to pay such contributions. 19. The capital being provided, I suggest that a perma- nent Imperial Officer should be appointed, to be known as the Superintendent of Land Settlements, or by some similar title. In him these capital sums should be vested as a Corporation Sole, as a trustee for the Government. Or, if it were thought more secure and desirable, the money might stand to the credit of a Board, whereof this Superintendent of Land Settlements was a member, which Board might possibly be formed of himself, the Agents-General of the Colonies, and representatives from the Colonial Office and the Treasury. The actual administration of the funds, however, should, in my opinion, and subject to proper audit, be left to the judgment of the Superintendent of Land Settlements, upon whose ability, knowledge and method of conducting his business much will depend, especially during the first years of the working of the enterprise. Here I may say that one of the duties of this official ought to be, in person or by deputy, occasionally to visit and to report upon all Colonies that may be established. The expenses of his salary and office should be a charge upon the Land Settlements Loan, to the satisfactory and eco- nomical administration of which it would be his duty to devote himself. A further and very important part of that duty also would be to stand between the Government and the Charitable Bodies whose part in the business I will explain presently ; to receive from them and to check their returns ; to investi- gate any complaints which might be made against them, and if found correct, to remedy the same ; to watch that they put no undue rehgious or sectarian pressure upon the Colonists in the various settlements, let us say in such a matter as the forcing of them to educate the children in a fashion of which their parents did not approve ; to be care- ful that such Charitable Bodies selected the settlers fairly THE POOR AND THE LAND 11 and judiciously from among British subjects only, and so forth. 20. The capital being found, and its safe-guarding and wise management provided for, it will next be convenient to consider the exact objects upon which it should be ex- pended, and how these objects can best be attained. 21. First, what are those objects? To relieve, at any rate to some extent, the congestion of our cities which results in so much degradation, misery and expense to the public, by exporting from them those who are physically, mentally, and in other ways suitable, and who are found to have faUen into, or to be threatened with poverty, or who, being weary of towns, desire to attempt the adventure of a different life in new homes upon the land. To advantage the Empire by the introduction on to its unoccupied spaces of large numbers of persons whose ex- istence otherwise would have been wasted or worse. Who also, whatever the troubles into which circumstances may have brought them, are of British blood, and the parents of children that will hand down to the future the traditions, characteristics and virtues of our race, which children in new countries will find many opportunities of rising to positions different indeed from their parents' humble state. 22. An obvious criticism of these axioms will be that such persons taken from cities, however willing they may prove to go when in extremity, are not suitable for the purposes of land settlement at home or abroad. Also, that even if they were, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to select them properly, and quite impossible when selected to manage them through that period of years during which they must be nursed into success. 23. The answer is that even in a single great city such as London, where, I beUeve, last Christmas over 127,000 persons were in receipt of Poor Law Belief, if only hands can be laid upon them, there are numbers of indigent people who are in every way fitted to such purposes. For instance, here may be found many men and women, brought up upon the land, who have drifted to the town, perhaps recently, and failed there, and now in middle life, with a family of young children, would accept with the utmost gratitude the chance of returning to conditions such as formed the company and 12 THE POOR AND THE LAND surroundings of their youth, and of rectifying their own mistake by placing their children's feet upon the paths of prosperity and peace. The same remark applies with even greater force to provincial towns which are in closer touch with the rural districts. " Land," said Commander Booth Tucker, in the interview which I held with him and others on the 5th April at Fort Amity, "is abundant throughout the world. The people of the cities are hungering for the opportunity of getting at it. They only want leadership and business management. The only requisite that I see that is absolutely not to be gotten over is a supply of the necessary capital. Our experience goes to show that the man without money makes a better average colonist and a better average settler than the man with money, and it seems to me a radical mistake that this and other countries should confine their settlements to the man with money, and ignore the man whose capital consists of brain and muscle, but who can be turned into a prosperous 'home-owner'." With these remarks of Commander Booth Tucker I entirely agree. 24. It may be admitted, however, that the finding of these city folk ; the selection from among them, and the watching of those selected for a while before final choice of them is made, are difficult tasks. Indeed, if all this had to be done through officials of any sort, it would in my opinion, and, I may add, in that of President Eoosevelt, be an im- possible task, or at the least so costly as to be out of the question. As it happens, however, a Body exists to which this matter is easy, that, moreover, is willing to undertake it for nothing, merely as part of what it considers to be the duty which it has towards suffering and bewildered humanity. I allude to the Salvation Army, a charitable and phil- anthropic Institution, which I have found even better known and more respected in the United States and in the Dominion of Canada than it is in the British Isles. This vast Organi- sation is, I am authorised to say upon its behalf, able and willing to make the selection of suitable settlers to any extent from among the poor of the cities of Great Britain, conducting their operations under the authority and direction THE POOR AND THE LAND 13 of an Imperial Officer, appointed, as I have suggested, to control them. Further, if only the necessary capital be found, it is pre- pared to move these selected persons to settlements to be established at places chosen anywhere within the borders of the British Empire. There it will provide them with skilled instruction in the local agriculture, and with the counsel and assistance needful to beginners in every path of enter- prise, which will be furnished to them by means of trained officers stationed in each Colony, and receiving only the small remuneration that the Salvation Army pays to its active members for their support. 25. Upon this point I would call especial attention to the remarks of Commander Booth Tucker in answer to my questions which I put to him at Fort Amity. (See Notes of an interview between Commissioner H. Eider Haggard and various officers of the Salvation Army at Fort Amity, Colorado, 5th April, 1905.) I also refer you particularly to a letter from myself dated 20th April, 1905, to Commander Booth Tucker as representing the Salvation Army, which is pubUshed with this report, and to his answer, dated 24;th April. 26. To sum up this branch of the matter I believe that persons vnth families suitable for settlement (for to such I suggest preference should be given) can be found in the cities of the United Kingdom in even greater numbers than could be dealt with under a really extensive scheme. 27. Thus the capital would be provided, its supervision would be arranged for, and the Salvation Army, or any other approved and responsible religious, charitable, or social Or- ganisation, would undertake the selection of the Colonists ; their transportation to their future homes ; the building of their houses and barns ; the advance of cash to them for the purchase of stock, seed, agricultural implements and other necessaries ; their instruction by trained persons in the arts of husbandry ; the collection from them of the amounts due annually to satisfy the sums advanced and interest thereon ; and their permanent care until everything was paid off and they could be left masters of their business to pursue their own destinies fi-ee of debt. In the case of Canada the land also is now provided, and U THE POOE AND THE LAND this without any cost ; an example that other British Colonies may be willing to follow in varying degrees. 28. There remain for consideration, however, the matter of safe-guarding the repayment of the capital advanced; also that of the cost of starting such land Settlements. The former of these points wiU, I consider, prove the crux of this proposed national experiment, since, unless it can be shown that it is possible to carry this out without loss to the guaranteeing Government or Governments, it must break down. Whereas if this can be shown there is absolutely no limit to the possibilities of the scheme. 29. Land settlement cannot be permanently conducted upon the system of a hospital. Its objects should be to teach people to support themselves, and to become useful and productive citizens ; not to live upon charity. More- over, unless it is demonstrated that it can be made to pay its way upon a business basis, no Government or other Authority would continue to guarantee the interest of loans, whereas, if this is demonstrated, after the first step is taken, money will be forthcoming to any extent. Why not? Of capital there is plenty awaiting safe investment at a fair interest, of possible settlers there are plenty, and of land there is plenty also within the broad boundaries of the British Empire, in places where suitable population is often the greatest need. 30. Now, as regards the first of these points, namely, the repayment of the capital, the only actual precedents with which I am acquainted (for I do not propose to deduce arguments from the figures that I append to this report) are to be found in the remarkable New Zealand experiment, which, however, is not the same as that I am advocating, and in the examples of Fort Eomie and Fort Amity. Although, as I have shown, small losses were incurred on these Colonies, ovnng to undercharges as against the settlers, high interest and other mistakes, those examples, I submit, give every ground for hoping that under the conditions which I have set out, the venture of land settlement can be carried through on a sound commercial basis. 31. Still, it should be remembered that each country in which settlements are made will present its own difficulties, that must be overcome by skiU, patience and experience. THE POOE AND THE LAND 15 For all these difficulties in various lands it is impossible to make provision in a preliminary report, since every case must be treated separately, and each danger guarded against by whatever means seem wisest when it arises. 32. Eoughly, however, I would propose to follow the example set by that brilliantly successful measure, the New Zealand Advances to Settlers Act. Under this Act I may state that up to the 31st March, 1904, the advances made since about 1895, when it began to operate, amounted to £4,009,520. The securities for the net authorised advances, per contra, were valued at £8,704,640, while the 1 per cent, sinking fund in the hands of a public trustee totalled £158,520. Further, so far as I have been able to discover from the read- ing of the various documents, no loss whatever was incurred. On the contrary, a considerable profit has been realised. In the case of this Act a table has been drawn up showing the payments due for every one hundred pounds of the loan advanced, under which the capital lent, and the interest at 5 per cent, are repaid in seventy-three half-yearly instal- ments ; that is, in thirty-six and a half years. This table is so useful and instructive that I include it here. I have no doubt that with variations, such as local con- ditions may make necessary iu different countries, the above system of proportionate payments can very well be adapted to any scheme of land settlement conducted by means of Government advances. 33. With reference to the cost of starting Colonies, there must be included therein an allowance for the expense, which would often be considerable, of conveying the settlers from the British cities to their new homes in distant lands. Of this cost it is not feasible for me to give an accurate estimate, seeing that it would vary with the mileage over which the emigrants had to be carried, and in accordance with the arrangements that those in charge of them were able to make with steamship and railway companies. 34. I append, however, three tables, numbered 35, 36, 37, and prepared to show, more or less, how a Canadian Scheme of Colonisation might be expected to work out financially upon the basis of a cost of £200 per family of five souls, when, as in the case under consideration, the land would be given free for the purposes of settlement. 16 THE POOR AND THE LAND TABLE OP PEBSOEIBBD HALF-YEABLY INSTALMENTS FOB EVBBY ONE HUNDEED POUNDS OP THE LOAN. Prescribed Apportioned thus :— Balance of Half-year. Half-year On Account Principal Instalment. of Interest On Account Owing. at Five of Principal. Per Cent. £ B. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ 8. d. 1st . 3 2 10 10 99 10 2na. 3 2 9 9 10 3 98 19 9 3rd . 3 2 9 6 10 6 98 9 3 4th . 3 2 9 3 10 9 97 18 6 5th . 3 2 9 11 97 7 6 6th , 3 2 8 8 11 4 96 16 2 7th . 3 2 8 5 11 7 96 4 7 8th . 3 2 8 1 11 11 95 12 8 9th . 3 2 7 10 12 2 95 6 10th . 3 2 7 6 12 6 94 8 11th . 3 2 7 2 12 10 93 15 2 12th . 3 2 6 11 13 1 93 2 1 13th . 3 2 6 7 13 5 92 8 8 14th . 3 2 6 3 13 9 91 14 11 15th . 3 2 5 10 14 2 91 9 16th . 3 2 5 6 14 6 90 6 3 17th . 3 2 5 2 14 10 89 11 5 18th . 3 2 4 9 15 3 88 16 2 19th . 3 2 4 5 15 7 88 7 20th . * 3 2 4 16 87 4 7 2l8t . 3 2 3 7 16 5 86 8 2 22na. 3 2 3 2 16 10 85 11 4 28rd . 3 2 2 9 17 3 84 14 1 24th . 3 2 2 4 17 8 83 16 5 25th . 3 2 1 11 18 1 82 18 4 26th . 3 2 1 6 18 6 81 19 10 27th . 3 2 10 19 81 10 28th . 3 2 6 19 6 80 1 4 29th , 3 2 10 79 1 4 30th . 3 1 19 6 10 6 78 10 31st . 3 1 19 110 76 19 10 32nd. 3 1 18 6 116 75 18 4 33rd . 3 1 18 12 74 16 4 34th . 3 1 17 5 12 7 73 13 9 35th . 3 1 16 10 13 2 72 10 7 36th . 3 1 16 3 13 9 71 6 10 37th . 8 1 15 8 14 4 70 2 6 THE POOE AND THE LAND 17 TABLE OF PRESCRIBED HALF-YEARLY INSTALMENTS, 'ElO.—contimied. Prescribed Apportioned thus : — Balance of Half-year. Half-year On Account Principal Instalment. of Interest On Account Owing. at Five of Principal. Per Cent. £ s. d. £ s. d. S s. d. £ a. d. 38th . 3 1 15 1 1 4 11 68 17 7 39th . 8 1 14 5 1 5 7 67 12 40th . 3 1 13 10 16 2 66 5 10 41st . 3 1 13 2 1 6 10 64 19 42nd. 3 1 12 6 17 6 63 11 6 43rd . 3 1 11 9 18 3 62 3 3 44th . 3 1 11 1 1 8 11 60 14 4 45th . 3 1 10 4 19 8 59 4 10 46th . 3 19 7 1 10 5 57 14 5 47th . 3 1 8 10 1 11 2 56 3 3 48th . 3 18 1 1 11 11 54 11 4 49th . 3 17 3 1 12 9 52 18 7 50th . 3 16 6 1 13 6 51 5 1 51st . 3 15 8 1 14 4 49 10 9 52na. 3 14 9 1 15 3 47 15 6 53rd . 3 1 3 11 1 16 1 45 19 6 64th . 3 13 1 17 44 2 5 55th . 3 12 1 1 17 11 42 4 6 56th . 3 111 1 18 11 40 5 7 57th . 3 10 2 1 19 10 38 5 9 58th . 3 19 2 2 10 36 4 11 59th . 3 018 1 2 1 11 34 3 60th . 3 17 1 2 2 11 32 1 61at . 3 16 2 4 29 16 1 62nd. 3 14 11 2 5 1 27 11 63rd . 3 13 9 2 6 3 25 4 9 64th . 3 12 7 2 7 5 22 17 4 65th . 3 11 5 2 8 7 20 8 9 66th . 3 10 3 2 9 9 17 19 67th . 3 9 2 11 15 8 68th . 3 7 8 2 12 4 12 15 8 69th . 3 6 5 2 13 7 10 2 1 70th . 3 5 1 2 14 11 7 7 2 71st . 3 3 8 2 16 4 4 10 10 72ud . 3 2 4 2 17 8 1 13 2 73rd . 1 14 10 1 18 2 18 THE POOR AND THE LAND The first table is an estimate of the " Cost in pounds ster- ling" setting out how the £200 per family would be spent in the instances of any number of emigrants from five per- sons to two hundred and fifty thousand persons, and the sums which they would be called upon to repay at 6 per cent, (including 1 per cent, sinking fund). The second is an " approximate Statement showing annual charges, income and probable surplus ". The third is an " approximate Statement showing security for loan". These figures are, I think, interesting and suggestive, although on some points open to criticism. Thus, in the Annual Charges statement, I am in doubt whether 1 per cent, is sufl&cient to allow for management and general im- provement expenses ; also it remains to be proved whether money can now be borrowed exactly at 3 per cent., even with a Government guarantee. If these amounts must be increased the surplus would be proportionately decreased. In the same way it might be a wise precaution to halve the net balance surplus, and in the third table (that showing the security for loan) to put the value of land after ten years' colonisation at a lower figure, though it is very probable that, in fact, it would be higher. Yet when all this is done, the investment, according to these estimates, still appears to be sound. 35. As against the transportation expenditure alluded to above, we must set the fact that, in Canada at any rate, the land the settlers would occupy is promised as a free gift, subject only to the provision that the Canada Homestead Eegulations are observed, or whatever slight modification thereof might be agreed upon to meet the special circum- stances. As to this point, although it is obtained for noth- ing, I may add here that I do not propose that this land should be handed over free to the settlers, but rather that a reasonable charge for it should be made against them, and that the amount thus realised should be used to re- pay the prime cost of their transportation, a suggestion to which I daresay the Canadian Government would accede, and to form a fund for further colonisation and emergency purposes. 36. To sum up, the utter impossibility at this stage of THE POOR AND THE LAND 19 giving an exact estimate of the cost of settlements which are not yet fixed upon, does not in any way shake my conviction that where the lands and the markets are good, the people wisely chosen and wisely distributed, and the management is experienced, continuous, and sympathetic, the enterprise can be carried on without loss and very possibly at an actual profit, after allowing for the payment of 5 per cent, interest on money which would be borrowed at about 3 per cent., and an extra 1 per cent, for sinking fund. 37. I would propose that the settlements should not be too small, say not under one hundred families each, since numbers insure plenty of society, which, in the case of persons taken from cities, is, in my opinion, almost a con- dition of success, especially in a country where the winters are long. Also, I propose that co-operative institutions for the sale and purchase of produce and necessaries should be established in each Land Colony, and with these People's Credit Banks on the well-tested and approved Eaffeisen principle that has shown itself to be so successful abroad and, I believe, in Ireland. In this maiden soil both these institutions should flourish greatly, and to the public benefit. 38. A danger that must be guarded against would be that of the creeping in of the land speculator, who might try to buy out the colonist as soon as he saw that his holding was increasing largely in value. This, I think, could be met by giving to the Superintendent of Land Settlements, or to the Salvation Army, or to whatever body the title is vested in until the settler had earned his right to it by the payment of all his liabilities, a power of pre-emption, the amount payable being fixed by independent valuation. 39. The criticism may be advanced that there is no need to go to distant Colonies in order to place such a scheme as I have outUned in operation ; that its benefits, at any rate, should not be confined to outlying portions of the Empire, as there is nothing to prevent their appUcation at home. With such a criticism I am myself in great sympathy. I shall, therefore, be glad, if I am so directed by His Majesty's Government, to prepare a separate memorandum upon the possibility of the establishment of rural Colonies in the United Kingdom, by the aid of the same machinery a* 20 THE POOR AND THE LAND which I have suggested as suitable to the case of their estab- lishment overseas. 40. Before leaving this branch of the subject, for the sake of clearness I will recapitulate the suggestions which I have the honour to advance. They are : — (1) That the interest of a loan, or loans, of an amount to be fixed hereafter, should be guaranteed by the Imperial Government, or by the Imperial and certain Colonial Governments jointly, if that is thought desirable and can be arranged. (2) That the Poor Law Authorities in the large cities of Great Britain should be approached in order to ascertain whether they would be prepared to make a per capita contribution for every selected family of which the burden was taken off the local rates. (3) That a permanent officer should be appointed by the Imperial Government, to be known as the Superintendent of Land Settlements, whose duties and responsibilities I have sketched out above. (4) That the Salvation Army, or any other well-estab- lished and approved social, charitable, or religious Organisation, should be deputed to carry out the work of selecting, distributing, and organising the settlers on Land Colonies anywhere within the boundaries of the British Empire, who should remain in charge of such Organisation until all liabilities were paid. (5) That no title to land should be given to any colonist until he had discharged these liabilities, on which he should pay 5 per cent, interest and 1 per cent, sinking fund, recoverable in an agreed period of years. (6) That the possibility of establishing similar Colonies in the United Kingdom should be carefully con- sidered. (7) That, if these suggestions are approved, a Bill, to be designated the " National Land Settlements Act," embodying and giving life to them, should be laid before Parliament. THE POOE AND THE LAND 21 41. Before I close this report perhaps I may be allowed to state my general conclusions upon the questions with which it deals. For a good many years I have studied this matter closely in aU its bearings, and, as time goes by, my conviction is strengthened that there is but one cure for certain of the evils which our civilisation has brought with it ; to get behind them, to dam them at their source. The wretched- ness of our overcrowded cities, indeed, may be beyond any complete remedy, but it can, at least, be palliated by bringing numbers of their poor inhabitants into contact with the healthful plenty of the land. Some say, however, that even such palliation is impossible, for the reason that the dwellers in cities, or those who pur- pose to dwell in them, desire to have nothing to do with the land, and refuse to Hve thereon. This has never been my experience ; in fact, every year considerable numbers of persons write to me individually asking me to help them to convey themselves and their famiUes back from the towns to the country. I beheve that in a majority of cases village-bom folk go to cities, and in many instances remain in them, because they can find no opportunity or prospect upon the land and, subsequently, because they have not the means to escape with their wives and children from the web of town hfe in which they have entangled themselves. Given that prospect and opportunity, and given those means, such folk will avail themselves of them with eagerness. 42. These are the views in which my recent investiga- tions confirm me, and I think that much support of them will be found in the individual statements made by the Colonists of Fort Eomie and Fort Amity. I beheve that in our great cities there exists tens of thousands of persons qualified to make good settlers who would rejoice in an op- portimity of escaping from the poverty, sickness, and vices of such places, and with their families, of establishing them- selves under healthful conditions upon the land, either in Britain or in her Colonies, with the prospect of obtaining there an independence for themselves and health and plenty for their children. 43. If, in the face of the facts which I have adduced, my 22 THE POOE AND THE LAND opinions are still thought visionary or optimistic, I can only point out that, speaking broadly, I am delighted to find them shared by such men as Mr. Eoosevelt, the enlightened and far-seeing President of the United States, -whom, if I may venture to say so, I thought one of the clearest visioned and most able statesmen that ever I had the honour of meeting ; by the Honourable Mr. "Wilson, who was born a Scotchman, but is the Secretary for Agriculture in the same country, a man of vast experience ; by Earl Grey, the Governor-General of Canada, who knows so much of colonr isation and its possibilities, and with whom I had many conferences upon this subject; by General Booth, of the Salvation Army, whom I saw before leaving England, who, perhaps, is better acquainted with the actual conditions of our poor than any other living man, who, moreover, is the author of practical experiments in land settlement in many climes, and by others of equal ability and weight. If my views are visionary, then all of us suffer from similar delusions. 44. I venture to submit, however, for your consideration and that of His Majesty's Government that they are sound. I will go further even, and state my profound conviction that the future welfare of this country, and, indeed, of others which might be named, among them the United States, depends upon whether or no it is possible to retain or to settle upon the soil a fair proportion of its, or their, in- habitants. Upon that soil men and women grow up in health, and become furnished with those sober and enduring qualities which have made the greatness of our nation in the past, who, if they are relegated to the unwholesome conditions and crowded quarters of vast cities, must dwindle in body and change in mind. 45. Nor is this all, since in these cities, as statistics and experience prove alike, the families are smaller than those that are born upon the land. Children there are called, and, indeed, often are, " encumbrances ". More of them die in infancy also, and of those who grow up, many, at any rate in the second generation, are of a stuff so different that except for the accident of their common speech they might well be supposed to belong to another race. How is it possible, indeed, th^t ohil4reo should b? born THE POOR AND THE LAND 23 in adequate numbers, or, if born, thrive, in the crowded slums of London or in the tenement houses of New York, and how can that people remain great and powerful whose supply of healthy children is curtailed ? If these are lacking, all the merchandise of the seas and all the treasures of the earth will not supply their place. 46. Therefore, if the future safety of their countries is to be made secure against obvious and disastrous contingencies, in my humble judgment one of the chief aims of the Govern- ments of the highly civilised white nations should be to keep population upon the land ; to multiply the numbers of those modest rural homes where men and women desire offspring for their own sakes, and to share their labours and their plenty. This, it seems to me, can best be done by turning to practical account the public Credit and the waste forces of Benevolence ; by using these powers to counteract, at least to some extent, that tendency towards race-ruin, a product of our western culture, whereof the end must be a progressive national weakening and depletion which, if unchecked, may well bring about national defeat at the hands of those ruder peoples of the World that remain land-dweUing and agricul- tural, and again, as in past ages, culminate in national de- spair and death. 47. Finally, I suggest that notwithstanding the miscal- culations which have been made there, the instances of Fort Eomie and Fort Amity do point out a road which may lead to successful colonisation upon a large scale. Again I would repeat, however, that if this is to succeed, there are three essential conditions which must be recognised : — SuiBcient capital, obtained at a moderate rate of interest : Careful selection of the settlers and of the land : Skilled and sympathetic management of both after settle- ment. 48. It cannot be too clearly understood that neglect of any of these requisites, and especially the want of a proper system of finance, will almost certainly end in failure ; where- as if they are strictly adhered to, I believe that success can be made very probable, if not absolutely assured. 49. I have omitted to state that I have carefully con- sidered the nature of the tenure which could be given to 24 THE POOE AND THE LAND land settlers with most advantage to themselves and the greatest security to the Authorities guaranteeing the Settle- ment Loan. There is no doubt that in some ways the system of perpetual leasehold at a fixed rent is attractive, especially if it could be coupled with a right to buy, since then the colonist is not burdened with the necessity of paying the purchase price of the land, but has only to dis- charge an annual rent. 50. In countries where land is very costly this plan, therefore, would be worthy of consideration, as under it all the settler's borrowed capital can be expended upon his live and dead stock. In other countries, however, where land is cheap the argument in favour of leasehold is not so strong, while in Canada I am not sure that it would be allowed. 51. My conclusion is that on the whole I agree with the view expressed by Mr. Secretary Wilson and give my voice in favour of freehold, wherever it is possible to grant that boon. 52. That great investigator of agricultural conditions, Arthur Young, wrote one hundred and thirty years ago of the "magic of property". What he said then holds true to-day. Perpetual leasehold may be virtually as good as a freehold and cheaper to acquire, but sentiment must be taken into account, and considered from this point of view, it does not look the same. The man who starts out to work a piece of land would like to know that a time must come when he will be able to caU it his very own. It is because this is impossible that thousands of those who are employed in Enghsh agriculture are now deserting the country for the towns. Without the prospect of ownership, or, at the least, of becoming farmers on their own account, they will not stay upon the land. 53. I think, therefore, that the title given to all settlers, at any rate in the British Colonies, after they have dis- charged their liabilities and paid the price of the land they occupy, should be freehold and no other. 54 Perhaps I may be allowed to suggest that it would be desirable for His Majesty's Government to send a Com- missioner to South Africa, with instructions to inquire into the suitability of that country for land Settlements, the terms upon which lands can be acquired for that purpose, THE POOK AND THE LAND 25 and whether or no any of the South African Governments are prepared to assist in the matter. 55. It has occurred to me that many would-be settlers from Great Britain might think that the climate of Canada is too cold for them, and desire to emigrate to a warmer country. From my general knowledge of South Africa, where I have myself farmed in bygone years, and from what Earl Grey, Sir Marshal Clarke, and others tell me of Ehodesia, I am inclined to think that there is a land whereon settlers might be placed to their own great benefit, and to that of the Empire. 66. So far as I can learn and judge it is becoming more and more evident that the future of Ehodesia is largely agricultural, and now when it has been discovered that, amongst other crops, tobacco of the best possible quality can be grown there, parts of this territory seem to me to offer opportunities for the " small holder ". More than this I can- not say, as I have not had the advantage of recent personal investigation. 57. I append among the other documents, some Eemarks upon the Hadleigh Colony of the Salvation Army in Essex, for the reason that the place might prove useful as a train- ing ground for the managers of Settlements, or of industries, such as brick-making and carpentering, which will be prac- tised in them. I thoroughly inspected this Colony before leaving England, and was much interested and impressed by what I saw there. 58. I have to thank His Excellency Sir Mortimer Du- rand. His Majesty's Ajnbassador to the United States ; Sir P. Sanderson, His Majesty's Consul-General at New York ; President Eoosevelt ; Mr. Secretary of State Hay ; Mr. Secretary Paul Morton ; Mr. Secretary Wilson ; Mr. Under- Secretary of State Loomis, all of the Unilied States Govern- ment ; Commissioner Henry Macfarland, and many others for their great kindness towards me, and the assistance which they gave to me, both in my official and my personal capacity. I have also to thank the Chambers of Commerce and other municipal Bodies and the Clubs in various cities of the United States which I visited, for the many public receptions and hospitalities which they extended or offered to nie, 26 THE POOE AND THE LAND I have to thank Doctor Wheeler, President of the Uni- versity of California at Berkeley, for his courtesy in inviting me to visit that great institution, where I had the honour of addressing an audience of over three thousand students and others. I have to thank the President, Counsellors and Apostles of the Mormon Church for their reception of me at Salt Lake City, and the information which they gave me there. I have to thank Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Premier of the Canadian Government, and other Ministers of that Govern- ment, also the Honourable Mr. Sifton, for the patience and the attention with which they listened to my arguments and investigated the evidence that I laid before them with refer- ence to the objects of my mission. Most of all I have to thank His Excellency Earl Grey, Governor-General of Canada, for his wise counsel and the assistance he afforded me in every way, and on every occasion. Had it not been for that counsel and assistance it would not, I think, have been possible for me to attain the results set out in this report. Such success as those results may be held to represent is due, therefore, to Earl Grey rather than to myself. I have to thank the citizens of Toronto and Ottawa for the great kindness and cordiality of their welcome towards me. I shall always remember with pride the occasions on which they entertained me at their respective cities when I had the honour of addressing many hundreds of their leading men. My gratitude is due to Miss Evangehne Booth and many other Officers of the Salvation Army in the United States and Canada for much help which they gave me, and especi- ally to Mr. Eanson Caygill, Treasurer of the Industrial Homes Company of the Salvation Army, and to his as- sistant, Mr. Harry A. Wright, who were deputed by the Army Authorities to accompany me upon my journey round America. Without their help the difficulties and fatigues of that journey would have been enormously increased. It is due also to my daughter. Miss Angela Eider Haggard, who acted as my private secretary throughout my mission, and was of great assistance to me. Further, as one interested in this work for its own sake, THE POOR AND THE LAND 27 and in all that tends to counteract the grave social and national ills with which it is concerned, perhaps I may be allowed to ofifer my earnest thanks to the Ehodes Trustees, to whose initiative this inquiry owes its origin and financial support. 59. I thought that it would be more satisfactory to aU concerned that there should be an independent sworn valua- tion of the lands, crop and stock of the two principal Salva- tion Army Colonies in the United States. It will be seen that these have been furnished, also that the correctness of the figures and statistics handed to me, has, at my request, been verified by oath. 60. I send herewith some photographs ^ of the Colonies of Fort Eomie and Port Amity and their inhabitants, although I do not know whether it is feasible to reproduce them in a Blue-book. 61. Trusting that I may be held to have fulfilled my instructions to your satisfaction and to that of His Majesty's Government, also that the suggestions which I have ventured to advance may prove of service, I am, Sir, Your Most Obedient, Humble Servant, H. EiDEK Haggaed, Commissioner. To the Eight Honourable The Secretary of State lor the Colonies. 5th May, 1905. ' Not reproduced in Blue-book. 28 THE POOR AND THE LAND No. 3. Washington, D.C. (These Notes have been submitted to and approved by Mr. Wilson.) On the 8th of March, 1905, I had the advantage of a long interview with the Honourable James Wilson, Secre- tary of Agriculture for the United States, a gentleman of the very greatest ability and most extended experience. In the course of this meeting I talked over with him confidentially various aspects of the question upon which I am reporting, and especially those which have to do with the possibility of settling persons who have recently migrated or are about to migrate from the country to the town. It was with real satisfaction that I found Mr. Wilson's and my own views to be practically identical. After I had outlined my ideas to him, he informed me that in his opinion, if executed upon a foundation of suffi- cient capital and proper management, there could scarcely fail to be success, provided that the settlers chosen were industrious and willing to overcome certain inevitable diffi- culties ; provided also that the cost of the land settled was moderate, and that access to markets was easy. He agreed with me that it would be advisable to make a start with people who from early associations, or otherwise, had some idea of farm work, although they need not necessarily be farmers ; that is to say, individuals who had not long been denizens of a great city. He added that when the scheme had got into full swing it would be easier to deal with " green hands ". Mr. Wilson said that to him it appeared very sad to see so many of our English people flocMng from the land to the cities, and that he quite appreciated the disastrous results and the national difficulties that must arise from a continu- ance of this state of things. He informed me that in the United States much has been done during the last eight years to benefit farmers by the institution of a good service of mail deUvery and in other ways. He remarked also (and this is a curious circumstance) that the establishment of the telephone in every house had done a great deal to keep people on the land, as it helped THE POOE AND THE LAND 29 to destroy the sense of isolation and loneliness, and generally to make life more convenient and interesting. Thus he pointed out that after a day's work the women could gossip with each other over miles of wire, who in former days might perhaps rarely see a visitor. I asked him what in his opinion would be the best form of tenure to give to such settlers, perpetual leasehold or freehold. He declared himself unhesitatingly to be in favour of freehold, with which, in his opinion, no leasehold, however long and attractive, could possibly compete in the eyes of intending settlers. The prospect of acquiring a freehold, he said, would give the colonist something to work for ; some object to be gained beyond that of earning his daily bread. He was sure that if absolute ownership of the land occupied by such settlers could be assured to them within a reasonable period, it would prove a great incentive to exertion. I pointed out to him the danger that such settlers might be tempted to sell their interests to speculators. He con- sidered my fears upon this point to be exaggerated, adding that in the United States few speculators wished actually to buy out the proprietors of land. Although occasionally they would lend them money rather than take possession, how- ever, as a rule, they renewed the loan. Even Indians, he said, were now allowed to acquire freeholds and to deal with them as they chose. Nor had bad results ensued, although, compared to white men, Indians were as children and were more diflScult to manage than any class of folk who would be Ukely to come under the provision of a settlement scheme. I asked Mr. Wilson whether he approved of a suggestion I made that the land should be paid for by instalments, calculated to include satisfaction of the interest on the loan and a sufficient sinking fund to discharge the money ad- vanced in .the purchase of the land in a period of about thirty-three years. He repUed that he approved of that period, but was of opinion that the payments should be made annually and not semi-annually. He believed that in most cases, if the settlements were formed under advantage- ous conditions as regards to cost of land, locality, etc., it would be found that the settlers would, however, pay off all obligations in a much shorter period than thirty-three years. In short, I could discover no point of difiference between 30 THE POOE AND THE LAND Mr. Wilson's views and my own. I may add that he agreed with me that it would be quite necessary that charitable bodies who undertook the selection of Colonists and the management of settlements should be under the control of a Government official, where the Government is interested, who could check extravagance, mismanagement, or undue pressure of any sort. He agreed also that such settlements where the Government is not interested would be far better and more cheaply directed by charitable bodies than by a number of expensive Government officials. H. EiDEE Haggaed. THE POOR AND THE LAND 31 No. 4. Government House, Ottawa, 13th April, 1905. Sir, I HAVE the honour to inform you that I have been appointed by His Majesty's Government, a Commissioner to investigate certain land settlements in the United States, and should my opinion thereon be favourable, to proceed to Canada and to consult vyith His Excellency Lord Grey and his Ministers upon the matter generally. My opinion as to these land settlements being, upon the vrhole, favourable, I now venture to ask you confidentially whether the Government of the Dominion is prepared to donate a tract of suitable land, to be selected by myself or other Commissioners appointed by His Majesty's Govern- ment, for the purpose of the settlement of carefully selected families, taken from among the poor of Great Britain, let us say, a tract of 240,000 acres, or ten townships. I ask this question under the supposition that sufficient funds for such settlement can be provided under the auspices of the British Government, and that the selection of the settlers and the future management of the settlement can be provided for in a satisfactory and business-like manner. At the present stage I do not trouble you with details, but I shall be happy to meet you and give you any further information that you may require. I feel it my duty to make it clear to you that this com- munication is confidential, and written entirely upon my own responsibility, although I am not without hope that should your answer be in the affirmative, its results might prove both useful and important. I shall have to leave Ottawa on Monday next, at the latest, and I, therefore, make bold to ask that this letter may receive your present consideration. I need scarcely add that it will strengthen my hands if I am in a position to submit to the Imperial Government some such definite offer of land in Canada as I have outlined above. I am, etc., H. BiDEB Haqqabd. To the Bight Honourable Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Q.O.M.G., eto,, etc., etc. 32 THE POOE AND THE LAND No. 5. Government House, Ottawa, 13th AprU, 1905. My dear Sir Wilfeid, Me. Eidee Haggaed, who has received instructions from His Majesty's Government to investigate certain land settlements in the United States, and in the event of such settlements affording in his opinion an example vrhich can with advantage be reproduced elsewhere, to consult with me and the Dominion Government as to the opportunities in Canada for the estabhshment of similar settlements in the Dominion, has arrived here, and has shown me the confidential report he has prepared for Mr. Lyttelton. I have in accordance with your request inkoduced Mr. Eider Haggard to Mr. Sifton, and they have had a long talk. Mr. Eider Haggard has also, at my request, shown Mr. Sifton his confidential report. I have no hesitation in giving expression to my opinion that it is desirable in the interests both of Canada and of the United Kingdom that an effort should be made to apply to some of the unoccupied lands of the Dominion the methods of the settlements which have formed the subject of Mr. Haggard's report. I have asked Mr. Eider Haggard to write to you the letter which I have the honour to enclose. Mr. Eider Haggard is unfortunately compelled to leave Ottawa on Monday next, but perhaps it may be possible for you to give me some indication before he leaves as to the character of the co-operation which the Dominion Govern- ment may be willing to give to His Majesty's Government in a joint attempt to carry into effect a policy, which, if suc- cessful, cannot fail to be a great advantage to the Dominion. I have asked Mr. Sifton to join the dinner at which you will meet Mr. Eider Haggard to-morrow, Friday, and he has accepted. I remain, etc., Geey. THE POOR AND THE LAND 33 No. 6. Prime Minister's OflSoe, Canada, 10th April, 1905.' Deae Sib, I HAVE your favour of yesterday. I shall have much pleasure to discuss with you the project as to which you write to me. I regret that at this moment I cannot fix a day or hour for our meeting, but I am going to have the honour of dining with you this evening at Government House, and if then convenient, we will arrange for an interview. Yours respectfully, WiLFBID LAUEIEE. H. Bider Haggard, Esq., Government House. 1 This date should be 14th April, 1905.— H. B. H. 34 THE POOR AND THE LAND No. 7. Armadale, Ottawa, 16th April, 1905. My deae Sie, I HAVE given a good deal of thought during the last few days to your proposed scheme for placing deserving but impecunious people from the cities of Britain upon farms in Canada, and I am convinced that it offers the promise of success. As you know, I have expressed a favourable opinion to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and I am pleased to know that he has given a satisfactory assurance of support on the part of his Government, by placing the required area of land at your disposal. Given the land and a practicable system of selection and management, in regard to which you have the co-operation of the Salvation Army, than which no agency can be more efficient, the only thing remaining is the capital. It has occurred to me that possibly the British authorities might desire to have a small Committee or Board of Trustees, upon whom there would be one person known to have ex- perience jn dealing with this subject and familiar with settlement work in Canada. If it should be thought that I can be of any assistance as a member of such a Committee, I should be wilhng to serve at least for a time. I sincerely hope that if the matter takes serious shape you will be able to take an active part in the management. No one can carry out such a plan so well as the man who has conceived it and actually tested it by personal observation. I regard your scheme as an embodiment of the truest and best form of Imperial patriotism, because it is building for the future by helping to give a solid British basis to the population of our Great West. Wishing you every success, BeUeve me, etc., Clifford Sifton. H. Bider Haggard, Esq., Bideau Hall, Ottawa, Ontario. THE POOR AND THE LAND 35 No. 8. Government House, Ottawa, 17th April, 1905. My dbab Sie, I HAVE to acknowledge and heartily to thank you for your letter of yesterday's date. That, after full consideration, this project generally and my scheme for putting it into active and beneficent operation, should commend itself to a statesman of your experience and knowledge of all the conditions is, to me, another and a very valuable proof of its soundness. I think your suggestion as to the appointment of a Canadian Committee excellent, and I will, with gratitude, convey to the Imperial Government your offer to serve upon such a Committee. I thank you very sincerely for the kind expression of your views as regards myself and the future management of the scheme. I entirely agree with you that if this far-reaching project can be put into active and continuous operation, besides the immediate material benefits that must ensue, both to the settlers and the country in which they settle, it is likely, in the best possible fashion, to advance those objects that aU true Imperialists have at heart. Should the plan go through, I venture to hope that, after reflection, the Govemment of the Dominion will see its way to assisting in the matter of a guarantee of such portion of the necessary capital as would be expended in Canada. I am sure that if it did so matters would be much facilitated, both in the eyes of the Imperial Government and in those of pubhc opinion at home. Mr. Fielding, whom I had the honour of seeing yesterday, informed me that he intended to discuss this side of the problem with you. Again thanking you, Believe me, etc., H. EiDBE Haqqaed. To the Hon. Clifford Sifton, etc., etc., Ottawa. P.S. — ^I leave Ottawa for New York this afternoon, and sail per Majestic Wednesday. 3* 36 THE POOR AND THE LAND No. 9. Prime Minister's Offioe, Canada, Ottawa, 17th April, 1905. SlE, With reference to your favour of the 13th instant, I have the authority of His Excellency the Governor-General in Council to inform you that the Government of Canada win be prepared, at any time, to set aside ten townships for the object set forth in your letter. In the townships so reserved, the policy of the Government wiU be to give a free homestead to any person selected by yourself or any commissioner appointed by His Majesty's Government, on the sole consideration that the conditions of settlement prescribed by the laws of Canada be complied with. It should be understood immediately that the school lands and the lands of the Hudson Bay Company will not be sub- ject to entry by the settlers, but will have to be disposed of or acquired according to law. Should the experiment be successful, I have no doubt that the Government will be disposed to set aside other tracts of lands under similar conditions. The selection of the land will be left altogether to the judgment of the com- missioner appointed by His Majesty's Government, but the Canadian Government will deem it their duty to place at the disposal of the commissioner the services of all their agents in the North-West Territories, to assist in the selection of such lands. The Government of Canada is satisfied that if a proper class of settlers be secured, such a scheme as you have in mind ought to be completely successful, and they venture to hope that you wiU be allowed to carry it to completion. Believe me, etc., WiLPEiD Laukibe. E. Bider Haggard, Esq., Ottawa. THE POOR AND THE LAND 37 No. 10. Govemment House, Ottawa, 17th April, 1905. SlE, I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of to-day's date. I thank you and your Government for the most kind consideration, which under the authority of His Excellency the Governor-General in Council, you have been pleased to give to the matters which I have brought before you by letter and in personal conference. I appreciate to the full the liberaUty of the offer which you have made, and I wiU at once lay the same before the Imperial Government. I am indeed glad to learn that the Government of Canada is satisfied that if a proper class of settlers is secured, such a scheme as I have in my mind ought to be completely successful. I wish to return to them also my sincere per- sonal gratitude for the hope which they express that I may be allowed to carry it to completion. I regret that I cannot write at greater length, as I should have wished to do, since I am just leaving for New York, in order to sail for England. I am, etc., H. EiDBB Haggard, Commissioner. The Eight Honourable Sir WUfrid Laurier, Q.O.M.G., etc., etc., etc. 38 THE POOR AND THE LAND No. 11. EEMAEKS ON THE FOET EOMIE COLONY OP THE SALVATION AEMY IN CALIFOENIA, U.S.A. 1. I arrived at Fort Eomie on the 26th of March, and spent the 27th and 28th in investigating that Colony and all the circumstances connected with its origin, progress and population. 2. Fort Eomie, that has a gross area of 520 acres, which is shortly to be added to by a further purchase of 170 acres, lies between two ranges of hiUs, the Gabilan to the east and the Santa Lucia to the west, part of the mountain system known as the Coast Eanges of California. It is situated four miles from the railway station at Soledad, a hamlet on the Southern Pacific Line, distant about 150 miles from San Francisco. 3. The valley between these two ranges of hills is flat in character, and its soil is a beautiful light loam, which ap- pears to average about fifteen feet in depth, that has been washed down from the mountains, and levelled in past ages by the action of the river. As the country here is arid, that is to say, the rainfall is slight and uncertain, the goodness has never been leached or washed out of this soil, which thus retains its primseval fertility. It is so rich that, given a sufficiency of water, the addition of any manure is held to be superfluous ; at least crop after crop are taken without this aid. Doubtless, however, a time must come when fertilisers wiU be necessary, or, in place of them, very deep ploughing. 4. Over the whole area of the Colony are dotted a number of neat wooden cottages, or homesteads, and the view of it surveyed from the western foot-hills is singularly charming in its rural peace. The vivid green of the springing crops, and especially of the Alfalfa, or Lucerne fields, and the numerous grazing cattle and horses, give, moreover, an im- pression of very considerable agricultural prosperity. 5. The history of the Fort Eomie Colony is, in brief, as follows : — In the year 1898 Commander Booth Tucker, of the Salva- tion Army, in conjunction with a Committee of the San CHILDREN AT PlrAY, POET KOMIE. PENEEAL VIEW OF FORT ROMIE. THE POOE AND THE LAND 39 Francisco Chamber of Commerce, took steps which resulted in the purchase of Fort Eomie by the Salvation Army. The exact circumstances connected with this movement will be found in the annexed document, marked 12, which is an attested report of a formal interview between myself and various officers of the Salvation Army, where they are set out in detail. The land having been purchased at a price of $26,000, or £5,200 sterling, eighteen families dravro from indigent people in San Francisco were settled upon it, in the hope that there they would be able to earn their livehhoods and estabUsh homes. The result was an utter failure ; of those eighteen famiUes but one remains at Fort Eomie to-day. The others have all returned to the city, leaving the Salvation Army losers to the extent of $27,000, or about £5,400, most of which was spent in supporting the settlers and in the beginning of a costly system of irrigation. 6. At first sight this fact would seem to crush the life out of any hopes that may have been entertained as to the possibility of setthng such folk upon the land, but as a matter of fact in this instance it is capable of a simple and complete explanation. At that time Fort Eomie was quite insufficiently and irregularly irrigated; what is known as " dry land," that is soil more or less dependent upon rainfall to support its crops. Now the three years following the introduction of the San Francisco settlers were years of drought. Little could be grown, and like their own stock, the settlers starved, as, under the conditions, I think, they must have starved had they been the most skilled agriculturists in the world. At the least they found husbandry so un- remunerative that they were glad to forsake it, even for the city tenements which they had left. This serious reverse, therefore, proves nothing as to the possibihty or otherwise of settling persons from the towns upon the land ; it leaves the .wkple cfUjestion very much where it was. , ' 7. Their failure notwithstandingi ; the authorities of the Salvation Army determined to begin again on new lines. They arranged for the further irrigation of the land with water brought from the Aroya Seco by the Monterey Water 40 THE POOE AND THE LAND Company, and, at such seasons as this fails, by completing a supplementary system which enables water to be raised from the Salinas Eiver by means of a steam pumping plant, which plant is now the property of the Colonists. 8. Then they selected more settlers, practically destitute men most of them, but persons accustomed to the land, being generally somewhat of the same class as our British agricultural labourers. To these men the land was sold under contract at $100, or £20 sterUng, the acre, plus the cost of any improvements, such as buildings, that might exist upon each twenty-acre lot. 9. This purchase-money was made payable in equal annual instalments, spread over a period of twenty years, to which was added interest on deferred payments at the rate of 5 per cent. Further, chattels, such as horses, stock, implements, etc., were sold to the colonists upon a five-year system, under which the price of them was payable in equal annual instalments, to which is added interest upon all un- paid balances at the rate of 6 per cent, per aimum. 10. To guard itself against loss also, the Army took a mortgage or some analogous security, over all live and dead stock thus provided. It was further agreed that no title should be given to the land until all payments were com- pleted, and that any settler who neglected to fulfil his obli- gations could be ejected after notice, and his land and all upon it seized to satisfy his debt. 11. Such are the circumstances and conditions under which the second settlement of Fort Eomie was effected about four years ago. I will now sum up the results as they appear to me to-day ^^- Not to mince matters, the ex- periment has proved a greai success. It is true, although a quarter of jit is now owing, that, in most instances, but a smaU propprtioii of ,the priqe of the land has as yet been paid by its pWchaisers. : 12] For this, however, the reason is that the authorities of the Salvation Army. ha vb thought it more expedient and advantageous to all concerned to allow the instalments to stand (of course, Subject to the 5 per cent, interest), where- by the colonists are enabled to invest the amount of them in the purchase of stock and generally in improving their condition, than to demand payment upon the specified dates. THE POOR AND THE LAND 41 The truth is that they have no cause for anxiety. The value of their security is increasing yearly, as wiU be seen by the annexed documents and valuations. Also should any one of the settlers die or elect to leave, or wish to sell, his " equity," that is the balance of what he owns after satisfying aU his debt to the Salvation Army and others, would fetch more than the sum total of his obligations. Indeed, this was admitted to me by several of the men themselves, as may be seen by reference to the brief sum- maries of conversations I had with them, that I append hereto. 13. These conversations also wUl give some idea of the remarkable contentment and, indeed, of the gratitude which I have found characteristic of the settlers on Port Eomie. " I praise the Lord every day of my life that we had the chance to come here," said one woman to me, and, in varying degrees, that seemed to be the spirit of them aU. Nor is this wonderful when it is remembered that these folk, nearly every one of them, who a few years ago were in the position of day labourers, are now for the most part on the highway to considerable prosperity, and abeady possess happy homes, healthy famihes, pleasant surroundings and a sufficiency upon which to live. 14. With three or four exceptions of individuals, who for some reason or other were absent from the Colony, but who, I have ascertained, are all doing weU, I personally interviewed every settler, most of them upon their farms. I am, therefore, in a position to state that such is their fortunate case ; not from one of them did I hear a single grumble. Further, I visited the school, and there saw their fifty or sixty children, all of them weU-fed, well-clothed and full of health. 15. It comes to this, therefore, that it would be difficult to find a better instance of the advantage of skilfuUy managed land settlement for the benefit of persons without capital than that which is offered by Fort Eomie, in CaUfornia. Indeed, I doubt if such another one exists. 16. It is, however, easy to foresee that in the future certain difficulties may arise. Thus, when the Salvation Army claims are all paid off, as I believe they wiU be, and the colonists stand upon their own feet, a salutary and 42 THE POOR AND THE LAND gentle guiding influence will, of necessity, be more or less withdrawn from them. Also with prosperity will come the desire for more land, and, at present at any rate, but little more land is available, although already some of the settlers are hiring summer grazing runs upon the hiUs. Also as their children grow up they will want farms, and be unable to get them. These are points, however, which can be faced when they arise. Meanwhile the latter two of them suggest that, where it is possible, there should be spare ground around such settlements which can be taken up when it is needed. 17. The lesson to be learned from this example is, that given first-class and accessible land with reaUy good facilities for irrigation, and given the Salvation Army, or some similar Body, to manage it, from charitable motives and not for profit ; given, too, sufSoient capital and trained discretion on the part of the managers, the settlement of persons of the class of the present colonists at Fort Eomie can be carried on indefinitely with an excellent prospect of success. 18. As well might be expected, the extraordinary advan- tages that such a system offers to people with no capital beyond their hands and their families have already become noised abroad, with the result that for any vacant lot the Salvation Army is overwhelmed by scores of applications. It would seem, indeed, as though, had they the money and the will, they could at once easily find sufficient folk in the United States alone to settle another ten or twenty thousand acres. 19. To argue, however, from this instance that all settle- ments everywhere must prove equally successful would be very dangerous. 20. To begin with, in the United States, if it can be de- livered on them at reasonable rates, the markets for produce are generally excellent, although here also railways charge high, and commission agents are often exorbitant. Again, as was shown by the fate of the unlucky settlers from San Francisco, water must be available in plenty, either in the shape of an assured rainfall, which has the advantage over irrigation that it costs nothing, or in that of irrigation, which has the advantage over rainfall that it can always be turned on when wanted. Still, there are doubtless many places within the borders THE POOR AND THE LAND 43 of the British Empire where all these conditions can be fulfiUed. 21. Here I should state that, as is always the case where " small holders " abound, co-operation is beginning to get a hold in Port Eomie. Thus, on the future town-site, about 200 yards from the irrigation canal, a large co-operative store has been estabhshed, whereof the profits are divided among the members on the usual principle. 22. I visited this store and saw Mr. Vanderburg, the manager, who was formerly State Senator of Oregon. He informed me that it was doing well and was aheady sup- ported by most of the colonists. Attached to it is a butcher's shop, where meat grazed upon the colony is sold. Also there were cases of eggs which had been taken in exchange for groceries, etc., and are traded off to San Francisco. This store was only opened on the 24th of May, 1904, since which time the volume of its business has doubled. It is now, I understand, in a position to pay a dividend of between 5 and 10 per cent. 23. Perhaps I should add that I ascertained that the Salvation Army places no religious pressure upon the colonists and enforces no religious tests. If the settlers or their families choose to attend the Army meetings, of course its Authorities are glad, otherwise they are not pressed so to do. Various reUgious denominations appear to be represented in the community, which includes Protestants of sundry sects, and also members of the Eoman Cathohc Faith. But whilst it refrains from active spiritual interference, the efforts of the representatives of the Salvation Army are devoted to the promotion of brotherly kindness in every shape and to the fostering of an atmosphere of mutual support and help. 24. In conclusion, from the sworn figures furnished and the statements made to me, it appears that the present financial condition of the Fort Eomie Colony is as follows : The Salvation Army incurred a loss upon the first settlement of about $27,000, or £5,400, while the second settlement shows them to have a surplus in their favour of about $6,000, or £1,200. The colonists have an " equity," that is, a surplus of assets over all liabilities, of above $41,000, or about £8,300, that is an average of something over $2,000, or £400 each. 44 THE POOR AND THE LAND The Salvation Army has expended " for the purchase of land and for the establishment and maintenance of the Colony" $64,000, or about £12,500, to which must be added the loss incurred in the first abortive settlement of $27,000, or £5,400, say, nearly £18,000 in all. Per contra the values of land, improvements, live stock, outfit, etc., is appraised at $113,280, or nearly £23,000, most of which increment, however, goes to the colonists. 25. Under these circumstances I am of opinion that the settlers should have been charged a somewhat higher price for their land; sufficient indeed to allow a margin for incidental and unforeseen expenses (which must otherwise be written off as a loss), and yet leave to them a good profit. What this exact price should be can only be determined by experience, and the individual circumstances surrounding each Settlement. H. EiDEE Hagqaed, Commissioner. THE POOE AND THE LAND 45 No. 12. NOTES OF AN INTEEVIBW BETWEEN COMMIS- SIONEE H. EIDEE HAGGAED AND VAEIOUS OPFIOEES OF THE SALVATION AEMY. The questions were put by the Commissioner, and unless otherwise specified, the answers were given by Colonel Holland. The Fort Romie Colony, 27th March, 1905. Before starting to inspect the Colony, the following con- versation took place. The names of the persons present are as follows, viz., Colonel Thomas Holland, Staff-Captain Hamon, Colonel French, Mr. E. CaygiU (the Commissioner's Secretary), Staff-Captain Erickson, Staff-Captain Wright (the Commissioner's stenographer), and Miss Angela E. Haggard (the Commissioner's Private Secretary). Q. In what year was the Colony started ? A. In the spring of 1898. Q. What is the acreage ? A. 520 acres gross, including roads and waterways. Q. Whom did you buy it from ? A. Mr. Charles Eomie. Q. Was he a farmer here ? A. No ; not an actual farmer, but a prominent landowner in this district. Q. Was it unimproved then ? A. No ; it had been farmed as a dry farm up to the time of our purchase, and had three ranches on it. Q. What price was paid for it ? A. $26,000 for the whole thmg (say £6,200). Q. Was that money left on mortgage ? A. A small amount was paid down at the time, the balance was left on mortgage, but this balance has since been liquidated. Except for the Salvation Army's private financial arrangements with its bondholders, which in vary- ing degree affect all our business interests in the United States, the land is clear. 46 THE POOR AND THE LAND Q. Just give me your history of this Colony briefly ; the system which has been followed, the people you have got ; your failures and situation generally. A. Just prior to the establishment of this Colony or any of our Colonies in the United States, this country was in a very demoralised condition, in consequence of business depression. As a means of relief. Commander Booth Tucker propounded his "landless man to the manless land" pro- position, the essence of his plan being summed up in the following manner, viz. : " put the waste labour on the waste land by means of the waste capital, and thus convert this trinity of waste into a unity of production ". At the request of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce he, Commander Booth Tucker, explained his plan to the members thereof, who were so impressed with its practic- ability that they appointed a committee of co-operation to assist the Salvation Army in the establishment of a Colony in this State of CaUfornia. As a result of the joint endeavours of Commander Booth Tucker and the Chamber of Commerce Committee, a small beginning was made in the Salinas Valley on the land referred to as above, and now known as Fort Eomie. Unfortunately for the parties interested and the scheme, the beginning was made just on the threshold of a drought, which lasted for three years, and which devastated agri- cultural conditions throughout the arid portion of the State. In the general loss and disappointment which this entailed, we were very unfortunate participators. The question will naturally arise in your mind as to whether we should suffer similarly in the event of another drought presenting itself. To this I would say that our facilities for irrigating have since then been so perfected as to practically safeguard us against any such contingency. We started with eighteen pioneer families — a total of about seventy-five souls — all drawn from city folk, and most of whom were " out-of-works ". Because of conditions arising from the drought they really did not have a fighting chance, and not knowing how long that state of affairs would last they gave up their allotments and returned to the city. I must impress upon you, however, Mr. Com- missioner, that these conditions were absolutely abnormal, THE POOR AND THE LAND 47 since, even if sucli a drought should recur, we are now able to meet it with improved water facilities. Q. Supposing the seasons had been normal and you had had at that time your present water supply, do you think those famiUes would have failed and have departed ? A. I see no reason why they should not have succeeded and done nearly as well as the colonists who followed them. The start of our Colonisation -Scheme, as it now appears, reaUy dates, therefore, with the present batch of settlers, the most of whom came in the spring of 1901. Q. Who were those men — I mean to what class did they belong ? A. With one or two exceptions, they were all poor men hving in this district, and their position was somewhat ana- logous to that of the British agricultural labourer. In almost every instance they were men without capital. We selected them because they were farmers by profession and thoroughly understood the peculiar conditions to which they were sub- ject. The high price of the land and the difficulties attendant upon the development of our water supply were such as made us feel that such a type of man as I have described was necessary to the successful operation of the Colony. In this respect Fort Eomie differs from Fort Amity, whose colonists were largely drawn from the cities and were in every case men without capital. The present number of colonists comprises twenty famiEes, holding an average of twenty acres each. No colonist accepted since 1901 has left the Colony. There were two famihes who came in with the intention of beeomiag colonists, but they withdrew again without putting in a crop, and one other man left in consequence of serious ill-health, which rendered the climate unsuitable to him. What these colonists have done will, of course, be shown by their individual balance sheets, which have been prepared for your inspection, and on appraisements made by two independent and disinterested valuators and properly certified. From these you will observe that the amount of money paid in on their accounts by the colonists is comparatively small. We have not worried about this, however, because we found that these people, starting without capital, had to spend what money their farms would produce in the purchase 48 THE POOE AND THE LAND of cattle, implementa, etc., and in the improving of their lands and buildings, so as to warrant the prospect of their being able to do better as a result. The balance sheets re- ferred to show that most of the colonists have a very gratifying " equity " in their property. By " equity " I mean the difference between their property in the land, with the stock, crops, buildings and outfit, and the amount which they owe to the Salvation Army or to any other creditor. Q. That is satisfactory as far as it goes, but I want you to explain to me what is the exact system under which these men are located on the land ; what are their obliga- tions and their rights, and is the Colony run as a business proposition, from which the Salvation Army expects to make no loss, if, indeed, it does not make a profit, or is it run as a charity? A. The land was sold to colonists under contract at $100 pet acre, to which was added any cost of improvements upon the land in the shape of buildings, this amount to be paid in equal annual instalments, spread over a period of twenty years, with interest at 5 per cent, on deferred payments. Chattels, consisting of cows, horses, implements, waggons, etc., are sold on a five-year instalment plan, payable in equal annual instalments, instalments being spread over each year equally, and with interest on all unpaid balances at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum. In selling movable chattels of this description, we insure ourselves against loss by taking a mortgage upon the animals and articles sold. Q. Have you ever had any occasion to foreclose one of these mortgages ? A. No ; never on this Colony. Subject to the discharge of their duty towards the Salva- tion Army, the colonists are as much freeholders as any other persons who have purchased estates, but should they fail to fulfil those obUgations, they can, after due notice being given, be dispossessed, and the land, and all they have on it, be taken to satisfy their debt. As regards the last part of your question, Mr. Commis- sioner, I answer, that the Colony is certainly run as a business proposition by the Salvation Army, and not as a charity. The Army does not expect, and cannot afford, to make losses upon these schemes, whioh are undertaken THE POOR AND THE LAND 49 by the Salvation Army in a spirit of philanthropy, it is true, but with the object of inculcating the principles of self-support by assisting indigent persons to become owners of homes and lands, and independent and seH-supporting citizens. Q. Well, Colonel, after these years of experience, how far do you consider those objects have been attained on Fort Eomie. A. I should add that, speaking broadly, none of the ex- penses of management are borne by the colonists or the Colonies. These are given to the scheme by the Salvation Army as a part of their philanthropic work. Q. I quite understand, but I should like you to tell me what, upon another basis, namely, that of the ordinary remuneration paid to managers of land in this country, would the charges of running this Colony actually amount to per annum. A. Say $2,000 (about £400 per annum), to which must be added small incidental expenses, say another $500. Of course, however, you must understand that our scale of payments to our own people are not based upon those of the current wages of those countries in which they may happen to be serving, but upon what is considered sufficient for their mere support in the work in which they may be engaged. Thus, in the case of the Fort Eomie Colony, the Manager's remuneration does not exceed haH the amount I have mentioned, out of which he has to support his wife and family. Q. With reference to the question I put to you just now, have you now any fears of the Colony as a business pro- position ? A. No, Sir ; the land has been so improved by settlement and its value so increased by the irrigation works that we have constructed, that what we purchased at $50 per acre could now be readily sold at from $100 to $150 per acre, in accordance with its position and improvements. Q. (The Commissioner to the Manager, Staff-Captain Brickson) : Does your opinion coincide vnth that of Colonel Holland? A. Yes ; most fully. Q. (The Commissioner to the company assembled) : Have 4 50 THE POOR AND THE LAND any of you other gentlemen anything to take exception to in the evidence which has been given, or to add to it ? A. Staff-Captain Hamon : I think it could be supple- mented by saying that we have acquired here in this effort and example a valuable fund of experience, which will stand us in good stead on a larger scale in other states or countries. For colonist purposes, that is with the object in view of assisting the poor man to become the owner of a home upon the land, I do not consider it a good plan for the Army to acquire high-priced land. If the Army does so it will assuredly heap upon the colonist a burden almost too heavy for him to bear. In my opinion, cheaper land, if good, such as can be obtained in many parts of the world, would serve our purposes just as well, and in some ways much better. A. Staff-Captain Erickson : A man with previous farm- ing experience is far more desirable as a colonist than one without it. Q. Do you mean by that it is your opinion that this principle cannot be applied to any persons taken from towns, even although they may have originally come from the land ? A. Staff-Captain Erickson : No ; what I mean to say is this, that a person with some farming experience, or some connection with the land, is better quahfied as a colonist. A. Colonel Holland : I agree with Staff-Captain Brick- son, that if a man has had prior experience on a farm, that he possesses an advantage over the man without that experience. But it has been proved that men who are so ignorant of farm Ufe as not to know the difference be- tween a plough and a harrow have shown themselves to be amongst our most successful agriculturists. Q. Where? A. At Fort Amity, Colorado. This not only applies to the men, but to theu: wives and children. In fact, on this line I would like to say that after seven years' experience with this work, I have yet to meet the first person — man, woman, or child — who had been brought on to the Colonies from the city who had any desire to return thereto. Q. You except, I presume, those colonists who, after a three years' drought, went back from this Colony, Fort Eomie, to San Francisco ? THE POOR AND THE LAND 61 A. No, Sir; I do not. They did not return to the city because they were tired of the country, but because the un- fortunate abnormal natural conditions already referred to made it impossible for them to remain. Q. You mean that they were starved out and had to go, whether they liked it or not ? A. Yes ; and naturally they went to where they had associations and thought they might find employment. A. Staff-Captain Hamon : I may add, Mr. Commissioner, that in the settlement of colonists, it does not follow that the operations on a large scale would necessitate putting on poor city people only. Thus, in forming a settlement the poor city men might be located on lots 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6, and on lot 3, in the centre, might be placed the person experi- enced in agriculture. This system might be pursued until the lesson had been learned by the help and experience gained, and we could deal with city folks in blocks. What is needed in the initial stages of operation are " pace-setters " and examples. Q. Why did you select such expensive land ? A. The active participation of the Chamber of Commerce, in San Francisco, was with a view to the establishment of a Colony in this State for the benefit of its own citizens. All land in Cahfornia, capable of irrigation, is high priced, and what we purchased in the Salinas Valley, notwithstanding its high price, was a cheap proposition from a commercial standpoint. The purchase has justified itself by the fact that the land could now be sold at twice the amount of money which we paid for it. At the same time, I quite agree with Staff-Captain Hamon that the colonising of city poor should not be undertaken on high-priced lands, because the large amount of debt that a settler has to face from the start makes his acquirement of a freehold look so far from him that he is apt to get discouraged, and so the obUgation is too much for him. Such a condition is the more liable to occur because of the comparatively heavy interest charges that he is forced to meet. Since an abimd- ance of cheap land can be obtained in this and other countries, I am thoroughly at one with Staff-Captain Hamon in his view that future colonisation should be carried out on cheap lauds ; that is so far as the British Colonies and the United 4* 52 THE POOE AND THE LAND States are concerned. If such land were selected in rain- belt districts, it would be so much the better, especially if it were in a timber region, where the cost of buUding material and fuel would be reduced to the minimum. A. Staff-Captain Erickson : I cannot quite agree with Colonel Holland's opinion. I feel that there are certain advantages in an irrigated district : — 1. The smaller area required. 2. A closer settlement, and 3. A community of interests which cannot as readily be obtained elsewhere. Q. Why cannot a community of interest be obtained ? A. Staff-Captain Erickson : Because irrigation necessi- tates a certain amount of co-operation among those who avail themselves of it. A. Staff-Captain Hamon : I think that it is a bad state of affairs if a community of interest does not prevail in every department of such ventures as that under consideration. I consider a community of interests a condition of success, and more particularly so where the area settled is consider- able. Q. You are, aU. of you, gentlemen of experience in this matter. Is it your opinion that supposing suitable land and sufficient funds are forthcoming to settle the same, that colonists who would make a success of the venture would also be forthcoming in sufficient number, taken from the poor of the English cities, subject, of course, to the con- dition that such poor were carefully selected and had more or less knowledge of, or connection with, the land ? A. I should say unhesitatingly, yes, to almost an un- limited extent, and that the result would be the successful settlement of large numbers of people, and to some extent the relieving of the congestion of cities. N.B. — (The other gentlemen present all agreed with Colonel Holland in his remarks.) The conversation then came to an end. H. ElDBB Haggaed, Commissioner. Thomas Holland. Nels a. Ebioeson. Alfbed Hamon. THE POOK AND THE LAND 53 These answers were given to me by Colonel Holland and Staff-Captain Eriokson on a subsequent date. H. EiDEE Haggaed. 8tli April, 1905. Statement made by Colonel Thomas Holland and Staff- Captain N. A. Bhiokson relative to the Fort Eomie Colony. Q. What is the present financial condition of the Colony ? A. The value of land and improvements, live-stock, outfit, etc., is appraised at $113,280.00. The Salvation Army has expended for the purchase of land and for the establishment and maintenance of the Colony in round figures $64,000. To this expenditure should be added a loss of approximately $27,000 occasioned by the failure of the plan during the first years ; the reasons for this failure being given elsewhere. Q. Are you solvent ? A. Yes, fully, as regards the present condition of the Colony ; if, however, the above-mentioned loss of $27,000 is included, there would be a deficit of approximately $21,000. The value of land, outfit, etc., still held by the Salvation Army is valued at $18,500 ; the indebtedness of the colonists to the Salvation Army, including water plant, is $51,654.99. Total $70,154.99. Q. In the event of sale, would you recover all that you have spent ? A. Yes, with the exception of the loss incurred during the first years. Q. Would the colonists receive all that they have spent ? A. Yes, and a great deal more. Q. Would there be anything over, either in the Army's pocket or for the colonists ? A. Decidedly, yes. The colonists hold property appraised at $94,780, on which they owe the Salvation Army and sundry debtors $52,819.20, leaving them an equity of $41,960.80, an average of over $2,000 each. The Salvation Army assets are sufficient to cover all its expenditure for the Colony (except the loss on the first 54 THE POOR AND THE LAND year's operations), and leave a surplus of approximately $6,000. Q. What did you pay for the land ? A. $26,000.00. Q. What is its present value with improvements ? A. $95,205. Q. What would the Colony fetch as a going concern ? A. This question I cannot answer. I assume the value of the appraisers is correct, and on this basis the Colony, including land, buildings, improvements, live-stock, equip- ment, etc., would bring $113,280. Q. Have you obtained any outside valuation ? A. An appraisement has been made by two competent and disinterested persons, duly sworn to and submitted herewith. Thomas Holland. Nbls a. Eeickson. THE POOR AND THE LAND 55 No. 13. NOTES OF INTBEVIEWS WITH COLONISTS, FOET EOMIB COLONY. 27th and 28th March, 1905. Equity, $3,311, or about £662. Thomas Beyant : — A colonist for four years. Had been raising stock ; also has a team of horses which he hires out. He pastures his calves on the hiUs, which he can do for 25 cents per head a month. Has a wife and four children, and was well satisfied with the prospects. He had paid $1,000 on his place to Army, and got home well fixed. Had spent over $500 recently on house, etc. ; had twenty-seven head of cattle ; reckoned his land, house, cattle, etc., were worth at least $4,000 ; but he would not take that amount and seU out. He owed the Army $1,800; so an estimate of $4,000 (a price he would not take) showed his " equity " at $2,200. He was well pleased with the Colony, and the system by which he had bought his homestead. He did not suppose he would have ever owned a home or anything had it not been for the Army. Equity, $859, or about £172. Me. a. C. Cable : — Came to Eomie two years ago ; was raised on a farm, but was working in a factory before coming to the Colony. He had no capital. On the contrary, he then owed $30. Believed it was a great blessing to him, getting the opportunity of acquiring a home at Eomie. He intended to settle permanently on the place. He felt sure he would get on weU. Had been raising potatoes and chickens, and intended extending his operations on these lines. Equity, $879, or about £176. C. M. HoDQES : — Came here about two years ago. He appeared to be about fifty-five or sixty years of age ; beyond the limit, one would imagine, from which colonists should be selected. He 56 THE POOE AND THE LAND said he had been a schoolmaster, but has also done a little farming. Did not do particularly well last year, as he had been a little late in planting his potatoes which were his prin- cipal crop. He was sure he was going to do much better this season. He brought no capital with him to Eomie, though he had a little stock, that, however, had not much value. He was very glad he had come to Eomie ; he preferred his present position infinitely to working for wages, which he surely would have been doing had the Army not given him this opportunity. He had five children — two boys and three girls. Equity, $995, or about £199. Me. C. H. Hume : — Said he had been at Eomie two years, and was farm- ing 20 acres ; had had a little experience in farming before coming here. Had made no repayments upon land as yet, but would soon commence doing so. He thought he was getting on "very fair," and was "well satisfied" that he had come here. Was going to put 12 acres in potatoes this year. He believed this would pay as well as anything. Six tons could be grown from one acre, and the same would bring from $80 to $90 per acre. He was quite satisfied with his bargain at Eomie, and expected to be able to pay for his place within five or six years. Equity, $1,274, or about £255. Mrs. Johnson: — A widow of one of the late colonists ; said since her husband's death she had rented out nine of the twelve acres constituting her farm. Before her husband came to Eomie he farmed a place he owned on the hills. This she sold since his death for $2,000. She was getting along very nicely, indeed. "Was renting out the nine acres for $112 per annum, which more than paid for instalments and interest due upon the land to the Salvation Army. The remaining three acres were sufficient for her cow and chicken raising, which she found very profitable. She appreciated the new arrangement made with the Army since her husband's death, which gave her the privilege of staying on the Colony and bringing up her three fatherless children. THE POOR AND THE LAND 57 Equity, $1,270, or about £254. M. Bdb Haeding : — Mr. Harding has been on the Colony six years this winter ; before coming here he lived on a " squat " of 160 acres of dry land. He brought no capital with him, ex- cepting a pair of horses, a cow and calf. He now declares himself quite satisfied with his progress. He is the owner of some fifteen cows, which bring him in from $40 to $75 a month. Last month he realised $71 net from ten cows. He considers his property worth $4,000, everything included. He stiU owes the Army $2,300. Mr. Harding said: "I am glad I came. I could never have got along so well with any one else (referring to the Salvation Army). I don't think there is another company on earth who would have helped me in the same way." Equity, $2,339, or about £468. Mb. Eobeet Mitchell : — Mr. Mitchell had been here four years. He was a Salvation Army Of&cer, and employed in the printing works at San Francisco ; he had also some experience in farming. When he came he had nothing but borrowed money. He stated that he was getting along very weU now, but, owing to an -accident, had broken his leg, which had been a great drawback to him and lost him a year's work. In the first place he bought ever3rthing from the Army, and has paid back some $655. He still owes $2,800, and values his land, stock, etc., at $5,000. Mr. Mitchell said: "I am very glad I came here. I have been with the Army ever since I was ' saved ' eight or nine years ago. I did a good day's work when I took this venture. I am satisfied with my prospects ; I could not have got such a start if the Army had not been behind me and loaned me the money. I am now in a posi- tion to make my payments as they fall due." Equity, $2,261, or about £452. Me. C. E. Babtschen : — A German Swiss, with a family of seven children, was a dairyman, and has been on the Colony four years. He owns 58 THE POOR AND THE LAND a neat house and home, with orchard, containing apple, peach and pear trees in good condition. He has ten cows of Dutch blood, and stated that he is doing well. On his stock he has paid off about $350 to the Army, and he values the whole of his possession at $4,500, and, as near as he can say, still owes $2,700. When he came he had $525 capital, and said as far as he could see this was his only chance of becoming the owner of a home and property, as no one else would push him and give him a chance. Before this he was a hired dairyman in the employ of the Salvation Army. Mr. Baetschen grinds his com with the wind machine that pumps his water. Equity, |6,700, or about £1,340. Me. M. Mathbson : — Mr. Matheson is by birth a Dane. He was not at home, but I saw his place which was purchased by him from the Army within two years for $4,650 for 29 acres and the improvements thereon. Previous to this the land had been in the hands of the Salvation Army. The man lived in this neighbourhood, and, therefore, knew the value of land here. He paid for his property outright. We met Mr. Matheson a little later. He stated that he was satisfied with his pros- pects, and considers the land as good as is to be had ; he thinks it will subsequently be worth $400 per acre. He paid $155 per acre for it, and declared he would not take $200 for it to-day. Mr. Matheson has a family of six chUdren. Equity, $4,394, or about £879. Me. Lindsteand : — A Finn by birth, who had a very tidy place, with nice house and pretty little garden, good windmill and cis- tern, also a small orchard vrith well-grown trees, and was in the course of erecting a fine wooden bam. He is the sole survivor of the batch of settlers who were starved out by the three years' drought. Originally he was a car conductor in San Francisco. He stated that he had been at Eomie nearly eight years, that he had a wife and two children, and held THE POOR AND THE LAND 59 20 acres of land; that he had lived through the bad time (the drought) because he "held on," whilst the others went away too soon. He had paid off about half of his indebted- ness to the Army, and reckoned his house, stock, land and implements to be worth at least $4,000. He said that he still owed $900 to the Army. Eecently he had received $1,000 left him by a relative, and with this amount he had paid off his land, etc. He considered himself a fortunate man in getting to Eomie ; he thought he had done very well, and believed there were brighter prospects for the future. He said the new barn which he was putting up would cost him $300. Note. — I went into Mr. Linstrand's house, which seemed full of comforts, and contained, among other things, a bicycle and phonograph. Also here were stored doors and other materials to be used in a proposed addition to the dwelling. — H. E. H. Equity, $846, or about £169. Me. a. D. James : — Stated that he had been at Eomie four years. He brought no capital, excepting $175. He wanted a home, and hearing of this Colony made application. He had not much stock, as he was " getting on his feet ". He had 20 acres. He had not paid anything off his land yet, but had met instalments due on Uve stock. He thought the value of his stock and land with improvements consider- ably exceeded the amount of his indebtedness to the Salva- tion Army. He had a five-roomed house, which he took over at a valuation of $300, including a windmill and barn. Mr. James said he was glad he had come to the Colony, and he looked forward to making a success of his holding and was quite satisfied with the arrangement he had made with the Army. He had two children at home, who are getting big enough to be of some help. Mr. James said, in conclusion, that he would not take $1,000 for his " equity," that is, if any one were to offer to pay all his indebtedness to the Salvation Army and give him $1,000 he would not accept it. 60 THE POOK AND THE LAND Equity, $1,757, or about £351. Me. W. J. Scott : — Said he came to the Colony four years ago. Previ- ously he had been farming on a small scale, and sometimes working out. He had no capital when he arrived, except- ing $30, and a team of two horses. He considers he has been doing " first-rate " at Eomie. He has, as yet, paid off no charges on land, but a proportion of his debt on the Hve stock. He owned thirteen cows, eight calves and fifty-six head of hogs, a span of horses and his crops. He valued the whole lot at $3,500, and he owes the Salvation Army $2,700, and is, therefore, $800 to the good. He was per- fectly satisfied with his position and very glad he came to Bomie. He had a wife and one boy. Equity, $3,198, or about £639. Mes. Handley : — Wife of Samuel Handley, who was absent from holne, said that her husband had been in the occupation four years, and that they had six children. They farm 20 acres. At first they grew potatoes and beans, but now raise stock. They had in all seventy-four head of cattle, which they fed by renting a place upon the hills in addition to their land upon the Colony. When they came they were without cap- ital, " unless children could be called capital ". Also one year they lost almost everything by fire, including their waggon, hay, chickens, etc., etc. They were now getting on "fine". They expected to have land and stock paid for in two years' time, and to be quite clear of debt. Up to the present they had repaid nothing, as aU the earnings had gone into the purchase of stock. Mrs. Handley stated, in answer to a question which the Commissioner put to her as to whether she was glad she came to the Colony : " I praise the Lord every day of my life that we had the chance to come here ". She added that formerly her husband worked upon the rail- road. Note. — I saw this woman's husband on the following day, and had a long conversation with him. He more than confirmed all her statements. — H. E. H. THE POOE AND THE LAND 61 Equity, $100, or about £20. Al. Eoddick said : — " I have only recently come to the Colony and have taken up 12 acres, upon which I raise chickens. Formerly I worked in the woods. I brought no capital with me. I propose to build a house. I have taken the land upon the ordinary terms, but agree to pay off the cost in twelve years. My land, which is dry land, cannot be irri- gated, and on that account is very suitable for chicken raising, is to cost me $38 per acre." Equity, $2,396, or about £479. Me. Chaelbs Handlet : — Had been on the Colony one year and a half. Occupies house built by the Army, but has improved it. Has four horses, four cows, chickens, etc. Has 20 acres of land, and raises alfalfa and potatoes. Considers he is doing " first-rate ". Has a wife and four children. Hopes to pay off all his indebtedness, make a good living, and raise a good stock. Very glad he came to Fort Eomie. Previous to coming to the Colony he ran a free farm given by the Government. Equity, $789, or about £158. Me. John Veieling : — Has 7 acres of land. Been on the Colony about three years, and is doing well. Came from Amity to Eomie on account of ill-health. Has 500 chickens. His stock is the white Leghorn. In California the white egg is pre- ferred. Eealises from five to six dozen eggs per day. 62 THE POOR AND THE LAND No. 14. State of Oalifornia, \ „„ City and County of San Francisco. / Thomas Holland, being duly sworn, deposes and says : That the price paid for the land comprising what is now known as the " Salvation Army Eort Eomie Colony " was twenty-six thousand (26,000) dollars. What sales of this land we have made to colonists amount to thirty-seven thousand, five hundred (37,500) dollars, and we still have upwards of one hundred and thirty (130) acres left, esti- mated by disinterested and reliable appraisers to be worth twelve thousand (12,000) dollars. (Signed) Thomas Holland. (L.S.) Subscribed and sworn to before me this 29th day of March, 1905. (Signed) Adeline Copeland, Notary Public in and for the City and County of San Francisco, State of CaUfomia. No. 15. State of CaUfomia, County of Monterey. } I, W. H. H. Metz, Supervisor of Monterey County, Cali- fornia, being duly sworn, do hereby depose and state that the attached schedule of property owned by the Salvation Army and the members of the Fort Eomie Salvation Army Colony, is a fuU, true, and correct statement of the property appraised by me this day, and that to the best of my know- ledge and belief the values of the property therein given, to wit : ninety-five thousand, two hundred and five dollars for land and improvements, and eighteen thousand and seventy-five dollars for live-stock, farming equipment, and crop, represents the true market value of the property listed. (Signed) W. H. H. Metz. THE POOR AND THE LAND 63 Subscribed and sworn to before me this 29th day of March, a.d. 1905, at Soledad, in the County of Monterey, California. (Signed) Y. P. Villesas, Notary Public in and for the (Seal.) County of Monterey, State of California. No. 16. State of California, County of Monterey ' I SS. I, W. H. Bingaman, Eeal Estate and Insurance Broker, residing at Soledad, California, being duly sworn, do hereby depose and state that the attached schedule of property owned by the Salvation Army and the members of the Fort Eomie Salvation Army Colony, is a full, true, and correct statement of the property appraised by me this day, and that to the best of my knowledge and belief the values of the property therein given, to wit : ninety-five thousand, two hundred and five dollars for land and improvements, and eighteen thousand and seventy-five dollars for live-stock, farming equipment, and crop, represents the true market value of the property listed. (Signed) W. H. Bingaman. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 29th day of March, a.d. 1905, at Soledad, in the County of Monterey, California. (Signed) Y. P. Villbgas, Notary PubUc in and for the (Seal.) County of Monterey, State of California. No. 17. Soledad, California, 29th March, 1905. Property owned by the Salvation Army and the mem- bers of the Fort Eomie Salvation Army Colony at Fort 64 THE POOE AND THE LAND Bomie, Monterey County, California, with the value thereof as appraised by W. H. H. Metz and W. H. Bingaman. Land : — 443 acres of irrigated land, including checking and levelling of same, worth at present market prices $145 per acre 64,235 56 acres non-irrigable land worth $25 . 1,400 21 acres occupied by canals and road- ways. Total area 520 acres, valued at 65,635 Irrigation system : — Plant, including engine, boiler, centri- fugal pump, flumes, ditches, water rights, etc. . 6,750 400 3,500 Headgates, stop and checkgates . Trees :— Orchard and shade, shrubbery, fruit, etc. .... small Fencing : — About 18 miles boundary and pa fence valued at $80 per mile, also netting Pens, corrals, etc ,sture 1 wire 1,440 1,000 Buildings : — 22 dweUing houses Bams and outbuildings Store and ofBce building ; 8,800 2,000 2,300 2,440 13,100 Water supply : — 18 wells, 15 windmills, 10 water-tanks, piping, etc 3,880 Total value of land and improvements 95,205 THE POOR AND THE LAND 65 Live-stock : — 39 horses and colts .... 3,000 128 cows and heifers at $25 each . . 3,200 155 stock cattle and calves . . . 2,335 153 hogs 765 Poultry and bees ..... 425 Farming equipment : — Vehicles and harness .... 3,000 Mowers, rakes and haying tools . . 1,500 Ploughs, harrows, discs, scrapers, seed, drills, and cultivators . . . 1,000 Cream separators .... 360 Troughs, milk cans, irrig. canvas, incu- bators, tools and sundry equipment . 800 Crop : — Hay and crops on hand not harvested 1 9,715 6.660 1,700 Grand total . . $113,280 ' There seems to be an error of ten dollars in this addition. The figures, however, correspond with those of the original document. — H. E. H. 66 THE POOR AND THE LAND No. 18. STATEMENT SHOWING THE FINANCIAL POSITION OF THE COLONISTS, POET ROMIE COLONY, ON 1st APRIL, 1906, BASED ON VALUATIONS MADE BY SWORN APPRAISERS. Name. Assets. Liabilities. Colonists' Equity. 1 Land, Buildings and Improvements. Due Salvation Army on 1st Oct., 1904. Dollars. Dollars. Dollars. Dollars. Dollars. 1. T. Bryant . 4020.00 1300.00 2008.31 — 3311.69 2. E. Harding 367S.00 1200.00 3087.14 517.00 1270.86 3. Mrs. (Fohnson 2600.00 300.00 1625.54 — 1274.46 4. W. G. Boswell 3420.00 325.00 2796.13 — 948.87 6. S. Handley 3805.00 2600.00 2641.54 565.00 3198.46 6. 0. Lindstrand 4450.00 900.00 955.76 — 4394.24 7. A. James . 3650.00 275.00 3047.07 31.00 846.93 8. T. Day . 3620.00 1725.00 2960.66 400.00 1984.34 9. C. E. Baetsoher 3970.00 1350.00 2908.52 150.00 2261.48 10. R. W. Mitchell 3925.00 1500.00 3035.16 50.00 2339.84 11. W. J. Scott 3650.00 1500.00 3222.18 170.00 1757.82 12. 0. M. Hodges 3280.00 400.00 2645.98 155.00 879.02 13. 0. M. Hume 3325.00 300.00 2535.06 94.00 995.94 14. D. W. Wiley 4060.00 — 2229.88 — 1830.12 15. J. P. Nelson 3550.00 1800.00 2373.77 — 2976.23 16. A. C. Carle 2360.00 225.00 1628.74 97.00 859.26 17. C. N. Handley 3635.00 1000.00 2238.87 — 2396.13 18. J. Vrieling 2410.00 275.00 1860.89 35.00 789.11 19. M. Matheson 6700.00 — 6700.00 20. A. Roddick Total . 450.00 100.00 — 450.00 100.00 70555.00 17075.00 43801.20 2714.00 41114.80 NoTB. — Average equity per colonist, $2055.00, or about £411, THE SANATORIUM, FOUT AMITY. COLONIST S COITAGi;, FOKT AMITl". THE POOR AND THE LAND 67 No. 19. RBMAEKS ON THE POET AMITY COLONY OF THE SALVATION AEMY IN COLOEADO, UNITED STATES OF AMEEICA. 1. I arrived at this Colony on the morning of the 5th April, 1905, and during that and the two following days thoroughly studied its conditions, its inhabitants, their cir- cumstances and methods of farming. 2. Fort Amity is situated on prairie land in the Valley of the Arkansas Eiver, not far from the dividing line between the States of Colorado and Kansas, at an elevation above sea- level of about 3,500 feet. Its area is 1,760 acres, and all the soil is irrigated from the Arkansas Eiver. The climate is extremely healthy, especially for persons with weak lungs, so there is little sickness in the place. In winter it is cold, and in summer rather hot, while in April, just at the com- mencement of spring, the air is fresh and bracing, and features of the district are the pleasant winds that draw across it, and the intense blueness of the sky. 3. Viewed from the rising ground to the north. Fort Amity consists of a considerable number of dweUings, mostly built of wood, but in some cases of limestone, of a good quality when properly weathered, that is quarried in the neighbourhood. Near to the station, for the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa F6 Eailway runs through the Colony, is the town site, where various stores are springing up, which stores, by the way, I am informed last year turned over $200,000, or £40,000, and paid to the railway $50,000, or £10,000 in freight. 4. Before the beginning of its settlement by the Salvation Army there was but one house on all this land ; now there must be quite sixty. 5. The history of the Colony is, in some respects, un- fortunate. It was purchased in 1898 from the Amity Land and Irrigation Company for the sum of $47,000, or about £9,500. None of the purchase price was paid down, as the Salvation Army had not sufficient funds in hand at the time, and they still owe about $20,000, or £4,000, under this head. 5* 68 THE POOR AND THE LAND 6. The land having been bought, families were by degrees imported, for the most part from Chicago or other cities, and settled upon 20-acre lots. Hardly any of these settlers ^possessed capital ; indeed, in many instances the Salvation Army was obliged to pay the cost of their transportation to their future homes. Moreover, few of them had experience in agriculture, although certain men with such experience were selected for their instruction in that art, and to this end placed among them as colonists. 7. At the present moment there are upon the Colony thirty-eight settlers, of whom six are " renters " or tenants. Since the inauguration of the venture, sixteen or eighteen families have left; some because they were not satisfied with the results ; some because they found a rural life dis- tasteful ; some because of ill-health, and some because they thought that they could do better elsewhere. The Salvation Army, however, incurred no pecuniary loss through the departure of these colonists. 8. Of the remainder it may be said that, taking their class and resources into consideration, they have almost vrithout exception prospered well, as will be seen by re- ference to the individual statements and accounts hereto annexed. 9. Had these men remained in their various situations in the cities it seems probable, if we may argue from what they achieved in the past, that, although they might have con- tinued to make a living, they would not have put by any money. As it is, however, at the present moment, the total value of their equity (that is of all their possessions and interests over their liabilities to the Salvation Army and others) appears to be by the sworn accounts furnished me over $37,000, say, £7,400, or, roughly speaking, more than £200 per head. This cannot be considered as other than a very satisfactory result, if looked at from the point of view of the settlers. Indeed, this appears to be their own opinion. 10. When we turn, however, to the position of the Salvation Army, as regards the Amity Colony, the matter is different. In this case, reference to the accounts and to the statements of its officers, will show that it has made a net and unrecoverable loss of $23,111, or about £4,600. It should be noticed, however, that a great proportion of this THE POOR AND THE LAND 69 loss is due to the Army's somewhat rash attempt to carry on so extensive a venture without cash resources, and by means of capital borrowed at the high rate of interest of 5 or 6 per cent. Had the money been borrowed at, say, 3 J per cent., much of the loss would vanish. 11. Further, it would seem that the Salvation Army has made the error of not charging the colonists a sufficiently high price for the land, and of not taking into consideration many expenses connected with that land, which it has been unable to ask its settlers to reimburse. In short, it has bought its experience at a cost of under £5,000, which, when everything connected with the place, and the difficulties that it has been called upon to encounter, is considered, I do not, however, hold to be a great sum in view of the results achieved, 12. Broadly stated, these results may be said to include the turning of a block of waste prairie land into a prosperous settlement, where a population of about 275 persons are liv- ing in happiness, health, and comfort, with a good prospect of becoming entirely independent, and, in sundry instances, comparatively wealthy. 13. I will go further and add that when the circumstances are borne in mind, it seems to me remarkable that the loss, which has almost certainly reached its cUmax, has not been greater. 14. To begin with, for such land the price, which averaged about £5 per acre, was high, since it must be remembered that the soil was utterly unimproved, being mere naked prairie. 15. Also I am of opinion that, rich as it may be, it is not eminently suited to the purposes of colonisation, since much accurate levelling was required to get the water on to it, and the character of the sod, or turf, is very tough and hard to subdue. Indeed, it takes several years to make it reaUy productive, although now almost every sort of crop and stock are raised upon it ; also apiculture is practised, and with it poultry rearing. 16. Further, although this was not foreseen at first, alkalis, or natural salts, have manifested themselves in many places, which alkali can only be got rid of by deep draining — some- times with tiles — a very costly process in America. Then 70 THE POOR AND THE LAND the district is quite devoid of lumber, with the result that every fence, pole, or bit of timber for building must be bought at great expense. 17. Yet all these troubles have been, or are still in course of being surmounted, at a cost of a net loss to the originators of the enterprise of under £5,000, including interest payable on the money borrowed to enable them to carry it out. On the whole, therefore, these results cannot be thought un- satisfactory. 18. To turn to the more pleasing side of the picture, where seven years ago there was a waste may now be seen the homes and the population that I have already mentioned ; intelligent children, whose appearance shows health such as I have not noticed in American cities, being educated in well-built schools, and all the beginnings of a country town. 19. Thus, I inspected a post office, a blacksmith's shop, a grain store, a drug store, two meat markets or butchers, a drapery store, a hardware store, where everything is sold from agricultural implements down, a grocery store, kept by one of the pioneer colonists, a local bank, known as the Bank of Amity, which was started with a capital of $5,000, put up by the colonists and others, and is doing well, a "Mail-order " house, where everything may be obtained at the price marked in a printed catalogue, which is stocked with £1,200 worth of goods, a newspaper office, a barber's shop, and so "forth. 20. In another place is a large sanatorium, capable of accommodating forty or fifty patients, that is to be used for consumptives, who benefit greatly by this healthy air, though whether it is wise to introduce sufferers from tuberculosis into an agricultural settlement is a question which I will not argue. 21. Further, the land which produced nothing but bufEalo grass, now rears cattle, horses, and sheep, and bears many kinds of crops, including Kaffir corn, fruits and vegetables, the famous canteloupe melons, and, notably, sugar-beet, that, owing to the presence of a factory which is in course of erection in the neighbourhood, is becoming the safest and most renumerative crop in the district. Such, in brief, are the results of the estabhshment of the Amity Colony. THE POOE AND THE LAND 71 22. I submit that the lesson to be learned from it is one of great importance. It shows that unskilled and untrained persons can be taken from towns, put upon land and thrive there, even when that land is of a nature not very suitable to such settlements. That this should have been demon- strated at the cost of a loss of £5,000 incurred purely through mistakes and inexperience is, in my opinion, a great and remarkable gain. 23. In concluding these Remarks I wish to allude to the spirit of mutual friendliness which evidently animates the colonists of Fort Amity. 24. Never have I seen such a spirit more clearly and happily demonstrated than I did at a village feast, or ban- quet, which was given in my honour in the principal school- house of the Colony. At this festivity were gathered some 250 people, in fact, every person who could possibly attend. Some of these made speeches ; among them a woman, who was one of the first comerS) and an ex-constable of the London Metropolitan Police, who is now a colonist here, and has recently been elected to the important post of Sheriff of the County. 25. All these speeches were dominated by two notes : that of the complete contentment of the speakers with their lot, and that of their affectionate regard for their fellow colonists, and for the Salvation Army, which had enabled them to attain to their present positions. That these senti- ments were by no means individual to the speakers was clear also from the loud and hearty cheers wherewith they were greeted by the audience. 26. At this feast an address of welcome was presented to my daughter and myself by some of the leading colonists, on behaU of the entire community, and when read was re- ceived with much applause, thus showing that it expressed the views of all present. I will quote a short passage from it, since it demonstrates that the colonists are not afraid of formally setting down their opinions as to the benefits which they have received, and that others are likely to receive to whom similar advantages are offered, from such a scheme of land settlement as is in force at Fort Amity. " We hope that what you have seen with your own eyes and what you have heard from our lips, also 72 THE POOR AND THE LAND the figures which we have given you of our stand- ing and condition before coming here, and our standing of to-day with your own influence and your own personality, will have such effect in in- teresting capital in similar enterprises as will result in an almost universal application of this plan. " We would like the benefits which we — our families and children — are receiving to be extended to the thousands who have been longing and praying for such a chance." 27. I do not know that I can end my Eemarks better than with these words, which clearly demonstrate how the whole matter is regarded by those chiefly interested in it, namely, folk, who, having been taken from a life of hard and pros- pectless labour in the cities, are now happy and weU-to-do householders and owners of land. H. Eider Hagqaed, Commissioner. THE POOK AND THE LAND 73 No. 20. POET AMITY COLONY. NOTES OF AN INTBEVIEW BETWEEN COMMIS- SIONEE H. EIDEE HAGGAED AND VAEIOUS OFFIGEES OF THE SALVATION AEMY. 5th Apbil, 1905. Before starting to inspect the Colony the following con- versation took place. The names of the persons present are as follows, viz. : Commander Booth Tucker, Commis- sioner Kilbey, Colonel Holland, Staff- Captain Hamon, Staff- Captain Durand, Miss Angela E. Haggard, and Mr. Hany Wright. The interview was opened by the Commissioner, who asked Commander Booth Tucker the following question : — Q, Will you please tell me the history of this Colony? Set out what you all honestly believe to be its present con- dition and its future prospects. A. Commander Booth Tucker ; This Colony was founded in 1898. It will be the seventh anniversary on the 18th of this month (April). The choice of the land was preceded by a good deal of preliminary inquiry. The plan to ' ' put ^ the waste labour on the waste land by means of the waste I capital and thus convert this trinity of waste into a unity j of production " seemed to strike home to the people as a —1 possible and feasible one. This aUudes to the American public in general. As a result we were invited by the Santa F6 Eailroad Company to inspect lands for settlement along their lines. We travelled from Chicago as far as Arizona, inspecting different tracts of land, and the Eailway Company highly recommended this particular tract to us. We knew they had means of information which were not at our dis- posal, and that we could thoroughly rely upon the President, Mr. Eipley, and some of the other officials, who were per- sonal friends of the Army, to watch our interests and see that we had a good selection of land. We also had experts from Eocky Ford, Colorado, to test the land, etc. Even 74 THE POOR AND THE LAND after we had the recommendation of the Eailway, we had the land inspected by agricultural experts. In addition, a tract of 70,000 acres was owned by the Amity Land and Irrigation Company, a powerful and reputable Company, with its head- quarters in New York, who were prepared to offer us easy terms of payment, and as I was a great beUever in irrigation, from my knowledge of it in India, and wanted to see a Colony formed on an irrigated tract of land, and this par- ticular Company had already put in their irrigation works, so that the land was, in a sense, ready, everything was there. Q. I understand it was bare and unimproved prairie ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : Yes ; we had the chance of choosing between the upland and what is now the Colony land. The point that influenced us in the preference of this land was the abundance of the water supply. First we had a good ditch with an abundant flow, which had never been known to fail Second, we had an underflow about ten feet from the surface, which was available for cattle and ordinary household purposes ; not good for drinking, but good for other purposes, and which was also limitless. Further, we had an artesian supply of pm-e water, at a depth of from 200 to 400 feet. Q. Therefore you had three separate supplies ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : Yes ; our water supply was absolutely safe. So we bought this land. We bought it on time payments ; one section of 640 acres, which we increased afterwards to 1,760 acres. Q. What price did you pay ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : The first cash purchase price was $20 (say, £4) per acre, and the last was $27.50 (say, £5 10s.) per acre. Q. What have you done in the way of paying off that purchase price ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : The first portion we have paid for entirely. The total price amounted to $47,000 (say, £9,500). We still owe about $20,000 (say, £4,000). Q. Are you keeping up the payments ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : Yes ; we are paying our instalments regularly. They amount to a little over $3,000 annually. THE POOR AND THE LAND 75 Q. When do you expect to make your last payment ? A. Commander iBooth Tucker : The last payment will be made within six or seven years. Q. What steps did you take towards settling ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : Most of the first batch of fourteen families were selected in Chicago. It was a time of great financial distress in that city. We selected a number of good, desirable famiUes. Q. What do you mean, Commander Booth Tucker, by good, desirable families ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : They were all family men, with two exceptions, with nice families, really worthy of assistance, and they have answered our expectations. Q. Were they in narrow circumstances when you selected them? A. Colonel Holland : We had to pay the transportation expenses of every family, save one, and in some instances even to pay for food which they consumed on the journey. But they were all worthy poor. Q. Were they of the same class as we find in our cities in England ? A. Commander Booth Tucker ; Yes ; of the same class as there are in our English cities. Q. Were these people agriculturists, or in any way con- nected with the land, or typical city dwellers ? A. Colonel HoUand : They were all taken from the city. With the exception of about five heads of families, they had either been on farms or worked on farms in the past. But at the time they were taken they were city dwellers, and had been so for some time. As regards the other heads of families, they had no agricultural experience. I should add that there are now thirty-eight farmers, including six renters or tenants. Q. Well, as regards the balance, what were they ? A. Colonel Holland : Several of these latter importations were labourers, representing almost all classes of city labour, such as street car conductors, warehousemen, waggon drivers, and two or three were town carpenters. Q. Then I take it, gentlemen, that practically this Colony is formed of folk from the city ? A, Colonel Holland : Almost entirely, with the exception 76 THE POOE AND THE LAND of a few experienced men who were sandwiched in as "pace-setters" and "examples". Q. "Where did those examples come from ? A. Colonel Holland : Two or three were picked up in this particular district; the others from various States in the Middle-West. Q. Will you kindly tell me, Colonel Holland, what happened after you got your population on the land? A. Colonel Holland : I had better begin my answer to your question by saying that we made a mistake in. not having the land broken up and under process of cultivation before we placed these inexperienced persons on it, for the reason that, as Commander Booth Tucker has explained, we located on bottom land, covered by a heavy native sod, which took almost three years to pulverise and sweeten. The first year was, in consequence, devoted to breaking up land, building houses, and constructing irrigation ditches, instead of engaging in the actual work of raising crops. Q. How were your people maintained during this period of preparation? A. Colonel Holland : Not having land capable of profit- able cultivation, and having to engage in the work I have described, consisting of land-breaking, building, ditch-making, etc., it was necessary for us to maintain the families during this period by means of cash loans, to be repaid, which loans averaged in amount to from $2 to $4 per family per week, and were, you will understand, charged against them. By the beginning of the second season our land, while not in a good condition for the growing of crops, had been so worked upon by our colonists as to be in fair tilth and con- dition, and reasonable crops were obtained that year as a result. During this period more colonists were imported. By this time we found it possible to discontinue the mainten- ance loans, already referred to, and untU they realised upon their next crop, our people were able to maintain themselves by such labour as they could procure off their farms, either for the Army or for others who were willing to pay them. But all work done by the colonists on his own holding and for his own benefit was unremunerated, nor were any further loans made to such parties, except under circumstances so special that I need not enter into them, THE POOR AND THE LAND 77 Q. That about covers the situation. Now I want you to tell me what have been the results. How are these colonists doing ? A. Colonel Holland : From the period referred to - until the present time, our settlers have been, generally speaking, self-supporting. That is to say, they have been able to maintain their families without the aid of loans, and have, moreover, during this time, added considerably to their own holdings, in the shape of buildings and other improvements and in the accumulation of stock, some of which, as you will see from their individual statements, is considerable. They met with a difficulty, however, in the matter of alkali, which began to appear in certain parts after the land had been put under thorough cultivation, which difficulty, however, is still being dealt with by means of drainage, and will, we believe, be entirely mastered. Q. Are the colonists then now in a prosperous condition generally ? Have any of them faUed and departed ? If so, how many ? A. Colonel Holland : As I have pointed out, prosperity has been very much retarded owing to the causes given, but, as already stated, our people are self-supporting. They are making some payments on their places, improving their buildings, dealing with this excessive moisture and alkali condition, and are very confident that each year will see them in a more prosperous state. They are certainly in a more flourishing condition than ever they would have been had they remained in the city, where they would have been the recipients of a living wage only, provided they could still continue to earn it. Here they have not only lived — better probably than they would have lived in the city — but most of them have acquired substantial proprietary interests in their holdings, which are destined to increase from year to year. I think I can say, therefore, that they are in a com- paratively prosperous condition. With reference to the second head of your question, I would say, yes ; some of them failed. That is to say they have not been satisfied with the results they were obtaining, and sixteen or eighteen families have moved away. Of course, there have been various causes leadiag up to this, but since they are not now on the ground, I suppose you 78 THE POOR AND THE LAND would consider them as failures. It should be understood, however, that they have not all departed because they could not get a living out of the land. Two or three of them left because of ill-health, either on the part of the men or members of their family, and some of them thought they could do better elsewhere as farmers. Let me illustrate : — A number of our colonists were Canadians by birth, and with the opening up of free land in the Canadian North- West, several of our families moved away there. In one or two other cases, men who were mechanics took up small agricultural holdings near large towns, in which they supposed they could get some employment at their trades, Q. Did those persons who left the Colony satisfy their indebtedness to you before they departed ? A. Colonel Holland : In almost every case they did, either by payment or by improvements, which they trans- ferred to us at an appraised value, or by the sale of their holdings to other persons. In fact, in a number of instances our settlers moved away with considerable money as a result of their occupation of holdings here. I may add that we found no difficulty in filling the places of those who departed by other settlers. In fact, the departing colonist himself usually succeeded without trouble in finding a purchaser for what rights he had in his holding. I may also add that instead of finding it difficult to get colonists to occupy each vacant allotment, we are simply inundated with applications from the most desirable of people, who plead with us to give them a chance to acquire a home in the country. Stafif- Captain Durand (Manager of Fort Amity Colony) : At the present moment every acre of land fit for cultivation is occupied by the colonists, or renters, for I should explain to you our system is to sell 20 acres to the individual and to allow him to rent another 20. I should like to say here that our principal reason for renting out a portion of the land is, that it may be gotten into suitable condition to sell to a permanent settler. Colonel Holland : I should like to explain that here our conditions are peculiar, for, as Commander Booth Tucker pointed out, that in order to obtain the benefits of a sure water supply, we located on bottom land, which very much retarded our progress at the start and has been the cause THE POOE AND THE LAND 79 of the alkali conditions already referred to. In future ex- periments of this nature we should be careful to select land that would drain itself naturally and whose sod would lend itself to subjugation the first year. Speaking generally, I may say that as a purely land- selling proposition, our whole transaction in connection with this Colony would produce a handsome margin over all liabiUties, that is including interest, taxes and water assess- ments. In fact, there has been such an appreciation in the value of our holdings by reason of the improvements thereon and the general settlement of the district, that most of the land which we and the colonists possess would sell for twice what we paid for it. Q. Now, Commander, I want you and Colonel Holland to tell me if you are satisfied on the whole with your experiment, and whether you consider that this experiment could be appUed on a large scale, and, if so, under what conditions ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : I am more than ever satisfied as to the soundness of the general principles, and am certain that they can be applied to any extent should the necessary capital be available. I consider it to be a sound business proposition. Q. As a sound business proposition ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : Yes ; as a sound business proposition. We have learned by the mistakes we have made to avoid them in the future. For instance, we have found that it was absolutely necessary to have a sufficiency of capital at the outset and not to depend upon raising it as we went along. Q. Is the Salvation Army sufficiently satisfied with these experiments to be willing, in the event of the provision of such capital, to undertake its application in the direction of selecting suitable persons to place upon the land and to undertake the management of such settlements on a large scale ? A. Commander Booth Tucker: I think we could now safely do it. The experience of this last seven years has furnished us with the qualified managers for such an under- taking, which is, perhaps, one of the moat necessary condi- tions of gviccess. 80 THE POOR AND THE LAND Q. You say you could safely do it. Would you, or rather the Salvation Army, be prepared to do it ? A. Commander Booth Tucker: Yes; to any extent. Land is abundant throughout the world. The people of the cities are hungering for the opportunity of getting at it. They only want leadership and business management. The only requisite that I see that is absolutely not to be gotten over is a supply of the necessary capital Our ex- perience goes to show that the man without money makes a better average colonist and a better average settler than the man with money, and it seems to me a radical mistake that this and other countries should confine their settlements to the man with money, Emd ignore the man whose capital consists of brain and muscle, but who can be turned into a prosperous " home owner ". I suppose, Mr. Commissioner, that the average "equity" of the settlers on this Colony, after paying aU that is due from them, lies between $500 and $3,000. Of course, some have much more than others, as a result of their superior intelligence, powers of work or good fortune. For instance, a man I was talking to on this Colony yesterday said to me : " I suppose I am worth $5,000. Now it is calculated that the most a working man can lay aside in the city is about $100 per year, and not more than one in thirty can do that. Whereas, after seven years on this Colony, I have earned $5,000, not all of it, it is true, out of the land, but out of ventures connected with my holdings on the land. I had not a doUar when I came here." Colonel Holland: Further answering your question, Mr. Commissioner, as to the practicability of our plan for the settlement of poor people on the land, I would like to say that I don't think the degree of success that we have met with at Amity should be taken as any criterion of what would be possible under such conditions as I know are available in different parts of the world. It is my emphatic opinion that the industry and intelligence manifested by our settlers here has been such as would have produced triumphant success in nine out of every ten Colonies undertaken under more favourable conditions. (As the figures and information necessary to satisfy the Commissioner were not forthcoming at the time, and had THE POOE AND THE LAND 81 to be got out, the inquiry was here adjourned till the next day, when the same persons were present, and the following questions were put, and the answers to them given.) Q. What do you consider to be the present financial condition of the Colony? A. Staff-Captain Hamon : The present financial position of the Colony, as regards the Salvation Army, shows a net loss of $23,111.50 (or about £4,600), which loss must be written off. It should be observed, however, that the said loss includes interest to the amount of $25,162, paid by the Salvation Army on loans contracted at the rate of 5 and 6 per cent., as the Salvation Army began to run this Colony without any cash capital. Q. Are you solvent ? A. Staff-Captain Hamon : As regards the matter of our solvency, taking this Colony individually, the Army has lost the sum which I have quoted ; in short, it has paid between £4,000 and £5,000 for its experience, spread over seven years, and including every sort of charge, foreseen and unforeseen. With that experience thus obtained, such loss would be scarcely likely to recur in any subsequent experi- ment, especially as we have had to meet many unforeseen conditions, such as alkaU, and also certain seasons of great difficulty, including heavy hail storms, a total crop failure in one season and a flood in another. Q. In the event of a sale, would there be back in your pockets everything you have spent ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : As regards your question, in the event of a sale, supposing the colonists' proportion to be deducted and only the equity of the Salvation Army to be sold, we should lose the above stated amount, that is between £4,000 and £5,000 ; but if our equity in the colonists' property should be included, we should then stand to have a surplus of assets over liabilities to the amount of $15,026.99, or, roughly speaking, £3,000. In this is not included any increased valuation for the town site, where land has been selling at the rate of from $600 to $3,000 per acre. Q. Would the colonists receive all they have spent ? A. Staff-Captain Durand : Yes ; and in addition $37,943.77 (say, £7,588). 6 82 THE POOB AND THE LAND Q. "Would there be anything over, either in your pocket or in that of the colonists? A. Staff-Captain Hamon: I have already answered this question. There would be a loss to us of between £4,000 and £5,000, and a gain to the colonists of $37,943.77 (or £7,588). Q. Now what did you really pay for the land ? A. Staff-Captain Hamon ; We paid for the land $47,000 (or £9,400). Q. What are its present values and what are those of the improvements thereon ? A. Staff-Captain Hamon : The present values, with im- provements thereon, as per sworn appraisement, amount to $154,775. The Sanatorium building is not included in these figures, either as regards prime cost or as regards present values, except as regards the site. Q. What would the settlement fetch as a " going " concern ? A. Staff-Captain Hamon : I cannot answer that question. We can only rely upon the appraiser's valuations, which, however, to the best of our knowledge and experience we believe to be quite correct, and, indeed, very conservative. Q. Have you obtained outside valuations ? A. Staff-Captain Hamon : Yes ; we hand you herewith the valuations, attested by a reliable appraiser, who, I be- lieve, has given a very conservative estimate. Q. The Commissioner to Commander Booth Tucker: Does not the fact that you have lost £4,000 while the colonists are already between £7,000 and £8,000 in pocket over and above their UabUities, suggest to you that you must have sold the land to those colonists at too low a figure, and without making sufficient allowance for further expenses which you would be called upon to incur in connection with such land ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : I think that it not only suggests this, it proves it. This was one of our errors of judgment for which we must pay. It is not likely to occur again. H. Eidek Haggabd, Commissioner. F. Booth Tuckeb. James H. Dueand. Alebeb Hamok. Thomas HoiiLand. A GEOUP OF COLONISTS, FORT AMITY. COLONISTS HARVESTING KAFIK CORN. THE POOR AND THE LAND 8S •• • , No. 21. • • , INTBEVIEWS WITH COLONISTS AT FOET AMITY COLONY, 5th, 6th, 7th Apbil, 1905. L. A. DoBLE : — Valuation . . . $2,925.00 (or about) £585 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 2,038.72 „ 407 Equity . . $886.28 „ £178 I have been here three years. Came from Sioux City, Nebraska. I was a tinsmith. All I had was $10 when I arrived. I took a 20-acre lot. I have made a living and more since I came here. The land was rough, and I had buildings to put up. The Army advanced me the money to do this. I have not been able to pay the Army anything off land or money advanced. I have been putting all money made into improvements and stock. I would not Uke to seU my place, and would not care to put a price upon it. My equity shows $997.28, but I should not like to take twice that amount. I have been raising sugar beets, but, princi- pally, dairying. I sell the sugar beets to the factory. I am glad I came here. Am better satisfied than I have been in any other place. Have been a great deal in this and other countries, and find great advantages here. The Army's arrangements have been of great benefit and assistance to me. I could never have done what I have without that organisation. I expect to commence paying the Army for loans as soon as I get my dairy put in proper shape. I have forty-eight head of cattle. Note. — Mr. Doble seems a very weU-eduoated and in- telligent man. — H. E. H. W. J. Geindeod : — Valuation . . . $2,660.00 (or about) £532 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 2,357.00 ,, 471 Equity. . $303.00 „ £61 84 THE POOR AND THE LAND I came from St. Joseph, Missouri, one year ago. Am married, with seven children. I was working in a packing house. Had no capital when I came to Amity. I only just earned a living when I was working in St. Joseph, and thought I should like to try something else. Have been stock raising since I married. I have fifteen milk cows, seven yearlings, eight spring calves, six horses, nine hogs, forty chickens. I am farming 108 acres — 20 bought and 88 rented. I am going to put 20 acres in beets this year. Am satisfied with the outlook. Am glad I came out of the city, and shall soon be able to pay off what I am owing. O. M. Pbingle : — Valuation . . . $2,475.00 (or about) £495 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 1,185.88 „ 237 Equity. . $1,289.12 „ £258 I have been here three years, but iave only had two seasons on farm. Am married and have three children. I came from Hennessey, Oklahoma Territory. I was a land agent in that town. I had a capital of $1,700. I only owe money on land to Army. I put up my own buildings and own my own stock. I am a gardener and fruit raiser, and was put on this Colony to instruct others. Have made a living on the place. Am glad I came, and I look forward to making a success on the place. I have four horses, four milk cows, and six calves. At present I am making a living by sale of cream and eggs. My land is not in order yet. I am farming about 50 acres, 20 of which I have bought, and 30 I am renting from the Army. I rent on the share crop system. S. Inman: — Valuation . . . $2,522.00 (or about) £504 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 1,954.10 „ 390 Equity . . $567.90 „ £114 Have been here about four years. Am married and have a wife and five children. I am from North-East Kansas. THE POOR AND THE LAND 85 Was farming before I came to Amity. Had no capital when I arrived here, but had a little stock. Have been making a living since I came here, but have not been able to pay much off my land. I am not sorry I came. I like the climate. I reckoQ my prospects fuUy as good as they were in Kansas. Geoeqe Niool : — Valuation . . . $2,498.00 (or about) £499 Amoun"t owing Salva- tion Army and others 1,841.40 „ 368 Equity. . $656.60 „ £131 I have been here nearly five years. Am married and have four children. Was a carpenter in Chicago before coming here. I only had $25 when I came. Have not done a great deal in farming since I came ; have been building my house, which is a very nice one, and getting my stock, etc. Have not paid any cash on account of money owing the Army, but have done a great deal of work which has been credited to me. Prospects are very good now, and we expect to do well in the future. I am putting in 25 acres of beets this year, and three acres of canteloupes. Am very glad I came here. I think I should have made a mistake had I not done so. I came from Glasgow to this country. D. Cokeb: — Valuation . . . $3,540.00 (or about) £708 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 1,326.67 „ 265 Equity. . $2,213.33 „ £443 I have been here seven years. Am a married man with seven children. I came from Chicago and was a painter. I came here to try and get a home of my own. I had $13 capital when I arrived. I have done pretty fairly here. Have made some payments to the Army. Am very glad I came, and am looking forward to doing well. I run a little restaurant and boarding house as well as my farm. We baye been injured a great deal through alkali oo our land, 86 THE POOE AND THE LAND Have four head of cattle and two horses. Notwithstanding a run of hard luck have done very well, and am glad I came here. Note. — ^This man had no knowledge whatever of agri- culture or farming when he came here. — H. E. H. Chables Babkman : — Valuation . . . $2,435.00 (or about) £487 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 1,914.41 „ 382 Equity , . $520.59 „ £105 I have been here six years. Came from Kansas City, where I was engaged in butter and cheese selling. I had no capital when I arrived. The reason I came was because I wanted to get out of the city. I am a married man with five children. I have done as well as I could expect here, having been unfortunate in getting allotted to me the worst land on the Colony. The land has been greatly improved through draining. I think I am all right now. My farm did well last year, and I am well satisfied. I have thirty-two head of cattle and six head of horses. I have not paid much to the Army, but I figure my increased stock meets it all. Had my land been drained the same as it is now, I could have made all my payments. I am very glad, indeed, I came here. I had a rather discouraging time when I first came here, owing to my farm not being properly drained, but now it is all right, and I figure I have got a good promising place. I go in for raising cattle, which, I think, pays better than dairying. J. A. Zibglee: — Valuation . . . $3,405.00 (or about) £681 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 2,182.00 „ 436 Equity . . $1,228.00 „ £245 I have been here three years. Am married and have three children. Came from Sioux City, Iowa. Had charge THE POOE AND THE LAND 87 of a section in a grocery store. Had been there ten years. I came here to visit my father ; liked the place ; found the climate was good for me ; and stayed on. Had $125 before buying my ticket here. Am weU satisfied with the Colony. Have forty-five head of cattle and ten horses. Have paid small amount to the Army off stock. Have been holding my cattle as last year they were bringing bad prices ; shall do better this year. Have got a good crop of wheat, and everything looks very promising. Am very glad I came here. Have got a good bunch of cows and doing very well. Would not like a position as grocery clerk again on any account, as prospects, I consider, are very bright here. Note, — This man, it will be seen, has been ten years in a grocery store, and had saved $125. He has been two years on the Colony, and his equity is valued at $1,222.46. — H. E. H. Ebik Eeiokson : — Valuation . . . $2,495.00 (or about) £499 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 1,911.78 ,, 382 Equity . . $583.22 „ £117 I have been here seven years, am married, and have two children. Have done quite as well as I could expect. Brought $25 capital. Was a street car conductor in Chicago before coming to Amity. I came here because I could see no future before me. My specialities have been beets, alfalfa and stock. Have twenty head of cattle and four horses. Am farming 80 acres, 20 purchased and 60 rented, payments being made in kind, one-seventh of sugar beet crop and one-half alfalfa. I reckon I am $682 ahead of all my liabilities ; meanwhile I have lived well and enjoyed good health. Am glad I undertook this venture. I look forward to paying all I owe, and making a success of life. I reckon this Colony Scheme is the only one possible for men like me. It gave me an opportunity to start and I am thankful for it. 88 THE POOR AND THE LAND John Da vet : — Valuation . . . $2,985.00 (or about) £597 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 904.28 „ 181 Equity. . $2,080.72 „ £416 I have been at Amity for four years as a colonist. Was a Salvation Army Officer for three years before that. I am married and have one child. Had no capital. I have been doing very well. My specialities have been beets and alfalfa. Have paid Army $500 off the amount I borrowed. Have had an offer of $2,000 for my place alone, without stock. I owe the Army $900. I am well satisfied with my position here, and shall soon be able to pay the Army off what I owe. WiLiiiAM Saohtlbr : — Valuation . . . $2,270.00 (or about) £454 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 2,285.91 „ 457 Minus . . $16.91 „ £3 I have been on the Colony two years. Was an iron moulder before I came here from South Norwalk, Connecti- cut. Had $25 when I came here. Have wife and six children. I came here through offer of the Salvation Army. Have been doing pretty well. Have not paid Army any- thing in cash, but have done considerable work, which has been credited to my account. Have built a nice house of stone, which I would not sell for $1,100. I borrowed $350 from Army to build it. Am quite satisfied with the Colony and glad I came. My specialities are beets and canteloupes. I think the outlook bright. J. H. Newman: — Valuation. . . $7,530.00 (or about) £1,506 Amount owing Sal- vation Army and others . . . 2,223.00 „ 444 Equity. $5,307.00 „ £1,062 THE POOR AND THE LAND 89 I have been here seven years, am married and have four children. I was a carpenter in Chicago before coming to Amity. I had no capital, none whatever, although I re- ceived $50 for work done in Chicago some time after I came to Amity. I have done very well here. It is claimed that a labouring man in the States cannot put away under the best circumstances more than $100 per year. I have cleared in seven years $4,000 at least, so I think I have done very well indeed. I have paid a good deal of my indebtedness back to the Army. I am a little behind owing to a failure of crops two years ago, which made it impossible for farmers to pay me accounts in connection with a little hardware business I run as well as my farm. I am very glad I came here. I think it is a grand opening for a poor man. Note. — Mr. Newman is a highly respectable and in- telligent man ; indeed I should say a person of ability. — H. E. H. RoBBBT Febwing : Valuation . . . $2,615.00 (or about) £523 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 1,618,00 „ 323 Equity . $997.00 „ £200 (Eobert Frewing being absent, his son was interviewed.) I am the son of Eobert Frewing — twenty-three years old. I came here with my father seven years ago. He was a plasterer in Chicago. There were seven of us — five children — with mother and father. Father has done very nicely here. We have not paid much back to the Army in cash, but have considerable credits for work done for the organisa- tion. We value our place at $2,500, and owe the Army $1,600. We are going to raise ten acres of beets this year. I personally have ten head of cattle. I farm with my father. Am very happy here, and so are father and mother. It is nicer than living in Chicago. I like it better. Note. — A very bright and intelligent young man with a pleasant face and frank eyes. — H. E. H. 90 THE POOR AND THE LAND Chas. B. Gatloed : — Valuation . . . $2,220.00 (or about) £444 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 1,555.00 „ 311 Equity . $665.00 „ £133 I came here from Chicago, where I was engaged as a oar conductor. I had no capital. Had worked for years in the city, but had saved nothing. I have a wife and three children, and my brother also lives with me. I came here as I was anxious to try to secure a home of my own, and besides, I wanted to start the bee industry, of which I had had some knowledge as an amateur. I find it pleasant here, and the prospects very bright. I intend making a speciality of bee culture, but shall do farming as weU. Am putting in 10 acres of beet, the rest in other crops, but beets and bees wiU be the principal thiags I shall give my attention to. I am sure I shall be able to pay the Army all I owe in half the time allowed, namely, six years. I have had a short experience here, and am more than satisfied with my venture. I hope to bring my family up here and become a permanent settler. I want nothing better than this ; I am well satisfied with my lot, and am very happy. My wife found it trying at first, being so far from her friends, but is now quite contented, and as happy as I am. Note. — This man seems particularly happy and a bright and intelligent feUow. He has had a very good education, and in his early days had three years' experience in a medical college. He had not the finances to go through. — H. E. H. G. Pbiebe : — Valuation . . . $2,295.00 (or about) £459 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 2,477.00 ,, 495 Minus . $182.00 „ £36 THE POOR AND THE LAND 91 I have been here four and a half years. Came from Ohio, where I was a Salvation Army Of&cer. Previous to that I was working in a garden, at general gardening work. I had only $3 when I came here with my wife and three children. I have not done very well as I had a serious set- back with the alkali. With the draining that we are doing on the Colony things are sure to be improved greatly, I fancy. I have no equity in my land, etc., after meeting my liabilities. If I had not been unfortunate with the alkali I should have done very well. I am afraid I cannot pay the Army in' the twelve-year limit, but believe I can in twenty years. The prospects are better and the future looks brighter for everybody here. I have two milk cows, three yearlings, and seven heifer calves, one horse and four colts. Geoege Waidneb : — Valuation . . . $2,080.00 (or about) £416 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 2,353.00 ,, 470 Minus . . $273.00 „ £54 I came here four years ago from Baltimore, Maryland, where I was working as a packer in a provision house. I had no capital; had to borrow the money from the Army to come. I have one child and my mother-ia-law lives with me. I have paid the Army a little of my indebtedness, but not as much as I should. I expect to do much better in the future, as I am getting my land into better condition. It has been a rather hard proposition. I am putting in 8 acres of beets, 2 acres of canteloupes, and 10 acres in feed. I have three cows, three horses and two calves. I am glad I came to Amity, as I find the climate so much better for my wife, who was almost an invalid before I came. She is now quite strong and weU. The prospects here are better than ever they have been. We have learned a great deal. Did not know a thing about cows or farming of any description ; we can now manage very well as we understand the work. I guess my holdings 92 THE POOE AND THE LAND are worth more than the amount I owe the Army, but I should not like to say how much. Thos. Cloughlby: — Valuation . . . $2,315.00 (or about) £463 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 1,618.00 „ 323 Equity . $697.00 „ £140 I have been here two months. Came from the City of Omaha, Nebraska, where I was working as an engineer. I had $17.50 per week there, and managed by careful living to save about $800. I, therefore, had this capital when I came to the Colony. I came here first on account of my wife's health, and second, because ever since it opened I have been anxious for a home on the Colony. I consider it a better place than a city for bringing up children, of which I have five. I believe I shaU do well here, though I know I shall .have to work. I have put in 9 acres of spring wheat, and my intentions are to put in 15 acres of beets and about 3 acres of oats. I have 20 acres that I bought from the Army, and 9 acres which I rent. I am glad I came here, for I believe the prospects for a man with energy and willing to work are of the best. I have four head of cattle and two horses. Joseph Hugh Habgeeaves : — Valuation . . . $3,185.00 (or about) £637 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 1,831.00 „ 366 Equity . . $1,354.00 „ £271 I was an officer in active service in the Salvation Army for twenty-one years before I came to the Colony. The reason of my coming here was principally because of my health. I was broken down, and, in fact, was given up by both friends and doctors. The Army suggested this place as a last resource, and I came unwillingly because I felt nothing could save me, and I would rather have remained with my friends. However, I am glad I came, for eyer since the day THE POOR AND THE LAND 93 I lauded I have felt benefited, and although I know I still have the weakness in my lungs, I am yet well, and able to do pretty nearly any work my farm calls for me to do. I believe I shall live here to be a good old age. I had no capital when I came here. The Army advanced me the car fare ; in fact, everything. I owe the Army about $1,800, and I reckon my house, stock, etc., worth at least $3,000, and I would not want to part with it for that. I am making chickens my speciality ; I have 150, aU of which are doing well. I have 20 acres which I bought from the Army, all in alfalfa and 20 rented (for part of produce), which is in beets and canteloupe. I have one of the prettiest houses on the Colony, and I am very proud of my house. I believe the future has a great share of brightness and pros- perity in store for Amity. Note. — I visited Mr. Har greaves' house, which is a really excellent dwelling, and built of stone. — H. E. H. 0. Stimbon : — All obligations paid off; value of property has not been furnished. I have been here six years. Came from West Kansas. I was farming there, and brought with me about $1,000. I paid for my land to the Army, all cash, which cost $600. I put up my stone cottage myself. I consider I have done very well here, and am glad I came. There are many advantages over the place I left. There was no one living within three miles of me, whilst here I have the advantage of being on the Colony with all the company I want. I have four children, and it is a great advantage having them near a school. I do general farming, stock, beets, alfalfa, bees, chickens, etc. I am making a good living and con- sider I am doing fairly well, and reckon I am getting ahead every year. I have a nice cottage built with stone ; barn and oWcken house are also built with stone and very solid. W. L. Stevens : — Valuation . . . $2,54=0.00 (or about) £508 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 764.00 „ 153 Equity. . $1,776.00 „ £355 94 THE POOR AND THE LAND I was an ofiBcer in the Salvation Army, and came here seven years ago on account of kidney trouble. I had about $150 capital when I landed at Amity with my wife and two children. I have done very well financially. I owe the Army now only $400, whilst my farm, etc., are worth $2,000. I have, therefore, an interest in the place of $1,600. I am well satisfied with this, for considering the little or no experience I had had of irrigated land I think I have done well. I have my 20 acres in alfalfa and wheat. Three years ago I left my farm here and returned to the Salvation Army work again, renting my place. I came back six weeks ago as I found my health was failing me again. I am better since I came back. I consider the prospects here very good, and the next two years will make a big difference in the place. The beet business wlU help considerably, and the land has been greatly improved recently by draining. T. P. McAbee : — Valuation . . . $3,200.00 (or about) £640 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 1,747.00 ,, 349 Equity. . $1,453.00 „ £291 I have been here seven years. I came from Alliance, Ohio, where I was working in a grocery store. I am a married man, had one child when I came, but now have three. I had no capital when I came here ; it took me all my time to meet expenses and keep out of debt. I came here to better mys^, being anxious to get a home of my own. I have done really well since coming to Amity, and am glad I ever got the chance of taking a place on the Colony. I am thankful to the Salvation Army for the opportunity. I calculate my house, land and stock is worth $3,000, while I owe the Army about $1,700. I have six head of cattle, two horses, and one yearling. This year I am putting in 15 acres of beets, and believe I am going to do very well. Note. — Mr. McAbee is an intelligent man who seems much pleased with his place, and apparently has a very happy home. His wife is a superior woman. THE POOR AND THE LAND 95 The appraiser in going over this colonist's property omitted to reckon the stone quarry, which is valued at $2,000, which amount is not included in the statement showing the financial position of the Amity colonists. H. W. Manning : — Valuation . . . $3,281.00 (or about) £656 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 1,83100 „ 367 Equity . . $1,477.00 „ £289 I have been on the Colony eighteen months. I came from Alamosa, Colorado, where I was farming. I did not do very well, and having much sickness came here with my wife and ten children. I had no capital, and could not have come here were it not for the Army. I have done well in Amity. I consider my place worth $2,500, including stock, etc. I owe the Army $1,500, so have an equity of $1,000 in less than two years. My specialities are beets and alfalfa. Have twelve head of cattle, four mules and three horses. I appreciate most assuredly the comradeship we have on the Colony. The prospects for the future are better than they have ever been. We have a happy, prosperous time before us. Elmeb B. Habeis : — Valuation . . . $2,635.00 (or about) £527 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 1,080.00 „ 216 Equity. . $1,565.00 ,, £311 I came here six years ago from Cotton Wood Falls, Kansas, where I was engaged in farming, working on my father's place. I left Cotton Wood Palls with my team intending to do freighting, etc., in the mountains. In passing through Amity I met some one with whom I was acquainted, and was induced to take up an allotment. I have been doing general farming, and have been very successful. I had no capital 96 THE POOR AND THE LAND when I came here. All the cash I had was $1.50, although I had my team and waggon. I have paid the Army about $800 on land and stock, but yet owe them $1,094. My farm, stock, etc., I consider worth at least $3,000, so that I have made in the six years $2,000 clear. My land has recently been appraised at $100 per acre, but I would not like to take that amount for it. I am glad I came here for I have learned things about farming that I never knew before, and I believe I would make a success if I took a settlement in Siberia. I have nineteen head of cattle, three mules and one colt. When the drainage in progress is finished it will make a great improvement, and the prospects should be very bright here. Personally I am doing well. I believe my next two crops of alfalfa, seed, and hay wiU enable me to clear off the balance owing the Army with all interest. Benjamin Moekis : — (Eenter.) I have been here two years ; came from Hobart, Okla- homa, where I went at the time the place was opened for settlement by the Government. I faUed to get a home- stead and I came here. I have not purchased my farm. Am simply renting from the Army. The Army supphed me with cows, etc. I did very well last year, and expect to do much better this. I like Amity principally for the schools, etc., for the children, of which I have nine. The prospects here are very favourable. I do not consider the alkali serious, and feel sure that with a little draining it wiU be all right. My specialities are beets, grain, oats, wheat, alfalfa and vegetables ; in fact, general gardening. I consider that the Army is doing a good thing for poor people in colonising like this. A. K. DuEAND : — I have been here five months ; came from New York City ; have farmed previously for a short time in Kansas. This year I am putting in about iO acres of sugar, beet, between 40 and 60 of oats, and will cut 90 acres of alfalfa and plant 10 acres of corn. I Hke the Colony very much, and think that my prospects for this year are very good. THE POOR AND THE LAND 97 Jambs H. Ghilds ; — Valuation . . . $5,875 (or about) £1,175 Amount owing Salva- tion Army and others 3,500 ,, 700 Equity. . $2,375 „ £475 I was one of the first pioneers, having come from Chicago. Before leaving I worked as a check clerk for the G. and A. EaUway. I am married and have nine children. All things considered I think I have done well. Two of my daughters have got married to good husbands, and my family and myself are all in good health. As to how I have come out financially, I don't think I have any reason to complain. I came to years of maturity in the city and found myself never able to earn more than just sufficient to keep my family, with the exception of a house worth $1,000. Now, in addition to being my own boss, and Uving under healthy and pleasant conditions, I consider I am worth $6,525. This, of course, includes what I have got in my grocery store. After having lived on the Colony from the start, and being thoroughly acquainted with the Army's plan of colonising city people, I think it is fine from every standpoint. In fact, given good land, it simply cannot fail, because I know from experience the cities are full of people who are just longing for such a chance to acquire a home, but cannot get one, because they have not money to buy, and nobody but the Army is willing to trust them. Note. — The equity quoted above evidently does not include Mr. Child's grocery store and the stock therein. — H. E. H. Jambs Mitohbll : — Valuation . . . $1,409 (or about) £281 Amount owing Salvation Army and others . . 735 ,, 147 Equity . . $674 „ £134 I have been a colonist five years. Am married with one child. When I first located I had some stock, and some 7 98 THE POOR AND THE LAND horses worth, altogether, about $200. I now consider myself worth nearly a thousand dollars. I think well of the Colony plan. Geobgb H. Thomas : — Valuation . . . $5,700 (or about) £1,140 Amount owing Salvation Army and others . 2,723 ,, 645 Equity . . $2,977 „ £595 I am one of the pioneer colonists, having landed here seven years ago. I came from Chicago. Am married, and have four children. I had about $300 to start with, but now consider myself to be worth about $3,000 over and above all my liabilities. I am more than glad I came here, and look forward with certainty to doing even better in the future. I like the country, the cUmate, and the people, and wish many of my Chicago friends could be given the chance of coming here. I have a good farm and a good grocery business, and besides, have just been elected Sheriff of this County, at a salary of about $1,800 a year. You may be interested to know that I used to be a member of the London MetropoUtan Police Force, under Commissioner Sir Charles Warren. C. A. Ebiokson : — Valuation . . . $3,125 (or about) £625 Amount owing Salvation Army and others . . 2,199 ,, 439 Equity . . $926 „ £186 I came here from Chicago six years ago. Before coming I worked at tailoring, receiving a salary barely sufficient to keep my family. Here I consider I have done very well, for in addition to having paid all the expenses connected with the maintenance of my family I have accumulated an equity of at least $2,000. In fact, I would refuse that even THE POOR AND THE LAND 98 if offered in spot cash. I have got a valuable farm, and my little coal business is steadily growing in value. Since I only had $50 when I landed, and am a man of advanced years, I consider that a pretty good showing, and aU through the generous help of the Salvation Army, without which help I never should have got a home of my own ; instead I should still be stitching away in a close room in Chicago. I would also like to say that life in the country has very much im- proved the health of myself and family. God bless the Colony plan I Note. — When Mr. Erickson estimates his equity at $2,000 he probably includes the value of his coal busi- ness. — H. E. H. DocTOE William S. Gbebnard, M.D. : — Valuation . . . $2,660 (or about) £532 Amount owing Salvation Army and others . . 2,357 „ 471 Equity . . $303 „ £61 I own a farm on the Colony which I bought from a colonist who had built up a grocery business in Amity, and wanted to devote all his time to it. I bought it at the rate of $115 per acre with improvements, but the colonist from whom I bought it got it from the Army for $26, without improvements, of course. The object of my purchasing this property was because I thought it a nice place for a home, and it presented good opportunities for profitable farming ; in fact, I looked on it as a good, safe investment. I purchased this over a year ago, and am glad I did so ; in fact, I would be glad to buy more land here at the same price. I do not, of course, need any assistance from the Army myself, but I look on the Army's plan of helping poor people to acquire homes as a splendid one, and think the plan could be made to work on a very large scale. I only wish the Army had enough capital to plant a thousand people where now there is only one. Note. — There is a discrepancy between the amounts given in the statement signed by Dr. Greenard and in those 7* 100 THE POOR AND THE LAND shown against his name in the Financial Statement. A mistake must have been made in one or the other. — H. E. H. Louis H. Kephabt : — Vahiation . . . $4,060 (or about) £812 Amount owing Salvation Army and others . 2,800 „ 560 Equity . . $1,260 „ £252 I am at present a farmer living in this region. I have just purchased 40 acres of Colony land at $70 per acre. I have bought it because I Uke the community, the absence of liquor and good moral surroundings in general. I also think it presents opportunity to make more than a good living, the land being located so close to the railroad tract, affording excellent opportunities for sheep raising, which industry I intend to continue to pursue. EoBBBT Newman : — Valuation . . . $3,055 (or about) £611 Amount owing Salvation Army and others . 1,628 „ 325 Equity . . $1,427 „ £286 I am married and have one girl, who has since married a colonist, and is doing very well. I have been a resident of the Colony for six years. Before coming here I was a carpenter and contractor in Chicago. I came here because my son had been located as a colonist, and thought I could do just as well on a farm as I could in a city. I had been raised on a farm. I had some capital when I came, amount- ing to about $600, and all considered I have done fairly well. After reckoning all my debts, am sure I am worth $2,000, and would not take a cent less if offered spot cash to-morrow. If I had been a young man I know I should have done much better ; with such a chance as the Army gives any good man ought to do well. THE POOR AND THE LAND 101 J. W. Gabeison : — Valuation . . . $2,969 (or about) £594 Amount owing Salvation Army and others . 1,134 ,, 227 Equity . . $1,835 „ £367 I do not consider myself exactly a colonist, but I have taken up Army lands a year ago, and the Army has helped to buy stock and implements with which to run my farm. Before coming here, I had bad luck, and in consequence had nothing but a team of horses. Now, I figure I am worth over $300 more than I was at that time, and I am getting fixed so as to do very much better in the future. The Army has helped me to get everything I have. They have trusted as nobody else would, and I shall see that their, confidence is not misplaced by paying back every dollar it has advanced me. I think this Colony scheme the greatest thing in the world to help a man who wants to help himself. 102 THE POOR AND THE LAND No. 22. State of Colorado, \„„ County of Prowers. J F. de la Tour Booth Tucker and Alfred Hamon, being duly sworn, depose and say that the figures given in the attached statement are a true and correct abstract of the financial condition of the Salvation Army Colony known as Fort Amity, and situated in Prowers County, Colorado, U.S.A., as shown by the books of the Salvation Army, and statement of values given by a disinterested and reliable appraiser, duly sworn. F. DE L. Booth Tucker (L.S.). Alpeed Hamon (L.S.). Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 7th day of April, A.D, 1905. W. A. French, (L.S.) Notary PubUc. (Commission expires 21st February, 1907.) State of Colorado, i „g County of Prowers. No. 23. I, Joseph S. McMurtry, Manager of the Holly Bank of Holly, Colorado, being duly sworn do hereby depose and state that the attached schedule of property owned by the Salvation Army and the members of the Fort Amity, Salva- tion Army Colony, is a full, true and correct statement of the property appraised by me this day, and that to the best of my knowledge and belief the values of the property therein given, to wit : one hundred and fifty-four thousand seven hundred and seventy-five ($154,775) dollars for land and improvements, and thirty thousand five hundred and sixty-four ($30,564) dollars for live stock and farming equip- ment, represents the true market value of the property listed. (Signed) Joseph S. MoMuetby. THE POOE AND THE LAND 103 Subscribed and sworn to before me this 7th day of April, A.D. 1905. (Signed) James B. Hakden, Notary Public. (My CommisBion expires 20th January, 1907.) (L.S.) 104 THE POOR AND THE LAND No. 24. The Salvation Abmt. Port Amity Golony, Amity, Colorado, U.S.A. Statements showing the financial position of the Colony on 1st April, 1905 (not including colonists' holdings), as per valuations made by J. S. McMurtry, Manager of the Holly Bank, of Holly, Colorado, and duly sworn to. Land and Land Improvements : — Entire Colony, as per appraised valuation 154,775.00 Less value of land, etc., sold to colonists 66,530.00 88,245.00 Sanatorium Building . . . 20,500.00 Live stock and farming equipment 30,564.00 Less value owned by colonists . 28,364.00 2,200.00 Furniture and fixtures : — In staff quarters and of&ce . . 1,133.87 Colonists' indebtedness to Salvation Army : — For land, buildings, outfit loans, etc. (1st October, 1904) . . 54,887.96 Sundry debtors .... 157.60 Cash on hand 983.96 168,108.39 Loss : Being net cost of management, including salaries of Colony staff, instructors, grants and rebates to colonists, interests on loan ($25,162.02), and aU running ex- penses of the Colony for seven years 23,111.50 $191,219.89 (£38,243) infants' school, fout amity. ^^ TOWN SITE STOKES, FOKT AJIIIY. THE POOR AND THE LAND 105 Liabilities. The Salvation National Headquarters Loan for the purchase of land and the establishment and maintenance of the Colony .... 169,853.52 Loans for Sanatorium . . . 20,958.49 Sundry creditors . 407.88 $191,219.89 190,812.01 407.88 191,219.88 (£38,243) 106 THE POOR AND THE LAND No. 25. The Salvation Abmi. Fort Amity Colony, Amity, Colorado, U.S.A. Statement showing financial condition of the Colony on Ist April, 1905, as per valuation made by J. S. MoMurtry, Manager of the HoUy Bank, of Holly, Colorado, and duly sworn to. Assets. Land and Land Improvements : — Including cost of preparing land for irrigation, ditches, irrigation system, fencing, trees, dwellings, store buildings, barns, etc., and artesian well .... 154,775.00 Sanatorium building . . . 20,500.00 175,275.00 Live stock : — Horses, cows, stock cattle, hogs, sheep, poultry and bees . . 10,872.00 Farming equipment : — Vehicles, harness, mowers and haying tools, harrows, ploughs, cream separators, incubators, tools, etc 19,692.00 $205,839.00 (£41,167) Liabilities. The Salvation Army National Head- quarters : — Loans for the purchase of land and the establishment and main- tenance of the Colony . . 169,853.52 Loans for Sanatorium . . . 20,958.49 Surplus of assets over liabilities . 16,026.99 $205,839.00 . 190,812.01 16,026.99 5205,839.00 (£41,167) THE POOE AND THE LAND 107 Note. — The Town site land has been valued on the same basis as the poorest agricultural areas, viz., $60 per acre, and no cognizance has been taken of its special value for business purposes. Lots containing one-twelfth of an acre are at the present time selling at from $50 to $600 each. 108 THE POOR AND THE LAND No. 26. SHOET HISTOEIBS OF THE AMITY COLONISTS. Baekman. — From Kansas City. Married. Five children. Worked in packing house as meat-washer at $6.00 per week. Salvation Army paid his car fare out here. CiiOUGHriET. — From Omaha, Nebraska. Married. Five children. Steam-fitter. Had $300.00 capital at starting. CoKEB. — From Chicago. Married. Four children. Painter. No capital. Salvation Army paid his oar fare. Cox. — From Chicago. Married. Two children. Team- ster. No capital. Salvation Army paid car fare. Davy. — From Kansas City. Unmarried. No capital. DoBLE. — From Sioux City, Nebraska. Married, Four children. Tinner by trade. No capital. Salvation Army paid his car fare. Beik Bbickson. — From Chicago. Married. One child. Street car conductor. No capital. Salvation Army paid his car fare. C. A. Bbickson. — From Chicago. Married. Four children. Tailor. No capital. Salvation Army paid his car fare. Feewing. — From Chicago. Married. Six children. Plasterer. No capital. Salvation Army paid his car fare. Gayloed. — From Chicago. Married. Three children. Photographer's canvasser. No capital. Geindeod. — From St. Joseph, Montana. Married. Bight children. Labourer in packing house. No capital. Car fare furnished by people interested in his case. Haeeis. — Lived in this district. Unmarried. Had a team of horses and a few implements. Haegebavbs. — From Philadelphia. Married. Three children. Salvation Army Officer. No capital. Salva- tion Army paid oar fare. Inman. — Lived in this region. Married. Five children. No capital aside from his team. Kbphaet. — Lived in this region. A sheep raiser by pro- fession, and located in order that he might teach this in- dustry to the colonists. Has sufficient capital of his own. MoAbee. — From Alliance, Ohio. Married. One child. Grocery clerk. No capital. Salvation Army paid car fare. THE POOE AND THE LAND 109 Manning. — Lived in this district, and located on the Colony because of his ability as a sugar beet grower. Had some horses and implements when located. Mitchell. — Lived in this district. Married. Very little capital. J. H. Newman. — From Chicago. Married. Three chil- dren. Carpenter. No capital. Salvation Army paid car fare. E. Newman. — Erom Chicago. Married. One child. Had $50 capital. NicoL. — From Chicago. Married. Four children. Car- penter. No capital. Pbiebe. — From Cleveland. Married. One child. Labourer. No capital. Salvation Army paid car fare. Peinglb. — From Hennessey, Oklahoma. Married. Three children. Land agent. Had $1,700 capital. Located be- cause he was an expert fruit grower. BoMio. — From Medicine Lodge, Kansas. Married. Three children. Blacksmith. Sachtlee, — From South Norwalk, Connecticut. Married. Bight children. Iron-moulder. No capital. Salvation Army paid car fare. Stevens. — Married. Three children. Salvation Army Of&cer. Had a team of horses. Stimson. — Lived in this district, and was located as a " pace setter ". Had sufiScient capital to pay for his place. Thomas. — From Chicago. Married. Four children. Had $300.00 capital. Was a teamster and furniture remover. ZiBGLBB. — ^From Sioux City, Iowa. Married. One child. Salesman. No capital. Waidneb. — From Baltimore. Married. One child. Labourer in packing house, No capital. Salvation Army paid his car fare. Gaeeison. — From Syracuse, Kansas. Married. Three children. Farmer, without a farm ; he did, however, have a team of horses. MoEEis. — From Oklahoma. Married. Seven children. Cow-boy. No capital. Childs. — From Chicago. Married. Nine children. Checker for the C. and A. Eailroad Co., at a salary of $12.00 per week. Owned a house worth $1,000.00. 110 THE POOR AND THE LAND No. 27. STATEMENT SHOWING THE PINANOIAIj POSITION OP THE COLONISTS (NOT INCLUDING " RENTERS ") ON THE SALVATION ARMY PORT AMITY COLONY, 4th APRIL, 1905. ^H d l<^ i d Name. [ 4 I 1 ll E) OS i 1 1 Remarks. ow tq 3 o >■ ^ ^1 .s* 00 o H H .§03 o ^ Dols. Dote. Dols. Dols. Dols. Dels. Dols. Dols. Backman 1560 700 175 2436 1814.41 100 1914.41 520.00 Coker . 2640 150 750 3540 1326.67 — 1326.67 2213.33 Had 13 dels, to com- mence witk. Gliilds . 2700 125 3080 5875 1700.00 1800 3500.00 2375.00 Had 1000 doU. to commence with. Cox 1860 100 80 2040 1759.35 100 1859.35 180.65 Cloughley 1925 240 150 2315 1618.29 — 1618.29 696.71 Davy . 2585 50 350 2985 90428 — 904.28 2080.72 Doble . 1835 900 190 2925 1927.72 Ill 2038.72 886.28 Had 10 dols. to com- Erickson, E. . 1680 500 315 2495 1901.78 10 1911.78 583.22 mence. Had 25 dols. to com- mence. Brickson,C.A. 2340 35 750 3125 1499.96 700 2199.96 925.04 Had 20 dols. to com- Frewing. 2440 75 100 2615 1618.93 1618.93 996.07 mence. Greenara 2900 — 2900 2107.37 — 2107.37 792.63 Grindrod 1715 800 145 2660 2332.47 25 2367.47 302.53 Gaylord 1885 200 135 2220 1555.00 — 1655.00 665.00 Harris . 2210 250 175 2635 1080.76 — 1080.76 1554.24 Had teamandwaggon Hargreaves . 2686 300 200 3186 1831.50 — 1831.50 1353.60 Inman . 2112 325 85 2522 1892.10 62 1954.10 667.90 Had teamandwaggon Eephart Manning 4060 — 4060 2800.00 — 2800.00 1260.00 2381 700 200 3281 1834.65 — 183466 1446.35 Had horses and cattle worth 350 dols. McAbee . 755 225 175 1155 1357.91 390 1747.91 — MiteheU. 1049 260 100 1409 735.67 — 735.67 673.33 Had horsesand cattle worth 700 dols. Niool . 2108 300 90 2498 1806.40 35 1841.40 656.60 Had 25 dols. Newman, H. . 3085 170 4275 7530 1223.76 1000 2223.76 5306.24 Had 50 dols. Newman, R. . 1575 100 1380 3055 628.49 1000 1628.49 1426.21 Had 600 dols. Priebe . 1875 350 70 2295 2437.22 40 2477.22 — Had 3 dols. Pringle . Stevens . 1850 450 175 2475 1185.88 — 1186.88 1289.12 Had 1765 dols. 2395 145 2540 764.84 — 764.84 1775.16 Had teamandwaggon Sachtler . 1870 "250 150 2270 2160.91 125 2285.91 — Had 25 dols. Thomas , 2790 325 2585 5700 1723.79 1000 2723.79 2976.21 Had 300 dols. Waidner 1765 200 115 2080 2328.27 25 2363.27 — - Ziegler . Ganison 1700 1400 305 3405 1798.54 384 2182.54 1222.96 Had 125 dols. 500 1192 1277 2969 934.00 200 1134.00 1835.00 Had live stock worth 300 dels. Romig . Dols. or£ 1700 — — 1700 1036.32 — 1036.32 663.68 I. nnnn\ 66530 10672 17692 94894 51627.24 7107 68734.24 37223;68 13306 2134 3538 18978 10325 1421 11746 7444 'KfVPK AvAT&m ftj '* !■ -.-.1— i-.* nflg n/\_Aohi-Jio» aWknf £2S31. THE POOE AND THE LAND 111 No. 28. MBMOEANDUM OF INFOEMATION EESPECTING THE SALVATION AEMY COLONY AT AMITY, PEOWEES COUNTY, COLOEADO. Location. The Colony is situated 257 miles south and east of Denver, and 12 miles west of the Kansas line. It is on the main line of the A. T. & S. F. Eaiboad, and has a depot and express of&oe. The town, plotted two years ago, is building up, and has at the present time sixteen established businesses, among which are general merchants, hardware and boot and shoe stores, also blacksmith shops, drug store, livery stable, etc. Land. The land formed a part of the famous Amity Land and Irrigation Company's enterprise, and it is of a rich alluvial loam, which, when put into cultivation and properly looked after, yields abundantly. Amount AliiOttbd and Pbioe. Twenty acres of land are allotted to each colonist, every purchaser being allowed to make his own choice of location. Price of land without improvements at this date ranges from $50.00 to $75.00 per acre, including a sufl&oient water right deeded in perpetuity. Watbe Supply and Ibeigation. Water for irrigation is obtained from the Buffalo canal, one of the best and surest flowing ditches in Colorado. Fifty cents per acre is charged annually by the water company for the maintenance of the canal. Main laterals, costing several thousands of dollars, have been constructed by the Army ; the cost of these is included in the price of the land. Each colonist constructs the dis- tributing ditches on his own farm. The main laterals are 112 THE POOR AND THE LAND kept in repair jointly by the farmers who draw their supply through the same. The practice of irrigation is comparatively simple and easily understood and does not require any very special skill on the part of the irrigator. A bulletin issued by the Depart- ment of Agriculture at Washington, No. 73, "Irrigation in the Eocky Mountain States," furnishes information in ele- mentary form concerning this subject. Buildings. The Salvation Army makes a cash loan not to exceed $300.00 with which to purchase sufficient material for a good substantial house and bam. Colonists are expected to construct their own buildings, but where they are not capable of doing so, the Army will agree to $25.00 of the above $300.00 being spent in the hire of mechanics to do any difficult work which the colonist cannot undertake alone. Buildings must be of stone, but good rock can be obtained within half a mile of the colony at $2.60 per cord of 100 square feet, loaded on the waggon. Colonists can suit themselves as to the style of house, but plans must be passed by the manager. Outfit. To colonists unable to purchase them, the Army furnishes a team of horses, implements, cow, seed, etc. Work can usually be got by those who desire it, to provide groceries, etc., till the first crop is harvested. Tebms. On land and buildings twelve years' time is given, sub- ject to a contract which will be sent to colonists at the time of their acceptance. For the first two years interest only is expected. Afterwards, one-tenth of total cost each year, with interest at 6 per cent, till the whole is paid. Loans for Uve stock and equipment are secured by chattel mortgage, and are payable in five equal annual instalments, with interest at 6 per cent. THE POOR AND THE LAND 113 Cbops. Among our staple crops are sugar beets, which produce from seven to fifteen tons to the acre, according to the care taken of them, and sell to the sugar factory at from $4.00 to $6.00 per ton. Eocky Ford cantaloupes are also extensively grown and are usually quite profitable ; moreover, the colony possesses exceptional possibilities for dairying and hog rais- ing, the alfaKa pasture making excellent forage. Of fruits : apples, peaches, cherries and plums do well, and we believe small fruits can be made a great success. We do not, however, recommend colonists to put all their eggs into one or two baskets, but urge them to diversify, especially seeing to it that everything required for the sus- tenance of themselves and stock is provided for. " Never sending a dollar off the farm for what the farm will produce " should be the motto of every settler. Mabeets. Denver and other market towns make good outlets for all kinds of produce. Kansas City is not much farther from us, and can take care of a large amount of our goods. Climate. The climate of Colorado is a most desirable and healthy one. All our colonists have been benefited by coming here, especially those suffering from weak lungs. The air is light and bracing, and though the summer days are hot, the nights are always deUghtfully cool. Sunstrokes are said to be un- known in the State. The average winters are mostly mild and open, though at times the cold snaps are severe. General. Good stock water can be had anywhere on the colony at about ten feet. For family drinking water, however, we re- commend that from the artesian well recently sunk on the town site, at a cost of $1,200. Each colonist is obligated to buy a share in this. The price is $15.00, payable in three equal annual instalments. 8 114 THE POOE AND THE LAND Social and Educational. The colony is not in any sense intended for Salvationists only ; in fact, the majority of residents here are not members of the organisation ; we have, however, a properly organ- ised Salvation Army Corps, under the leadership of an experi- enced ofi&cer. Two week-night meetings and several meetings on Sunday are open to all who wish to attend, as well as a carefully superintended Sunday School for the children. The colonists meet as often as practicable for the dis- cussion of topics relating to farming, irrigation, etc., and, as often as circumstances wiU permit, Farmers' Institutes are conducted by the Faculty of the State Agricultural College. Our schools are good, and our district contains more children of school age than any other district in the county, except the county seat. A new school-house has just been completed, at a cost of $2,500, and four teachers engaged for the coming winter. Miscellaneous. We have a post office, with both domestic and foreign money order branches. Our population at the time of writing is about 300. The Salvation Army Cherry Tree Orphanage, costing $20,000, is located here, and is Said to be the finest building in the country. It has accommodation for from eighty to one hundred children.-' Two doctors reside on the ground. Finally. It is well for the colonists to understand that they are starting life in a new country, and must come expecting to do exactly as the pioneer has always been compelled to do, namely, to work long hours and endure some privation for the first year or two. This is a strong man's proposition, and wives and children must unite their efforts in the fields with their husbands and fathers in the struggle to pay for a home. ' This is now a Sanatorium for Consumptives. — H. E. H. THE POOE AND THE LAND 115 No. 29. EEMAEKS ON THE POET HEEEICK COLONY OF THE SALVATION AEMY. 1. Fort Herriek, the third of the Salvation Army Land Colonies in the United States, which I was directed to inspect, is situated in the township of Mentor, about twenty miles from the City of Cleveland, in Ohio, wherewith it is connected by a trarnway that reaches it from Cleveland in one hour and a half, and also by railway lines that run through vineyards and orchard lands. It has an area of some 280 acres of land, of which about 40 are under wood. When I visited it on the 10th of April, 1905, the trees were not yet out, and the only crops visible above the ground were wheat and clover. Still, the situation of the place struck me as pretty, consisting, as it does, of a stretch of flat ground, almost entirely surrounded by native timber. Doubtless this land at some time or other was covered with the waters of Lake Erie. 2. Briefly, this is the history of the Fort Herriek Colony : — In the year 1899 the Honourable Myron T. Herriek, the present Governor of Ohio, whose invitation to stay with him at Columbus I was exceedingly sorry to be forced by circumstances to decline, and Mr. James Parmelee, a citizen of Cleveland, presented the land to the Salvation Army, who at first seem to have contemplated the estabhshment of a settlement there upon the pattern of those at , Fort Eomie and Fort Amity. Indeed, a start was made in this direction, eight or nine famiUes being put upon the land. It was soon found, however (as here irrigation is not prac- tised), that each family required more ground than was available. At first the Authorities of the Salvation Army purposed adding to their area, but this idea they were obhged to abandon, as land adjoining Fort Herriek is very expensive, and funds were not forthcoming to purchase more. The end of it was, therefore, that the settlement plan was given up, and the families who had already come there were provided for in various ways. One went to Fort Eomie and one to Fort Amity, while another remained at Fort Herriek, and others found farms or employment in the neighbourhood. 8 * lie THE POOR AND THE LAND 3. It must, therefore, be clearly tinder stood that Fort Herrick is in no sense a land settlement Colony, nor does it throw any direct light upon the problems on which I am directed to report. 4. Having abandoned their plan of using this place as a land settlement, it occurred to the Salvation Army Authorities that its pleasant and convenient situation made it very suitable for the purpose of the establishment of a small in- dustrial Colony of an agricultural character, somewhat simi- lar in nature to that at Hadleigh, in England, of which a description will be found in an appendix to my report. One of the objects of this Colony, therefore, is more or less to " agriculturise " certain of the city institutions of the Salvation Army, it being intended to transplant thither in process of time some of the semi-charitable sections of their work in the United States, and thus to give the inmates of those sections the advantage of agricultural employment and instruction. It is thought, also, that those of them who may be suitable might afterwards be drafted to regular land settlements, and there started upon an independent career. 5. A commencement has been made in the direction indicated above by the estabUshment at Fort Herrick of an Inebriates' Home. Major MoFee, the manager, informed me that sixty inebriates, taken from the cities, had, up to the date of my visit, passed through this home, during the preceding four months, that is to the 1st of January, and are now, all of them, in good employment. Several of these men also are at work upon the Colony itself, where I saw and spoke with some of them, to all appearance very respectable persons. 6. This success struck me as so remarkable that I en- quired into the causes of it, and found that there is no drinking saloon within nine miles of the Colony, as, under an exercise of what is known as " local option," this is what is called a "dry district"; that is, drink cannot be pur- chased within its limits. Here, it is probable, we have one of the main causes of this sudden access of sobriety among those who, in the immediate past, have been complete strangers to that virtue. Others are, as the sufferers them- selves admit, the country air, which appears to take away their desire for spirituous liquors, and the escape from city life, with its ever-present degradations and temptations. THE POOE AND THE LAND U? 7. However these things may be, that the Inebriates' Home at Port Herrick does a good work there can be no doubt. Thus, for example, one man there, who a year ago was taken from the workhouse — an institution that in the United States partakes of the nature of a penitentiary — has, out of his small pay, now accumulated a banking account which amounts to $60. 8. It is also purposed, when the funds are available, to establish here a home for orphans with a view of their being trained in agriculture. Further, a leading object of the colony is to experiment on certain agricultural Unes in order to gain experience which can be made use of at the land settlements. Thus, the breeding of pigeons, which are known locally as " squabs," and the sale of their young upon the market, has already been undertaken with good success. An apiary, too, has been started, and there is an idea of setting up the industry of the making of hives, which would give employment to many of the unfortunate persons with whom the Salvation Army has to deal. 9. It will be seen, therefore, that this enterprise, although entirely distinct from its land settlements proper and at present largely of a charitable character, is a not unimpor- tant branch of the Army's work in the United States, where it is destined to form the natural connecting Unk between their city institutions and their land settlements. 10. Some short account of the system of farming practised at Port Herrick may be of interest. The soil consists of about eight inches of loam on red clay, which in turn lies upon a porous white clay. It is fairly easy to work if treated at the proper time, but requires manure and dressings of lime to correct the natural acidity. A four-course shift is followed : the clover ley after being ploughed in is succeeded by maize, then come oats, then wheat, with which clover and other grass seeds are sown. The manure is applied for the wheat, and, if available, for the oats as well. Barley, rye and peas are also grown, but from the plant of it which I saw upon the ground, I should judge that here wheat is as reliable a crop as any. Cows and stock are kept, and with these many mis- ceUaneous creatures, some of them not usually found upon a farm. 118 THE POOR AND THE LAND Thus, there are the pigeons, or squabs, akeady mentioned, which seem to be doing extremely well, a fair-sized apiary of ItaUan bees — then just beginning their season's work — turkeys, Pekin ducks, fowls of various sorts, a few pheasants, of the kind that we shoot in England, for which there is now a considerable demand in the United States, and, lastly, some Southern bloodhounds, which find a market here, to be used, I understand, in the tracking of criminals. 11. I walked all over this farm and into the woods with which it is bordered, where the principal timbers are oak, two kinds of maple, ash, sycamore, and bass wood. The land, which is rather liable to hold the water, is drained by open ditches and not with tiles. 12. At one corner of the place, upon a rising meadow, by which flows a stream, I saw the site of the future Agri- cultural Training School, which struck me as weU chosen. 13. A few small pieces of land have been sold off by the Army to cottagers in order to encourage their settlement upon the place. Thus, I visited the house of a Dane, named Greeshange, who has a wife and a family of six bright- looking children. To this man the Army has sold two and a half acres at the rate of $100 per acre, which purchase price he is allowed to pay off in $10 monthly instalments. By working for the Army upon the farm he can earn $35 per month, out of which the $10 due from him on account of the land purchased are stopped. I quote the instance as it struck me as a good way of enabling such people to become the owners of a piece of land, that is where work is available and their labour is desired. 14. It should be remembered, however, that in this part of the United States agricultural hands seem to be scarce. At least. Major McPee informed me that he had applications from neighbouring farmers for the next twenty inebriates that he could turn out as cured. I do not append any individual statements to these re- marks as I have done in the cases of Fort Eomie and Port Amity, since there are no colonists proper at Fort Herrick from whom to take them, and those of the inebriates would scarcely be of value. H. EiDBB Haqgaed, Commissioner, THE POOR AND THE LAND 119 No. 30. FOET HEEEICK COLONY. 9th April, 1905. Notes of an Interview between Commissioner H. Eider Haggard and Commander Booth Tucker. The following persons were also present, viz., Colonel Higgins, Mr. San- son Caygill, Miss Angela E. Haggard, and Mr. Harry Wright. The conversation was opened by the Commissioner, who asked Commander Booth Tucker the following question : — Q. Will you please describe this colony? A. Commander Booth Tucker : Fort Herrick is situated in the township of Mentor, about 20 miles from the city of Cleveland, in Ohio, and consists of about 280 acres ; about 40 acres of wooded land and the balance agricultural. It is watered by natural rainfall. Q. I want you to tell me the history of the Fort Herrick Colony, or Institution. A. Commander Booth Tucker : A short time after we had started our colonies in Colorado and California, about July, 1899, we were offered a piece of land by the Honour- able Myron T. Herrick, the present Governor of Ohio, and Mr. James Parmelee, a prominent citizen of Cleveland. It was first intended to add to this adjoining land, but the price proved to be prohibitive and the funds for such exten- sion unavailable. Moreover, the farm was of an extremely valuable character and peculiarly well suited by its situation for the establishment of some of the Salvation Army charit- able Institutions. We felt, therefore, that it would be a pity to part with the ownership of the land, so we deter- mined to reserve it to serve as a connecting link between the city Institutions and our land settlements. We are, therefore, at present, utiUsing it for this purpose. Q. Have you any settlers there at all ? A. Commander Booth Tucker: There are no settlers there, strictly speaking. The whole institution is under the management of Major and Mrs. McFee, who see to the cultivation of the land and who are also responsible for the management of the small Inebriates' Home which we 120 THE POOR AND THE LAND have established upon it, and for certain agricultural experi- ments which we are making. Q. Did you ever have any settlers there ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : Yes ; we had some eight or nine families. One of the difficulties we experienced was that owing to the fact that the land was not irrigated they wanted more land than we were able to give them in such an expensive location. Q. What became of them ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : Two of them went to our Colonies ; one to Port Eomie and one to Fort Amity. Q. And of the others ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : They have been provided for in various ways. To some of them Fort Herrick has proved a stepping-stone to better opportunities. For in- stance, two sisters had a fine farm on the adjoining hiUs, and took one of our best families into partnership with them. Another landowner in the neighbourhood sold to one of the colonists a nice farm, with a comfortable house upon it, to be paid for in instalments. Q. So they all went away ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : Yes ; they were all looked after in one way or another. Q. Then did the experiment as a settlement come to an end ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : Yes ; about two years ago. Q. Did you inorn: any considerable loss over it ? A. Commander Booth Tucker: Only those expenses in- cidental to the improvement of the land, of which the value now remains. Q. Then after that was the Colony started on a new basis as an industrial settlement ? A. Commander Booth Tucker: Yes; that is so. Our intention is to place some of our other Institutions there, as we get the funds to pay for the necessary buildings. For instance, we want to traiu children in agriculture, and pro- pose to start a children's home for that purpose. Q. What is there then at the present moment ? A. Commander Booth Tucker: We are experimenting there along certain agricultural lines, with a view to intro- ducing them on our settlements if the experiments prove satisfactory, ultimately making the place self-supporting THE POOR AND THE LAND 121 upon an agricultural basis. For instance, we have intro- duced there the " squab " industry, that is the growing of young pigeons for the market. This is reckoned to be a very paying business. Then, again, we have poultry and a few pheasants, for which there is a great demand in some parts of the country. Then we have a dairy business also, and we hope to manufacture bee-hives. Q. How is the place supported ; out of the General Funds of the Army ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : It is partially supported by the dairy, the sale of poultry and so forth, for which there is a great demand in the neighbourhood. Colonel Higgins : At the present time the Salvation Army Industrial Homes Company (Incorporated) runs the Fort Herrick Farm for the Salvation Army, and the Company stands whatever loss is incurred from its working. Q. Well, it is clearly not a colony, so I suppose there is nothing more to say about it ? A. Commander Booth Tucker : No ; it is not. It is in- tended to serve the same purpose as a number of similar Institutions which we have scattered through the world. For instance, we have a " Prison Gate " Home at Colombo, Ceylon, for ex-criminals, whom we train in agriculture, and a similar institution in Cape Town, South Africa, in both of which we have dairy cows, and supply the cities with milk to help to meet the expenses of the home. The Commissioner : Thank you, gentlemen. H. EiDEB Haggakd, Commissioner. F. Booth Tuokeb, Commander. Ed. Jno. Higgins, Chief Secretary. Jos. E. MoFee, Fort Herrick Manager. 122 THE POOR AND THE LAND No. 31. S! 20th April, 1905. Sir, Eefeebing to our various conversations and to the interview that I had the pleasure of holding with you and other officers of the Salvation Army at Fort Amity, Colorado, U.S.A., on the 5th April, 1905, on which occasion you assured me on behalf of the Salvation Army that, in the event of the provision of the necessary capital, your Organi- sation would be willing to undertake "to any extent " its application in the selection of suitable persons to place upon the land, and the management of such settlements on a large scale, I have now the honour to ask you for your formal assurances in writing in confirmation of these statements that I may convey the same to His Majesty's Government. I think it my duty to ask you also what guarantee you are in a position to give to His Majesty's Government that the policy of the Salvation Army in this matter will be continuous, and what arrangements your Organisation has made to insure its permanence as a social and charitable Institution. It has occurred to me that this latter question may in- volve the revealing of matters which the Salvation Army considers as private to itself. In that event I shall be pre- pared to treat them as confidential, and humbly to request His Majesty's Government to do the same. It will be obvious to you that I cannot in justice ask the Government to consent to the handling by your Organisation of considerable sums of money and to its exercise of ad- ministrative authority over large land settlements, such as I have in view, unless these points are made clear beyond all possibility of ambiguous interpretation or of doubt. I have also to ask you whether the Salvation Army would be prepared to work with and under the supervision of an Imperial official, to be appointed by the Government, to be known as the Superintendent of Land Settlements or by some similar title. Should the Government see fit to appoint such an officer, bis duties, I imagine, would include the allocation of funds THE POOR AND THE LAND 123 for the forming and development of individual settlements, the right of inspection of such settlements at aU times, the prevention of the exercise of religious pressure ia any shape upon the settlers or their children, the right to reject any settlers of v?hom he did not approve, and of submitting all accounts to a professional audit. Lastly, I shall be glad to know whether the Salvation Army is prepared to undertake this important work for the sake of charity and for the general good of our Country and its Colonies alone, charging against the colonisation funds provided only the actual salaries paid to the managers of the Colonies and to their subordinates, or whether they would expect any pecuniary return for their labours ? I am. Sir, Yours very truly, H. EiDEE Haggaed, Commissioner. To Commander Booth Tucker, of the Salvation Army. No. 32. SS. Majestic, 2ith April, 1905. Sib, In reply to the various questions contained in your letter dated 20th inst., I would beg to answer them in the affirmative. In the event of the provision of the necessary capital, our Organisation will be prepared to undertake to any extent its appKoation in the selection of suitable persons to place upon the land, and the management of such settlements on a large Humanly speaking, I believe that the policy of the Salva- tion Army in this matter wUl be continuous. Every possible arrangement has been made to ensure the permanence of the Salvation Army as a social and a charitable Institution. Whilst thanking you for your offer to treat information upon this point as confidential, I have to assure you that we have no information to give upon the question which needs to be considered private. Arrangements have been 124 THE POOE AND THE LAND made for the devolution of the leadership and the manage- ment of the Army of a nature which, so far as we can foresee, must ensure its permanence and that of its work upon the present established lines and basis. These arrangements we shall be happy to explain to His Majesty's Government if it is so desired. In the case of the appointment by His Majesty's Govern- ment of a Superintendent of Land Settlements, or other similar of&cer, we shall be perfectly prepared to work with and under his supervision, submitting all accounts to his inspection and inviting in all branches of the undertaking his counsel, scrutiny and co-operation. Furthermore, the Salvation Army is prepared to undertake the work of land settlement anywhere within the boundaries of the British Empire for the sake of charity for the general good alone, charging against the colonisation funds only the actual salaries and out-of-pocket expenses paid to or by the managers of the colonies, their directors and subordinates, together with the cost of the dwellings occupied by the said managers and their assistants. The Salvation Army would expect no other pecuniary return or remuneration of any sort for its labours in this cause. I trust it may not be out of place to take this opportunity of thanking you on behalf of General Booth and the Salva- tion Army for the careful and exhaustive examination which you have made into our American Colonies. Your labours have indeed been monumental. No detail has been too trivial to escape your attention, and no toil too fatiguing for you to undertalre. I would thank you too for the valuable suggestions you have made. We have been glad that your abundant stores of practical experience should have been brought to bear upon the elaboration of this enterprise, and we sincerely hope that you will continue to pass on any suggestions that may occur to you with the assurance that they wiU receive our careful attention. To our colonists themselves, I can assure you, as well as to our managers, your visit has been an inspiration and encouragement, and I sincerely hope that the cause of colonisation may long continue to enjoy both the guidance THE POOR AND THE LAND 125 of your experienced hand and the advocacy of your eloquent pen and tongue. From the considerable knowledge which the leaders of our Organisation possess as to the condition of the working classes and as to the possibilities of colonisation under wise management, we have every confidence in the practicability of your proposals which you have been good enough to explain to me. It is, so far as I am aware, the first definite business-like proposal that has yet been advanced for dealing on a large and scientific basis with what is universally admitted to be one of the most serious problems of the day. Finally, I would venture to congratulate you on the re- markable success of your negotiations with the Canadian Government. That you should have been able to secure from them so exceedingly liberal an offer of land seems to me to augur well for the future success of your proposal. The cordiality of your reception both , in Canada and in the United States, the keen interest with which your mission was regarded by all sections of the public, the extensive notices devoted to it in the daily papers, and the warm sentiments of friendliness towards Great Britain that were so spontaneously expressed, seem to indicate that the results of your visit will be much more far-reaching and beneficial than was originally contemplated. Assuring you once more of our sincere appreciation of the toil your mission has involved, I am. Sir, Yours very truly, Fbbderick St. G. Booth Tockeh. lo H. Eider Haggard, Esq., Commissioner. 126 THE POOR AND THE LAND No. 33. EBMARKS ON THE HADLBIGH COLONY OF THE SALVATION AEMY IN ESSEX, ENGLAND. 1. In the month of February, 1905, 1 thoroughly inspected the Hadleigh Colony of the Salvation Army, which is situated on the banks of the Thames in Essex, i miles from Southend and 39 miles by road from London. 2. The Colony has an area of about 3,000 acres, whereof some 300 or 400 acres are at present let off to a farmer. 3. The land for the most part is a stiff clay, overlying beds of the London Clay. It is poor and cold in character. In fact, its nature can be very well observed in the course of a railway journey from London to Leigh Station. On either side of the line are thousands of acres of a similar- quality, which doubtless once bore good crops of corn. Now, however, the most of it has gone down to wretched pasture of an utterly innutritious nature, much of which the owners or tenants do not even take the trouble to keep clear of brambles and other noxious growths. Of such land as this has been formed the Hadleigh Colony with its 100 acres of fruit trees, its upland and marsh pastures, its brickworks and chicken farms, and its market garden, from which Colony the total receipts for 1904 amounted, I am informed, to over £33,000. 4. When the Salvation Army purchased the place in, the year 1890, at an average cost of about £20 the acre, it consisted of three unoccupied farms, almost devoid of popula- tion. Now the population upon the same land, including the Salvation Army officials and their families and certain employees indirectly associated with the undertaking, numbers over 500 souls, and, including the cost of food and manage- ment expenses, about £180 per week is spent on labour. At the time of my visit also there were employed upon the Colony a further 200 persons, who had been sent thither by the Mansion House Belief Fund Committee. 5. As a result of the establishment of this Salvation Army settlement also, a village has sprung up at Hadleigh, numbering at least 1,300 souls. Thus the populating of empty land has in its turn created a village population. THE POOE AND THE LAND 127 6. The poor persons received upon the Hadleigh Colony are of three classes : — (1) Those who are introduced through the agency of the Salvation Army Social Operations in various parts of England. (2) Those who are sent there by various Poor Law Authorities, with which Authorities agreements have been made for the payment of varying sums on their account for fixed periods, such sums running from five shillings to ten shillings and sixpence per week for periods of from three to twelve months. (3) Special cases introduced either by philanthropic So- cieties or by relatives or friends of persons desiring to receive the benefits of the Colony. The first of these classes (Social Operations of the Salva- tion Army) are generally selected men who have expressed some desire to be trained in pursuits connected with the land. Usually these are persons who, though suffering from misfortune and untoward circumstances, are really anxious to work and recover their positions. In nearly all cases they have expressed a desire to go abroad if found suitable for emigration. Class two, though sent by the Poor Law Authorities, are for the most part selected by officers of the Salvation Army Colony from among able-bodied paupers nominated by the Guardians. They are generally from twenty-five to forty years of age, and drawn from various classes, amongst them being labourers, artisans and, occasionally, professional men. These persons, although paupers, are for the most part respect- able, anxious to improve their positions, and able to work. The third class, namely those sent by philanthropic Societies and by relatives and friends, are generally weak and very unsatisfactory specimens of humanity, who, as a last resource, have sought the shelter of the Salvation Army. 7. The result of the employment of this class of labour is to make the working of the Colony very expensive, owing to the necessity there is of maintaining a number of persons who are practically " wastrels " and by no means pay for their keep. Hadleigh Colony, therefore, cannot be con- sidered from the point of view of an ordinary commercial undertaking, as it partakes largely of the nature "of a charity. 128 THE POOE AND THE LAND I understand, however, that the annual deficit, which in 1892 amounted to between £4,000 and £5,000, is now very small, and when the brickworks, etc., are fully developed there seems to be a probability that it will be wiped out altogether. 8. I have not gone into the finance of the place very thoroughly or obtained any independent valuations as I had no object in so doing, but I am informed that the total capital invested in the Colony is about £130,000. Of this amount about £70,000 is represented by the lands and buildings ; £30,000 by the brickworks and other industries, and another £30,000 by stock and implements. As in the case of those in the United States, this Colony was started without sufficient capital, with the result that it is mortgaged or otherwise forms the security for about £100,000, borrowed at i per cent, per annum to pay for it and to start the various industries, etc. Still, the financial position seems to be quite sound, as I am told and can well believe that at the present day it, and the industries con- nected with it, must be valued at well over £200,000. The resvdt of its estabUshment upon land values in the immediate neighbourhood is certainly remarkable. Thus an adjoining property is, I was assured, being offered at £60 the acre, which in 1890 would have fetched much nearer £10 the acre. 9. From the ruins of Hadleigh Castle, where Anne Boleyn was imprisoned, I obtained a good view of the Hadleigh Colony. Beneath lay some 600 acres of marshes, part of the Salvation Army estate. These are used as graz- ing grounds to fatten stock in summer; also Shire horses are bred here. The marshes are bordered by an estuary of the Thames, known as " Hadleigh Bay," which belongs to the Army. Here is a wharf for loading and unloading barges, which is fitted with steam plant, but as yet no direct connection has been made between it and the London and Tilbury Eailway. Also there are six and a quarter miles of sea wall, which has an average height of sixteen feet and is built of clay and protected in places by stone facing and wooden piles. This wall has been heightened by the Army, and its upkeep is very expensive. Normally this costs about £200 a year, but in 1905, owing to the high tide of 30th December, 1904, THE POOE AND THE LAND 129 it will cost £500. This tide also damaged 200 acres of marsh land by submerging it in salt water. Hence also can be seen the short railway built by the Army which terminates at the wharf on the Eay, where aU bricks produced upon the Colony are laden, and materials used, such as coals, manure, etc., are unloaded, Most of the manure, however, is brought from Southend at a cost of from three shillings and sixpence to five shillings per load. London manure delivered at the wharf only costs about three shillings per load. Still it comes more expensive than that which is purchased at Southend, as the haulage to the upland part of the Colony amounts to another three shillings per load. 10. Still looking from the Castle, I saw to the West No. 1 brickfield, that in February was not working. When in operation it has a possible output of 6,000,000 bricks per annum and an actual output of about 4,000,000. 11. To the east of this brickfield is a reservoir with a capacity of 1,250,000 gallons, which was in course of con- struction by the labour of men from various London Poor Law Unions. These men receive from sixpence to two shillings and sixpence per week and their food from the Sal- vation Army, which pays them in accordance with the value of their work. Subsequently I visited both this brickfield and the reser- voir, whereof the watershed is formed by the slopes of hills that rise on either side of a Uttle vaUey which runs down to the Eay. At the foot of this valley is a deep ditch that carries much water in the winter and at any time of rain. This ^ ditch was in course of being tapped about 150 yards above the reservoir which it will feed by means of cemented pipes. - Two men were digging the pipe trench, a groom from Ireland and an engineer from London, who had lost their employment. They were doing their work very well. The dam, or reservoir, had been thirteen weeks in course of construction, and up to that time had cost about £150. It is a large triangular excavation, dug in firm clay, which will need no concrete or puddling at the bottom, although a little cementing may be necessary on the sides. The water stored here will be of benefit to the neighbouring brickworks. 12. One of the troubles with which the Salvation Army 9 130 THE POOR AND THE LAND has to deal at Hadleigh is a lack of water. Many thousands of pounds have been spent on two artesian wells, the cheaper of which cost £4,000 and is yielding 20,000 gallons a day, which is as much as the present plant can lift. Even now there is not sufScient water, but the new reservoir wiU help matters in this respect. 13. On my way to the temporary dining haU I saw the causeway or raised road which was made last year by the help of unemployed labour from London. It is 250 yards long and cost about £450, but the London Unemployed Committee made a grant of £150 towards the work. 14. In the dining haU I found about 160 men at their mid-day meal. First we visited the kitchen, which is fitted with a steam-cooking apparatus. The food is distributed by cooks, who serve out a liberal portion on a plate to which are added parsnips, boiled potatoes and bread. Tea is also given in large mugs, and the meat is foUowed by tart or pudding. Three meals are furnished a day ; the average cost per head of feeding these men being about one shilling and twopence per day, which suf&ces to provide them with an ample supply of good and wholesome food. Some of the men are fed rather more plentifully and better than others, the supply being proportioned in accordance with their per- sonal and physical character and that of the labour which they do. I tasted some of the food and found it excellent. The dinner I have already described. For breakfast the fare consists of a good-sized plate of oatmeal porridge, bread, butter and tea, with corned beef or German sausage, and for tea bread, butter, some fresh or preserved meat and tea. I spoke to several of the men and lads here and elsewhere. In substance all their stories were very similar. Either they had fallen out of work and were starving or they were wan- dering about the streets, or they had " gone to the bad ". In every case the Salvation Army had picked them up, and they assured me that they were happy and contented. As a specimen I will quote an interview with one of the cooks. Q. What were you before you came to the Colony ? A. Brushmaker in London, sir. Q. Did you fall out of work ? THE POOE AND THE LAND 131 A. Yes. Q. Got in a bad way ? A. I did, in London and around the country. Q. The Salvation Army picked you up ? A. They did. Q. And you are now a cook here ? What do you look for- ward to doing ultimately ? Going out to be a cook ? A. I want to go to Canada in the spring. The men at work in this kitchen were a most respectable- looking set, but I was told that they all came to the Colony in a ragged and destitute condition. 15. In this building I saw also a number of Poor Law cases, that is men sent to Hadleigh by Boards of Guardians. The overseers informed me that many of them were respect- able hard-working men and that, although London bred, in most cases they were working well. 16. Afterwards I visited the lowest grade dormitory, where men are put when first they come to the Colony. The bedding here is not so good as that in the higher class, but it consists of a seaweed mattress, covered in American cloth, with eight mihtary blankets and a pillow to each bed. There are twenty beds in a division, and by each of them stands a box provided for the storage of the belongings of its occupant. Also there are admirable regulations to ensure cleanliness and comfort, and at the end of the building is the cubicle in which an orderly sleeps. Smoking is prohibited in the bed- chambers, and theft, I was assured, is exceedingly rare. 17. In the higher grade dormitory, which I saw also, the bedding is superior, and the sleeping places are divided into ten bed compartments. A man is raised in his grade if he works well and satisfactorily and his general character and conduct are proved to be good. If he is raised to this higher class dormitory he is also raised to a higher class dietary, and receives food of rather better quality and more ample in quantity. 18. Here I may state that the men are, as far as possible, paid by piece work, and there have been some in the colony who have taken as much as fifteen shUUngs per week, in addition to their board and lodging. At the time of my visit one man was receiving nine shillings a week for clay digging, and another, working on the market garden, seven 9* 132 THE POOK AND THE LAND shillings and threepence per week, in either case plus their board and lodging. Both of these men came from a Lon- don Poor Law Union. The average man, however, is paid about three shillings per week, of course in addition to board and lodging. 19. Next I visited the laundry, where all the washing is done by rnen. The colonists parcel up their clothes and place them on their beds in bundles. These are collected, washed by the laundrymen, who are also colonists, and re- turned to the bed free of charge on the Saturday morning. Those men are employed in washing who prove not strong enough to work outside in all weathers. 20. Attached to this building are four bathrooms, which upon four nights a week any man can use. I give specimen conversations with a man named Dorey and a lad named Barnes, whom I saw here. Dorey. Q. How long have you been here ? A. Pour and a half years, sir. Q. What were you before you came ? A. Sanitary engineer. Q. Went astray, I suppose ? A. Yes. Q. Not astray now ? Doing all right ? A. Yes. Q. You are superintendent of the laundry ? A. Yes. Barnes. Q. Where do you come from ? A. London, sir. Q. What were you doing there ? A. Only walking about the streets. Q. Why were you walking about the streets ? Have you a mother? A. Yes. Q. Could not your mother support you ? A. No. Q. You were getting a living the beat way you could, THE POOR AND THE LAND 133 and then the Salvation Army found you and you were sent to this colony by a lady ? A. Yes. Q. How long have you been here now ? A. Four months, sir. 21. I then went on to the hospital, but there was no one in it except the orderly. It seemed a very suitable build- ing which is attended by a medical practitioner from Leigh every day, who is paid a fixed salary. Beyond it was a dormitory of forty beds occupied by some of the London unemployed. 22. I also saw the brickyards which do not need especial description. They are very fine places of the sort, and turn out enormous quantities of bricks. One of them has a chimney stack 150 feet high, built of the Colony bricks and for the most part by Colony labour. This yard is actuated by a steam engine of 350 brake horse-power which cost £800. When the new machine which was being put in is completed, it wiU turn out 6,000 bricks a day, and if it proves successful others will be added. There are several of these brickworks, and in one of them we saw hand-moulded bricks being made which fetch as much as eighty shillings per 1,000. The office clerk of this yard, I was informed, once was a major in the British Army, and all the men employed there had been redeemed upon the Colony. 23. Further, I inspected the Colony agriculture. The poul- try farm, where prize birds are bred, was very interesting, although, owing to the character of the seasons, it has not paid during the last two years. The great difficulty with which the manager of this poultry farm has to contend is the damp clay soil, that in spite of every care and protection kills a number of chickens in very cold weather, especially those of what are called the "lighter" varieties. Indeed for this reason Brahmas, Dorkings, Minorcas and some other fowls which love a light gravel soil wiU not do here. White Wyandottes, Partridge Wyandottes, Orpingtons, white and barred Books and many others flourish however, and some pens of five birds have been sold recently at as high as £7 per pen. In all, 2,500 head of stock birds are kept, which are looked 134 THE POOE AND THE LAND after by an expert superintendent, who has been m charge for ten years, and one underman, the remaining labour being done by the colonists. Hearson's 100- egg incubators are used, but the foster mothers are made by the colonists themselves. There is also a splendid herd of pedigree middle-white sows. At the time of my visit there were 250 pigs upon the Colony, but in summer the number sometimes rises to 500. They are kept in an excellent range of sties, which are well ventilated, with proper sloping floors and outside yards. 24. Close to the sties is a field of good land measuring about 15 acres, which last season yielded a record crop of potatoes, while from the next field in the same year came swedes that took the third prize at the Dairy Show at the Agricultural Hall in London. Near by stands a line of ten cottages, good substantial buildings in red brick, with gable windows. These cottages cost a total of £2,000, and are let at a rental of six shillings per week, inclusive of water rate, to gangers and others employed by the Salvation Army. 25. Adjoining the cottages is a range of glasshouses run by the market garden department. The first of these was full of mint, almost ready to cut for the London market. Next came one with garden stuff, such as chrysanthemum and geranium cuttings and some foliage plants ; then another of mint, a paying winter crop, which was shortly to be sup- planted by tomatoes, that stood ready in pots in another house. Beneath the stages of these houses rhubarb is forced. At the time of my visit it was being pulled and done up in bundles to be marketed at Southend, where it fetches one shilling and threepence per dozen bundles. Also there were cold frames planted with lettuce, and be- hind them a rose bed. 26. Further, I visited the dairy where the milk of nineteen cows is dealt with, also I saw the cows themselves and the bull, a very fine red Lincoln. This dairy is well fitted with milk coolers, and Alfa Lavel separator, churns and steam cleansing plant. Near by are the excellent stabling for twelve horses and a number of boxes for cows and fatting beasts. THE POOR AND THE LAND 135 27. Opposite these buildings lie the Colony allotments, which can be taken by the colonists free of charge, all the produce being their own property. Bach plot measures about six rods. 28. Further, I inspected the Salvation Army School, where I found about 100 boys and girls singing a hymn, some 60 per cent, of these children coming from Hadleigh village. The Salvationist schoolmaster, Mr. Collins, is a properly qualified man, and the school receives a county grant. Mr. Collins put various questions to the scholars upon religious, mathematical and general knowledge subjects, all of which they answered intelligently in my presence. 29. Near to the school is the citadel, or gathering hall, a large corrugated iron building with seats for about 400 persons. Here reUgious services are held, and every Sa- turday night a popular concert. At these gatherings every colonist is expected to attend, the object of them being to provide entertainment which wUl induce men to keep away from the pubUc-house. 30. I may mention here that I was informed that the relationship existing between the Army of&cials and other religious bodies in the neighbourhood is good. It is said that no pressure is brought to bear upon any man to force him to conform to the religious principles of the Army. In proof of this it was reported to me that on the Sunday pre- vious to my visit the manager, Mr. Ihffe, had attended the Parish Church, accompanied by about 100 of the colonists. 31. Lastly I was shown the Inebriates' Home, an old mansion with a large garden, which has been adapted to this purpose, and is licensed for twenty male inebriates. One of the rooms was fiUed with wood carvings that had been executed by the patients and were for sale. Inebriates are taken in here at a charge of from twenty-five to thirty shillings per week, and the Salvation Army Authorities stated to me that from 60 to 70 per cent, of them are per- manently reclaimed after an average period of eight months' treatment. 32. I forgot to mention that near to the residence of the manager is a large store. Here vegetables, etc., are brought, sorted, loaded into vans and sent to Southend, where the Colony has its own market, in which the produce is sold at wholesale rates to various dealers. 136 THE POOE AND THE LAND 33. To sum up, the Hadleigh Settlement is to my mind an instance of the extraordinary results which can be at- tained by wretched men working on land that the ordinary agriculturist would also call wretched. Putting aside its most valuable charitable and social uses, it shows what could be done with much cold English soil if only sufficient capital and labour were applied to that soil. 34. General Booth and other of the Army Authorities, how- ever, informed me that they had been much hampered in their efforts to house and provide work for yet larger num- bers of destitute persons at Hadleigh by the action of the Eural District Authorities, who insist upon the carrying out of regulations as to methods of building and the material used, which the Salvation Army managers, as practical persons, consider to be absurd, vexatious, and needlessly expensive. 35. It is a remarkable fact that there are no policemen on duty on the Hadleigh Colony, as, notwithstanding the rough nature of many of its inhabitants, they are not needed there. Indeed, three years have passed since a drunk and disorderly case against any colonist was brought before the Magistrates. This immunity from crime doubtless arises from the kind but strict discipline practised in the Colony, the moral tone which has grown up there, and from the circumstance that temperance is enforced. If by chance a man is found to be drunk he is warned, and should he repeat his offence he is sent off the place. There is practically no need for any other form of punish- ment. H. EiDEE Haggaed, Commissioner. THE POOB AND THE LAND 137 No. 34. EEMAEKS ON THE WOEK OF THE VACANT LOTS CULTIVATION ASSOCIATION AT PHILADELPHIA, UNITED STATES OE AMEEICA. On the 6th of March, 1905, I attended a meeting at the house of Mr. Kirkbride at Philadelphia, where Mr. PoweU, the Manager of the Vacant Lots Association, who had ac- companied me from New York, gave a very interesting lecture, illustrated by views, on the work of the Association. Briefly, the history of this Philadelphia Association is as follows : Eight or nine years ago, it occurred to certain charitable people in Philadelphia, that some of the large quantity of land in and around the city which has been purchased and is reserved for building sites, might be put to a profitable temporary use if permission could be gotten for poor folk to cultivate it in summer. There seems to have been considerable difficulty, how- ever, in obtaining such permission. Out of a total of many thousand acres — I gathered that in all the unoccupied area, indeed, amounts to between 20,000 and 30,000 acres — only 300 acres have been so loaned by their owners, and these are held subject to a ten days' notice to quit. The lecturer stated that were it possible to obtain it, a very large extra quantity of land could be thus employed, as the demand for gardens is great and increasing. Meanwhile such gardens as are cultivated have proved a wonderful success. I beheve I am right in saying that whereas the total charitable expenditure upon them amounts up to date to about £6,000, the total value of the produce sold of them up to date by their cultivators amounts to about £60,000. The moral and physical results upon those members of the population to whom the gardens have been allotted, in- cluding those gardens which are given to school children to handle, are very remarkable. Men who were drunkards have ceased to drink ; men and women who were in extreme poverty have managed, by their help, to eke out a comfort- able existence, and men who were very weak and feeble 138 THE POOE AND THE LAND have become strong. Moreover, another result has been a curious heightening of the moral tone, both of the cultivators of the plots and of members of the class from which they spring. Thus, although these allotments are practically un- protected, theft of the fruits and vegetables grown upon them is, in fact, unknown. In all these and other ways it would seem, therefore, that so far the working of the plan has proved practicable, profit- able, and advantageous to those whom it was desired to aid. A further fruit of it is that a number of persons have ob- tained a practical knowledge of the art of cultivation, which knowledge I believe some of them have put to use in a wider field. It must be borne in mind, however, that these ends could not have been reached except through the aid of charity. The land is given for nothing ; it is manured for nothing, with refuse from the city, or with artificial dressings provided by the Association. Seeds are also given for no- thing, the labourer being expected to furnish only his own tools. On the following day I drove to visit the Vacant Lots. Passing through three or four miles of. the city we came, at length, to land not yet built upon. There, upon each side of the roadway, lay some of the lots enclosed respectively by a low and broken stone wall, and with an iron fence in which were intertwined branches of trees. Of course, at this time of the year, with snow about and actually falling, there was not much to be seen upon the ground itself, although the evidences of the labour of the lot-holders were plentiful in the shape of the dry stems of Indian corn and old bean stalks. I observed also that upon some of the lots the gardeners had themselves collected piles of manure, to be used as soon as the frost was out of the ground, which I should add is a clay-loam on clay. On others were " hales " or pits, con- taining cabbages, carrots, parsnips, beets, etc., grown upon the land last summer, and stored here until they can be profitably disposed of or used. Also rough sheds had been erected to contain tools and afford shelter to the workers. Passing on I came to another tract of land situated between railway lines, which for three years was cultivated under the auspices of the Vacant Lots Association, but at the end of THE POOR AND THE LAND 130 that period had been taken away from them because there was some prospect of its being sold. The owners, however, allowed the gardeners to continue to work their lots, which five families are still doing, without any assistance in money or kind from the Association. This instance is of interest, since it shows how, when once the desire to hold and to work land has been estabhshed, it will gratify itself even in the face of difficulties and of a lack of outside support. Near by to this land I saw cottages which are inhabited by some of the poor of this district, whereof it would be difficult to say more than that they stand among trees, and, therefore, have the advantage of the country air. In appear- ance, however, they were certainly somewhat wretched look- ing when compared with most of the dwellings of a similar sort in England, For instance, one of them was built of boarding painted red, with shabby out-houses and having its sanitary conveniences open to the road. Others were more substantially constructed of stone, washed with concrete, having wooden roofs covered with slag. These dwellings contained four rooms, two below and two above, and I daresay, are warmer and more comfortable than their outward appearance would seem to suggest. The pre- vaihng note about them, and one which, speaking generally, is not very common in country cottages in England, was the strange untidiness of their surroundings. The palings were broken down, irregular and unmended, while in the surround- ing plots, where a garden should have been, lay heaps of rubbish. I was informed that the tenants of these shanties earn from £1 to 30s. per week, plus any extra money which may be brought in by their children who work in the mills close at hand. For their poor dwellings they pay a rent of from twenty to thirty shillings a month. ' It seemed to me that the weak point abdut this Vacant Lots Association is that it is a charity pure and simple, unanimated by any life of its own, and, tUerefore, sooner or later, when the subscriptions fail, or, foi? some cause unfore- seen, interest in it flags, liable to die. 'Ip.deed, in. at least two other American cities which I visited, this has happened. Meanwhile it does much good work, not the least part of which is that it teaches to indigent townsfolk the uses of the 140 THE POOE AND THE LAND land, and shows them what profit and health can be earned out of that land. If, after a while, a rent were charged for these plots it would put matters on a better basis. This, however, is difficult where very poor folk are concerned, where also they are liable to be called upon to give up their holdings at ten days' notice. H. EiDEB Haggabd, Commissioner. COLOISIST S lldUSK, FOUT ROMIE. colonist's housk, fort HOMIE. THE POOR AND THE LAND 141 a |Zi h:| B B^ CQ O c5 w ►:] P3 1^ H . gig '-'£; CQID 150 HS- Ho !ziM 5o2 OcQ MS ' gi^ IziO HO 13 H CO H EH M X o K 11 oa •(pnn^j Smiting -(jubo iBd I Saipnpui) -^aao lad 9 JO ttB^d puBi'Baz ii8^ no sijsraopo ^q •moi to 'jiodsueij, u3 -paBj puB paag . •90UBJ10IXB 10 "* pooj ,8q!juoai 9aj^ iH* CD d" o" o" q" o' rH Cq CO •'iH O O O s« OlOOOOOOOC rH CM CO -^ii O O O < tH CM lO < •SmouB^ puB B;n9ra9idrai e^ •3I0OJS-9AIT •snOTg paB S93'BW00 •pnBrj JO S9J0y SB >oo 188 'H CV310OM3OOOOO rHCO-^CDlOOlOO rH CO I> »0 s« •SS8 o o o ooo lo'o'o'o o q" iH rH CO t- t-;,»0 o O O O O I CO OOOOi rH O O O O ' >oo oo rH 00 CD tH CM O ( rH (N CQ a3< •Sfinog *s9ixnn^i3[ O O O O OQO C o o OO oo ( »0 «3 O >0 O O ( cqiot-oioooo rH rf M ■s •9 3 1 a -d n El 5 1 1 ^5 s m l>>.S ftJ2 o is 5 -« ^ 03 15 II 11 rH 1 onld prob mns 3, 4 ough the CO N n o 11 ^ ^ii a «=3 S 142 THE POOK AND THE LAND |il O CQ t3 tq M CQ H pq pq O P3 CM QH ooo^ooo r-TlO cf O lO O lO O i-t (M CQ b- lO b- iO rH CO t- 'mob igd 'sgx ^B pnBI no ^nataxu^sni ••pisa 3si 9 'u«oi no Biax^og otojj punj; Snpiatg puB ^ssia^nj CO I !0 oo < )0 o =« tN o o o o o o o.o rHOOOOOOOO CTOOOOOOO th" «" oo" •« cT o c? o rH rH Cq CO CN O Q rH CO (D rHOOOQe . r-Tr-Tcocqiooioo tH rH Cq lO r-f t- »0 rH Cq lO ■;jnoo lad ^ 'ffijqaQ pBg pnB 'eaupnng 'sajaxre^j ■^neo J9d X 's^naraoAOjdnii jeiauao pnB ^naraaSBUBji •:mao lad x 'pnnj: Snjjpiig rH o < qi >00 OOOQ lOQ QQ oo imoo o oo =« (Moooooogo oooSoooo CMOOOOOOO •^nao jad g %•« nBOi no ^saiajni ■(aaij puBi) inamajiHag loj nBOT; tOOOOOOOOO oooooooo cooSooooo CO oooooooc ^ CM O O O O O Q C CM CO ■'H O O O C •sajxraiB^ CDOOQOOOOC rHOOOOOOOC ! O OOOOOO >oo og o oo ) o »o o o o o o uab^o w owo rH CM iO CM lO rH CM oooooc rHO»OC^OOOS rH"rH"cM X5 C3 115 O rH CM «3 THE POOR AND THE LAND 143 1^ W o CQ Q EH 02 Ci O != EH o o ^§ CO fiaO . o ^ s§ oo o OO CO O O O Q O < — 1 CO ■* (N O O < rH CN CO GO CO C P. a CIS a '8? »o t* O lO o o" T-t CM iO lO iH Q O O O O Q O Q rH O lO O rH r-icN «3 O O 144 THE POOK AND THE LAND No. 38. Telegram from His Excellency Earl G-rey, Governor-General of Canada, to Commissioner H. Bider Haggard. To Eider Haggard, New York. 19th April, 1905. Pleasant voyage to you all. May the Eeport you take home weave Canada closer than ever into one piece with England and be the means of providing happy homes for thousands of the worthy disinherited who, without hope, throng the city life of Great Britain. Grey. SOME PEBSS OPINIONS ON THE FOEEGOING EBPOET AND SCHEME OF NATIONAL LAND SETTLEMENT. The Times (Leading article). — Mr. Bider Haggard has completed with commendable despatch a work of great interest to all who have at heart the national welfare. . . . On the whole, Mr. Rider Haggard .brings back a distinctly favourable account of the experiments In America. He records some failures or miscalculations ; he records still more impressive successes; and he presents the outlines of a scheme, framed with the lessons of the American Agricultural Colonies before Mm, and after consultation with men of practical experience, for colonisation on a large scale. With the object which he had in view there will be general sympathy. The drift to the town ; the severance from the land of people who become degraded physically and otherwise in great cities ; the sight of vast tracks of fertile land lying uncultivated, while thousands annually move helplessly and blindly towards cities, there to mix in a population of waifs and drift- wood ; the " tendency to race-ruin, a, product of our Western culture," due greatly to living in crowded quarters of great cities — all that is so grave an evil that any alleviation of it is to be prized. . . . Mr. Eider Haggard has done a public service in collecting the information con- tained in his Report, and in making suggestions which may prove fruitful. . . . Mr. Rider Haggard will, it is to be hoped, be enabled to continue his inquiries, and tell us how his plan can be carried out in England, dear land, excessive rates and the rising demands of rural district Councils notwithstanding. The Standard (London). — The country is to be congratulated upon the obviously thorough and energetic manner in which Mr. Haggard has performed the task imposed upon him. The subject of this very valuable document is one in which the public . . . will take a lively interest. Particularly should we welcome a scheme for the emigration of those classes of the community which are cared for in The Salvation Army Colonies, and with which Mr. Haggard is specially concerned. We may fairly hazard the hope that the project will survive in its main features any criticism to which it may be subjected. Morning Post. — The whole scheme (i.e. the Unemployed Workmen Bill) appears to us to proceed on wrong lines. In the profoundly interesting Report by Mr. Rider Haggard which was published yesterday ... a wiser and far more hopeful policy is advocated. . . . We urge the fullest consideration for such plans and extreme caution in dealing with the problem in the manner proposed by the Government. 10 145 146 PRESS OPINIONS Daily Telegraph. — His oonoluaions are confidently afSrmative, and the Eeport now published as a Blue Book, in which he frames the plan which he thinks would prove most conducive to the desired end, will possibly remain at the same time the most important and the least read of his varied literary achievements. Daily News. — The importance of such a mission can hardly be over- estimated, in view of its bearing on the unemployed question here, and Mr. Kider Haggard has carried it through so thoroughly and practically that the result is a Report of the first importance. . . . We hope that Mr. Haggard's Beport will be widely read, not merely in summaries, but also in its original fulness. Daily Ghfomcle. — Mr. Eider Haggard's Report is, as we anticipated some weeks ago, a most interesting and suggestive document ; and, as we shall see, it is by no means only in the air. The Salvation Army and the Rhodes Trustees are to be congratulated on having been the means of procuring so valuable a collection of data for what may be- come a great Imperial experiment. . . . Mr. Lyttelton selected Mr. Rider Haggard for the work; he could hardly have made a better choice; . . . Mr. Rider Haggard finds the touch of magic in " turning to practical account the public credit and the waste forces of benevo- lence ". Daily Mail. — The Beport ... is full of interest. The Daily Express. — For all who are attempting, in whatever capacity, to grapple with the problem of providing an outlet for the population of our overcrowded cities, a vista of hope and encourage- ment is opened by Mr. Haggard's Report on The Salvation Army Over-Sea Oolonies. . . . For so excellent an end the Imperial Govern- ment should have no difficulty in devising financial means. Mr. Rider Haggard's plan for settling the landless men of the Eng- lish towns on the manless lands of Canada has aroused general interest. It is welcomed alike by Commissioner Booth Tucker, of The Salvation Army, who founded the Farm Oolonies in the United States, which Mr. Haggard takes as models for his scheme, and by Mr. W. T. B, Preston, the Canadian Commissioner for Emigration in London, who has done so much in the last few years to direct the stream of emigration to Canada. "It is an Imperial scheme," said Mr. Preston to a Gazette and JEiX;pr«ss representative yesterday. "It relieves England of thousands of families who have no outlook here, and who will probably cost the ratepayers much money to maintain. The enormous advantage which this surplus population would be to Canada, or to other British Colonies, can hardly be estimated by people at home. " Canada ought to get 250,000 emigrants a year to develop her lauds. Last year we got 134,000, of whom rather more than a third came from England, the rest from the Continent and the United States. " We would rather have more people from Great Britain, and this scheme for settling British people in Canada is a real piece of Imperial consolidation." PRESS OPINIONS 147 The Globe. — While very varying opinions wUl obtain as to the practicability of Mr. Bider Haggard's scheme for checking the continuous drifting of rural labour to towns, there can be no dissent from vfarm approval of the patriotism directing his endeavours. The Evening Standard and St. James's Gazette. — Mr. Eider Haggard's Blue Book published this week may be the beginning of a new move- ment to fill up the waste lands of the Empire with men and women, and boys and girls, whose "limbs were made in England". At least it ought to lead to such a result, for it suggests a plan which seems practicable and sound, and only needs wise prevision and concerted efEort to be successful. The Echo. — Mr. Rider Haggard's extremely interesting Report on the possibility of encouraging emigration from the slums to the Colonies is certain of a favourable reception. . . . That something must be done to turn back the tide which carries the rural population to our towns we are all agreed. ... At least it is clear from Mr. Haggard's Report that the trial is worth making. There ought to be no hesitation about providing the necessary funds. Pall Mall Gazette. — Mr. Rider Haggard has found success realised in those agricultural settlements which have been used for the absorp- tion of some sections of the lapsed masses from American cities, and he is encouraged to believe that a similar efiort to dispose of a portion of our own derelict population in Canada would afford a partial cure for social problems. The Canadian Government is prepared to be liberal in the matter of land, and The Salvation Army would no doubt place its organisation at our disposal as in the case of the American undertakings. If emigration from this country is to continue, it could not take a better form than that of transmuting those who are an economic failure at home into prosperous and useful citizens of another province of the Empire. It is a project, of course, which cannot be executed without public assistance, and those who are prepared to undertake it must be ready to discount a certain element of failure and disappointment until the lines of safe development have been dis- covered and established. The Daily Mirror. — The great thing is to get it started, and to realise that we are "laying great bases" for the future . . . and the sooner we begin the better, for the Problem of the Poor grows more pressing every day. The Morning Advertiser. — His scheme is thoroughly practical and sympathetic. He believes, and seems to have good grounds for the be- lief, that it would work well, and to the great advantage of the Em- pire and the race. . . . His scheme is certainly deserving of the most attentive consideration, and indeed it is easy to be convinced that it deserves immediate trial. The Spectator.— M.X. Bider Haggard has issued a Report which is both a valuable account of an interesting and successful experiment, and an indication of a possible solution for some of our unemployed problems. . . . The scheme has obvious difficulties, but it is at any rate a suggestion which is well worth the most serious consideration. 10* 148 PRESS OPINIONS The Saturday Beview. — Mr. Kider Haggard's Eeport on The Salva- tion Army Oolonies in the United States and Hadleigh is, as Mr. Gerald Balfour described in the debate on the Unemployed Bill, hope- ful. . . . There will, no doubt, be the usual outcry about the perils of State interference ; but Mr. Haggard believes in the vital necessity of settling people on the land, and is convinced that this can only be done satisfactorily by the State. Whenever a man looks at facts as they are, the " self-help " apostle appears foolish. The People. — All I can say is, I hope and trust the Scheme will be taken up at once, and that we in this country shall not lag behind the vigorous efiorts that Canada is ready and waiting to make to help us in this direction. Reynolds's Weekly Newspaper. — ^The Official Eeport by Mr. Rider Haggard on The Salvation AJaay Land Settlements in the United States is a valuable contribution to the solution of the problem of the decentralisation of the population. The publication of this Eeport on the eve of the passing of the second reading of the Unemployed Bill in the House of Commons by a huge majority has a special significance. To-Day . — ^Though there are one or two things in Mr. Eider Haggard's Eeport on the possibilities of Canadian immigration with which I am not in complete sympathy, I fully agree with him in his suggestion that something might be done to colonise England on the same lines as the proposed Canadian settlements. The Outlook. — There is much instructive matter in Mr. Rider Haggard's Blue Book, which contains a critical account of The Salva- tion Army Colonies in the United States and Canada. The Mark Lame Express. — Home Colonies of this kind might prove to be something more than refuges for the man who has been unfortun- ate in the town, but who still has brain and muscle, and is possessed by the desire to work out an honourable destiny. Such Colonies as these might prove labour nurseries — nurseries of that labour whose absence £com the land is precipitating danger and menace. . . . This Eeport of Mr. Eider Haggard's, with its clear-eyed prescience, and its generous pulsations of sympathy, and its statesmanlike grasp. . . . The QtMi/rdian. — A " Commission of one" as a means of investiga- tion is likely to grow in favour with the public from the prompt and businesslike way in which Mr. Eider Haggard has despatched the work which the Colonial Office gave him to do. . . . Mr. Haggard finds that the Salvation Army has made mistakes, as was to be expected ^ it has also profited by them; and generally can point to a measure of success quite compensating for previous failures. The Christian. — At last we have a really practical scheme for deal- ing with the question of overcrowding. The Eeport of Mr. Eider Haggard, as Special Commissioner, to inquire into the working of The Salvation Army's Land Scheme in the_United States, is enthusiastically in favour of this Scheme being applied imperially. In the States prairie land has been converted into arable laud, worked by men who PRESS OPINIONS 149 a short time ago were stifling in large oitiea. The whole Eeport should be read in order to gain an idea of the benefit this scheme has been. Now the Canadian Government ofiers a free grant of 240,000 acres for a similar purpose, and the land is offered to English workers. Such redistribution of land and workers is the only way out of the difficulty of overcrowding. The centres must be thinned in favour of the solitary places. Country Life. — Mr. Eider Haggard's Eeport on The Salvation Army Colonies in the United States is a document of the utmost importance to all who have the welfare of the country at heart. . . . There is, however, a residue who would gladly escape from the sordid struggle of the towns, and it is for their benefit that Mr. Eider Haggard has outlined a scheme which we hope will find favour with the English people and their Government as it has already received acceptance from President Eoosevelt in the United States and from Sir Wilfrid Laurier. South Africa. — The basis of a thoroughly practical scheme by means of which the manlesB land and the landless man will be brought into association, and we look forward with every confidence to seeing it put into operation in Ehodesia and other South African Colonies at no distant date. A comprehensive scheme carried out on the lines indicated by Messrs. Booth-Tucker and Haggard would, we are convinced, be a fin- ancial success from the very beginning, and there is no reason why immediate steps should not be taken to put it into effect. The African World. — Mr. Rider Haggard's Report on The Salvation Army Colonies in Canada is an eminently practical document, and should lead to definite action on the part of the Government ... he advises the Imperial Government to send a special Commissioner to South Africa to see what arrangements can be made there for receiving immigrants from this country. Writing from both personal knowledge and on the evidence of experts, Mr. Haggard regards South Africa, and particularly Ehodesia, as well suited for the carrying out of land settlement projects. . . . The need for white settlers in the vast terri- tory south of the Zambesi is overwhelming, and any well-considered scheme backed up by the Imperial authorities would almost certainly command the support of every South African Government. Careful investigation and thoughtful outlining of the plan to be followed are indispensable preliminaries. The Review of Bevieios. — What more need is there to labour the point ? The scheme is business-like, sound and ready. The agents are waiting. The World's Work and Play .—Thoagh Mr. Rider Haggard's en- thusiasm in advocating his plan is not concealed, his ardour has not blinded him to facts, which are set forth with precision and in minute detail. The Friend. — The overcrowded condition of certain districts in our large cities affords further evidence of the need of some national effort for the relief of the congestion. Towards such an end H. Rider Hag- 150 PKESS OPINIONS gard's able Beport issued last week as a Government Blue Book is an illuminating contribution. . . . The Eeport is one deserving the careful thought and study of social reformers. The Sanitary Record. — The scheme of land settlement promulgated by Mr. Rider Haggard in his Report to the Colonial Office is bold and interesting. . . , The question will have to be considered ftom the point of view of the national interests as a whole — in a large and sympathetic spirit, no doubt, but at the same time with prudence and caution. The Manchester Ouardian.—Mr. Rider Haggard's Report should command the earnest attention of every one who has at heart the relief of the congestion of our cities. A better choice could hardly have been made ; Mr. Haggard is not only a skilled agriculturist, but a man whose heart has been profoundly stirred by the depopulation of our rural districts and the corresponding congestion of our cities. Manchester Evening News. — There is true statesmanship in this new scheme, not the least striking and attractive features of it being the method of securing peasant-proprietorship on terms which defend the settler's independence and freedom, and protect also the money invested by the State or the municipality for its initiation and working. It means a great reform, which once begun in the Colonies will have to be started in the Mother Country. Manchester Evening Chronicle. — Mr. Rider Haggard's Report on over-sea settlements is a hopeful sign of the times. There is a wide agreement that if the congestion of the cities is to be remedied and its evils abolished, something more than the symptoms will have to be treated. . . . We echo his hope that there may follow a separate memorandum on the possibility of similar colonies at home. The Yorkshire Daily Post. — The Report issued by Mr. Rider Haggard upon The Salvation Army Colonies in the United States and the possibility of relieving the pressure of the " submerged " classes upon civilisation in this country, is of great interest. . . . Mr. Rider Haggard rightly praises Canada for offering lands free for settlements to be made through the agency of The Salvation Army ; it is the high-water mark so far of Canada's Imperial institutions. The work of The Salva- tion Army in this direction might well be encouraged, within prudent limitations ; those who object to national funds being applied in this manner may be reminded that to reduce the congestion in this country is to lessen a fertile source of high poor-rates. The Yorkshire Herald. — It is evident that there is a very distinct trend of opinion in favour of work on lines such as Mr. Rider Haggard and Mr. Booth Tucker have sketched out, and we trust that there may be careful public and Governmental consideration of a matter promising so well for the national weal. Mr. Rider Haggard's Report ... is a document of exceptional interest and importance. It confirms in a marked degree the wisdom of the suggestion made by the Rhodes Trustees that a Commissioner should be appointed to make diligent and impartial inquiry into the subject, and it leaves no doubt that Mr. Lyttelton's selection of Mr. PRESS OPINIONS 151 Haggard for the work was the outcome of a keen appreciation alike of the possibilities and gravity of the mission and of the peculiar fitness of the man whom he asked to undertake the duty. ... A Report which will have the greatest value for all who are earnestly seeking a solution of some very vital problems in our national life. . . . The keynote of Mr. Haggard's proposal is business success, as well as national welfare. The Yorkshire Evening News. — Mr. Haggard's visit to The Salvation Army Settlements in the United States has been fruitful of suggestion, and the Report will be read with wide interest. . . . The material the Report provides for the better study of the unemployed question must be accepted with satisfaction. . . . The result particularly gratifying. . . . When city labour does adapt itself to agricultural purposes, the keener instincts developed in the towns are found to be of immense advantage. Birmingham Oazette. — . . . It is to be hoped that we in this country shall not lag behind the vigorous efforts which Canada is ready and willing to make. Birmingham Evening Despatch. — Mr. Rider Haggard's Report upon his mission to The Salvation Army Settlements in the United States, and the feasibility of establishing a similar scheme within the British Empire is full of interesting possibilities for the solution of one of the most bitter problems of the day. Birmingham Post. — Mr. Rider Haggard . . . has presented his Report and it has just been issued as a Blue Book. Its appearance is timely. . . . The Government must be prepared to advance sufficient money to work the scheme satisfactorily from the first, or rather to guarantee interest on the capital required. But if the Government is prepared tc do this to start land settlements in the Colonies, why should it not make more liberal advances to those who would gladly become small- holders at home ? The Report is full of interesting matter, and will well repay careful reading. The Sheffield Independent.— A document that is boimd to be studied with keen attention by all who are interested in the important branch of social reform, the purpose of which is summed up in the words, " Back to the land ". . . . By his knowledge of the economics of agri- culture, and his attentive study of the problems connected with the land, he has fully qualified himself for the inquiry which the Colonial Office invited him to undertake — the Inquiry the results of which are before us. ... A Report that reaches such conclusions is one that deserves and will assuredly obtain sympathetic consideration from every social reformer. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph.— E^TpeTience has shown it is possible successfully to transplant indigent people of the labouring class from towns to the land. ... We gather that Mr. Haggard is _ strongly in favour of making use of The Salvation Army Organisation in the selec- tion of suitable persons, and, in fact, in running the settlements, and his suggestion of a working arrangement of this Mnd, if the system ever does occupy public attention as a State business, appears to be worthy of consideration. 152 PEES8 OPINIONS East Anglian DaUy Times. — Mr. Rider Haggard's Report ... is, on the whole, an encouraging document and leads to the belief that in these Labour Colonies does in part lie the solution of the problem of the unemployed. . . . The net result of the experiments is to show that indigent people of the agricultural labourer class can be settled upon the land and there do well, and that such persons can even be taken from towns and prosper. ... All the data, furnished by a competent and sympathetic observer, can now be considered and judged, and a very important contribution to the solution of the problem is furnished for all social reformers to consider. . . . Mr. Rider Haggard did the work which he was commissioned to do in America with characteristic thoroughness. His report on The Salvation Army Colonies abroad is a mine of useful information. It is certainly to be hoped that it will be turned to a useful purpose. Eastern Daily Press. — Mr. Rider Haggard's Report upon his American tour and his inspection of The Salvation Army Colonies there ... is a document of exceeding interest. He reports strongly in favour of the attempt to relieve the overcrowding of our cities with destitute persons by the establishment of agricultural colonies. Given certain conditions, he is convinced of the possible success of such a scheme. Essex County Ghronicle. — Putting aside its most valuable, charitable, and social uses, it shows what could be done with much cold English soil if only suf&oient capital and labour were applied to that soil. Midland Evening News. — Mr. Rider Haggard's Report on The Salva- tion Army Settlements in the United States is a valuable contribution to the discussion of the problem of how to get the destitute poor back to the land. He shows with remarkable clearness that the success or failure of such experiments depends essentially on the class of men selected for the settlements. The LamcasMre Daily Post. — Mr. Rider Haggard's Report on his investigations into the question of colonising settlements for the un- employed ofiers, on the whole, the best practical solution we have seen yet of this grave problem. With the offer by Canada of ten townships for the experiment, there seems no reason why a scheme should not be developed and promptly put in hand. Liverpool Daily Courier. — But the unemployed question cannot be shirked. ... A fillip has been given to the discussion of the " back to the land " idea by the publication of Mr. Rider Haggard's Report upon the experiments of The Salvation Army in the United States. . . . The subject is, therefore, one that requires the most earne t thought of statesmen, for the state of things in the cities is increasingly ominous. The Lancaster Ouardiam,. — Mr. Rider Haggard's Report to the Colonial Office on the Farm Settlements of The Salvation Army in North America should command the earnest attention of every one who has at heart the relief of the congestion of our cities. The con- trast from the squalid slum-room to the cosy cottages of the Farm Colony is remarkable. PRESS OPINIONS 153 The Leicester Daily Post. — Mr. Bider Haggard's Report is a most important document, and the conclusions and recommendations wMoh Mr. Haggard set forth demand serious attention. The praise he be- stowed upon the Work of The Salvation Army in this direction upon his return from the States again finds expression in his Report, and he pays them a higher compliment still in the matter of their Organisa- tion. Mr. Haggard insists upon the necessity of a judicious selection of men in the fiJst instance ; and here it is that he bears testimony to the value of the work of The Salvation Army. It would be impossible, he says, for this selection to be made by any ofBioials appointed for the purpose. In his opinion a body like The Army alone could do this work, and this work they are both able and willing to undertake. We should be inclined to supplement The Army's services, however, by those of such bo lies as our own Citizen's Aid Society. But that is a detail. What we are most concerned about is the putting into practice of Mr. Haggard's suggestions, believing that by their adoption a great step forward would be taken towards the settlement of the unemployed problem. The Nottingham Daily Express. — The Report . . . will repay careful perusal. . . . The whole question is one of the greatest importance at the present moment. . . . The pity is that Parliament cannot spare time for a consideration of a reform that lies so nearly at the root of the happiness and welfare of the people. Mr. Bider Haggard's Report will do good if it directs attention to a subject which is of national and imperial interest. It is very likely that the Report presented by Mr. Rider Haggard upon the question of the settlement of communities on land in our Colonies will lead to an important movement, affecting at the same time both the question of colonisation and the unemployed problem. The Nottingham Guardian. — The Colonial Secretary formed the bold and original idea that it might be possible to dispose o£ some of our surplus unemployed in the British Colonies. So far as Mr. Rider Haggard's experience goes it is decidedly favourable to the scheme, and as he certainly knows what he is talking about when he deals with agricultural subjects, his opinion has weight. The Western Morning News. — Mr. Rider Haggard's valuable Report on The Salvation Army Colonies must not be pigeon-holed and forgotten. It is also desirable that the investigation should be extended to South Africa. Sir John Gorst will next week inquire whether the Govern- ment propose to send a Commissioner to South Africa to inquire into the suitability of that country for land settlements. Mr. Haggard offered in his Report to investigate the possibility of setting up land colonies on similar lines and managed by the same machinery within the United Kingdom. That would be at least as practical as supplying the Colonies with bounty-fed settlers, and it is hoped that his offer will be accepted. He is thoroughly acquainted with the conditions of rural life. The Western Daily Mercury. — Members of Parliament, who are interested in the question of Labour Colonies and Settlements are anxious not to let the Government fall away from the fair promise that 154 PEESS OPINIONS has been given of some action in the direotion of helping the establish- ment of such institutions as a means of dealing with the unemployed problem. They are particularly desirous that the services of Mr. Bider Haggard should be used as he suggested in his recent Eeport to prepare a memorandum on the possibility of establishing Colonies in the United Kingdom. The Western Mail. — Now that the Colonial Conferences are bo much talked about why not make this subject of Imperial land settlements a question for discussion, to see if all the Colonies and the Mother Country in combination cannot arrive at some plan whereby the surplus population of the British Umpire can be distributed with advantage to the whole? Of course, |it must not be merely the dumping of the vicious upon Colonial shores. Tliat would be too much after the fashion of the old penal settlements. There is, however, some of the country's best bone and muscle running to waste in unemployment, and from any assisted scheme of emigration and colonisation the Empire, as a whole, would benefit. Tfie Bath Herald. — It is a large and generous scheme that Canada offers for our unemployed — the ten tdwnships running to 240,000 acres is magnificent, still, not only is capitail required for the start, but there must be a careful selection of persons. Bristol Evening News. — It is evident that Mr. Bider Haggard has approached a difficult problem with a sincere desire to find a solution, and, sooner or later, his Beport must be followed by some action by the Government. . . . The Eeport has appeared at a time when the unempjoyed problem is forcing itself on the attention of politicians and social reformers, and Mr. Bider Haggard's suggestions possess the merit of being eminently practical. Bristol Times. — If Mr. Bider Haggard were less of a practical agriculturist than he is, we should be disposed to regard his Beport on The Salvation Army Farm Colonies as too sanguine in tone. ... It may be assumed that his survey of life and labour on The Salvation Army Colonies was made with characteristic thoroughness, and that his conclusions are something quite different from those of a mere sentimental amateur. . . . Not only the indigent people of the rural labourer type, but those who have long been dwellers amid the poverty of town, can be transplanted back to the land and prosper ... it is to be remembered that, as matters' are now, the congestion in our cities entails, as this Beport points out, not only " degradation and misery," but a growing burden of " expense to the public ". Th.e South Wales Daily News. — Here is an outlet for the unemployed! and the possible solution — even if partial — of a great and pressing problem. But, it seems to us, a good deal could be done at home. " Back to the land " is the cry. Very well. Why not allow the tiller of the soil to have a personal interest in it ? why not have small holdings under such conditions that the labourer will not be driven to the towns to swell the lists of the unemployed, and create the worst problems that public men have to face? The Salvation Army has given an excellent lead; and Mr. Haggard's scheme reconamends itself. PRESS OPINIONS 155 Bristol Evening Times. — With the details of Mr. Haggard's study and emphatic approval of the Salvation Army's United States work we cannot deal now. But if they bear investigation, the Report goes far to make laud settlement the most hopeful of social policies. The 3ull News. — A sensible scheme. The scheme, if properly managed, should prove a ready solution of the dif&oulty, not only of the "submerged tenth," but also, to some extent, of the unemployed question. . . . Its objects are such that should command the sympathy and sup- port of every agriculturist. Oriinsby Telegraph. — Were the State to take up the matter, however, and provide the necessary money, there is no doubt whatever that the result would be of immense benefit alike to the Empire and to the class immediately concerned. Huddersfleld Chronicle. — Generally speaking, his conclusions may be regarded as confidently afiSrmative, and in the main his proposals are eminently worthy of the most serious consideration, albeit some of them are by no means devoid of financial and economic difficulties. The Eeport is a very welcome one, and if it does not entirely solve the unemployed problem, it at least throws a good deal of light on it by indicating various methods by which the aouteness of the present situation in our great cities and towns may be relieved to at least some extent. ... As we have said, the Report does nqt remove all the diffi- culties of the situation ; but if the scheme is adopted, even partially at first, it should prove the means of providing happy homes for a few thousands of those starving millions who now throng our cities. The Folkestone Express. — The Report presented by Mr. Rider Haggard on his visit to the Farm Colonies of America, and his confer- ence with the Government authorities in Canada has been discussed with great interest. As soon as Parliament has time to attend to it, the subject of transplanting workers in congested districts of the old country to the spacious Colonies is sure to be taken up. Mr. Haggard gives numberless instances of the benefits conferred on British workers who were in hopeless poverty at home by placing them in positions in Canada where they are on the high road to comparative wealth. From the economic point of view, this transplantation of British citizens is a sound idea, and from the point of view of imperialism, it appeals to the imagination even more forcibly than schemes of Tariff Reform. Nottingham Evening Post. — That the Salvation Army's Labour Colonies in America have borne the scrutiny of such a practical man as Mr. Rider Haggard is highly creditable to the sagacity and enterprise of their founders. His Eeport will do much to encourage schemes for getting the people back to the land, both in this country and abroad. Not the least satisfactory feature of it is the testimony it gives as to the possibility of teaching even townsfolk to become good farmers. The Scotsman (Edinburgh). — Every practical and well-considered suggestion for the solution or mitigation of that burning social problem, the depopulation of the rural districts and the congestion of urban 156 PEE88 OPINIONS areas, deserves careful and respeotful consideration. Mr. Haggard has special claims to be heard upon a question to which he has given close and earnest thought. The Olasgow Herald. — As a missionary of Empire, Mr. Haggard must be credited with the capacity of thinking Imperially. (The Olasgow Evening News. — Mr. Bider Haggard's Report on The Salvation Army Oolonies in the United States and in England is an admirably sane and lucid, and, on the whole, extremely encouraging document. . . . His report is of particular value at this time, when the " unemployed " problem is so seriously pressing for attention, and it is to be hoped it will receive the consideration it deserves. The Aberdeen Journal. — The Report which Mr. Rider Haggard has furnished the Colonial OfB.ce on a scheme for land settlement is a docu- ment at once of great and interesting importance. . . . His view of The Salvation Army Colonies is an entirely favourable one, and he is very strongly in favour of the Imperial Government taking a similar scheme in hand with a view to relieving the congestion in towns and slums and getting the population back to the land. . . . The Aberdeen Evening Gazette. — Mr. Rider Haggard's Report on the United States Colonies of the Salvation Army is of such importance, his proposals are so bold, and his praise of the work of The Army is so unqualified, that a desire is naturally created to know more of the guiding principles and inner workings of the Settlements referred to. In their objects and methods of working these Colonies are unique — they are unlike any other labour or farm oolonies. . . . The Dundee Courier. — Mr. Rider Haggard's visit to the United States in the beginning of the year is likely to have a practical and very desirable outcome. . . . But, important as the scheme is in its possibilities of giving to the unfortunate an opportunity of shaping a career for themselves, its Imperial aspect is hardly less striking. It is desirable that, as far as possible, emigrants from our shores should find a home within the bounds of the Empire instead of becoming subjects under another flag. The readiness with which Canada has shown her practical patriotism in ofiering to provide 240,000 acres as a start for the proposed Imperial settlements is very gratifying, and we do not doubt others of our Colonies who can furnish the land will follow her good example. The Dundee Advertiser. — In his Report to the Colonial Office on the Salvation Army Farm Colonies, Mr. Rider Haggard pays that body a high compliment, and if his recommendations are adopted it wiU find itself in a unique position. ... A scheme carried out entirely by Government officials would, Mr. Haggard believes, break down here, and he is right. That in its existing Colonies the Salvation Army has chosen just the right people is rare testimony to the thoroughness of its work and the minuteness of its officers' acquaintance with the character and potentialities of the people among whom they labour. The Northern WMg. — Those who have studied that most difficult of present-day problems for those who wish to work will turn with interest PEES8 OPINIONS 167 to Mr. Rider Haggard's Report. . . . With so much land uncultivated at home, and large tracts abroad, there is no reason why any person who is willing and able to work should suffer from hunger. Mr. Haggard's Report opens up a wide vista for those who are striving to repair the damage done by poverty. In the interests of the ratepayers, as much as the poor, it is to be hoped that something practical will be done. Ldbow Leader. — When Mr. Rider Haggard goes on to suggest that he hopes he may be allowed to prepare a separate memorandum on the possibility of establishment of rural Colonies in the United Kingdom under the same machinery to be used for the over-sea Colonies, we are with him. The cure for the unemployment should begin at home, where the evil has been generated. THE ABBSDEBN DNIVBBBITY PRESS LIMITED