Finally, it is a question of the government doing what it ought not
to have done and leaving undone those things it ought to have done.
It has granted to a few monopolies transportation and terminal
facilities which enable them to hold up deliveries and thus control
prices. The remedy lies in seeing that the government attend to its
own business, which is securing equality of opportunity for all, and
special privileges to none.
It follows that cooperation should not stop either at production or
at distribution. It must embrace the source of both, nor even stop
at governmental plans of small holdings.
As a business enterprise, combining philanthropy and percentage,
capital has an opportunity.
Accordingly an option should be secured upon a large piece of land
not over forty miles from a large city, near a railroad station. The
transportation at first is not important, as the new commuters will
make a demand for it, and cheap autos will largely fill the gap; it
will improve rapidly.
If possible it should have a lake or a fair stream on it for
irrigation and small water power; the soil should be examined by
experts, to see that it is suitable for trucking and market
gardening.
The object should be to make a sort of vacant lot gardening plan on
a grand scale. Heretofore the trouble has been that we have been
unable to get land where there was any assurance that we could have
it again the second year, and that the limited amount of land makes
it impossible to give the men as much as they ought to have. They do
not need much land, because a man working at intensive culture with
only the rough plowing done for him cannot take good care of much
more than one acre of land. He will probably make as much money out
of one acre of land as he will out of two. Those who are willing to
work should be given one acre of land, with the assurance that they
can have it as long as they work it faithfully and comply with the
simple rules which we have found so effective in the Vacant Lot
Gardening work,--which are practically, that a man should attend to
business and not annoy his neighbors. No contract or lease should be
given the men, or indeed the women, for both work such gardens, as
they have been doing for the past twenty years in several large
cities, making at least a living upon the land and often a very
large return.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account