his waste capital, if such a term can be used, was
the capital lying idle, or at least, making 2-1/2 or 3 per cent., when
according to his estimate, it could yield 5 per cent. The principles
which he laid down were as follows:
1. There must be sufficiency of capital.
2. The land must be carefully selected and laid out.
3. The colonists must be well selected.
4. There must be able supervision.
5. The principle of home ownership must be followed.
6. God must be recognized.
From our investigations at Ft. Romie and Ft. Amity, we arrived at the
conclusion that No. 4 and No. 6 were the only ones thoroughly carried
out; that there was a weakness in the amount of capital (Prin. No. 1);
that an unfortunate selection of land was made (Prin. No. 2); that the
successful colonists did not entirely represent the class from which we
should wish them to be taken (Prin. No. 3); and that ownership gave way
largely to a system of renting-out by the Army (Prin. No. 5). For
verification of this, see the typical cases at the end of the chapter.
Commander Booth-Tucker advanced the argument, which is sound, to the
effect that, when entire families were taken from the city and placed
on the land, the tendency to return to the city would be overcome. It
has been the experience of philanthropists, that when single men and
women were transferred from the city to the country, they always tended
to return, the reason being due to an acquired fondness of the
individual for intimate association with his fellows,[61] but when a man
has his wife and children, together with a plot of land and a home which
he may call his own, the attraction toward the city is overcome, by a
stronger one which keeps him where he is. Of course, this would answer
for the one generation only.
Leaving out the small colony at Ft. Herrick, Ohio, which was changed to
an Industrial Colony, and which is considered in the chapter on the
Industrial Work, let us examine more closely the Farm Colonies at Ft.
Amity, Col., and Ft. Romie, Cal. The larger enterprise was set on foot
in Colorado, in 1898, where a tract of 2,000 acres was secured at a cost
of $46,000.00. In this year, fourteen families were brought from Chicago
and placed on the bare, unimproved prairie, where, however, there was
abundant water supply carried by a large irrigation company. These
colonists were all family men with two exceptions, and nine of the heads
of families had either been on farms o
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