A Stake in the Land

PART I. Chapter

CHAPTER

I. NEED OF A LAND POLICY 3 Strength of Home Ties 3 Immigrants' Love of Land 5 Need for Land Regulation 10

II. LEARNING OF LAND OPPORTUNITIES 14 Friends, Agents, and Advertisements 14 Federal and State Immigration Offices 18 Policies in California and Wisconsin 19

III. EXPERIENCES IN ACQUIRING LAND 24 Russian Sectarian Peasants in the West 24 The Successful Colony at Glendale 30 Other California Cases 31 An Oklahoma Settlement 33

IV. INDIVIDUAL LAND DEALERS 36 Land Sharks 37 Lower Type of Land Dealer 39 The Public-spirited Land Dealer 42 "Realtors" 45

V. PRIVATE LAND COLONIZATION COMPANIES 49 A Typical Company 52 The Adviser 62 Children Overworked 65 Securing Credit 66 Conservation of Wooded Land 68 The Size of a Colony 69 Learning American Ways 70 Two Points of View 72 Colony Snapshots 78

VI. PUBLIC LAND COLONIZATION 86 The California Experiment 86 State Provisions for Soldier Settlements 91 The Reclamation Act 95 Proposed Federal Legislation 98 Provision in Other Countries 105

VII. A LAND POLICY 107 Wide Range in Programs 107 Plenty of Land 111 Public Regulation of Land Dealing 112 A Public Land Exchange 122 Reclamation a Separate Function 124 A Colonization Board 127 Extension of Public Credit 135 Co-operation Indispensable 135

PART II. Viii. Rural Educational Agencies 145

VIII. RURAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES 145 Importance of Education 145 Bridging Differences 150 Parochial Schools 153

IX. PRIVATE SCHOOLS 156 Nebraska 158 North Dakota 161 Minnesota 164 Michigan 167 Wisconsin 172 South Dakota 174 California 175 Hebrew School in New Jersey 176 Opinions on Both Sides 176 Temporary Usefulness 179 Need for Regulation 180

X. IMMIGRANT CHURCHES 182 Bilingual Services 186 English Favored by Members 188 Opposition to "Interfaith" Marriages 189 Immigrant Pastors 192 Potential Powers for Good 193

XI. THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 195 Limitations of the One-teacher School 195 Growth of the Consolidated School 199 The Rural School-teacher 203 Irregular School Attendance 211 Practical Curriculum Needed 217 Need for Expert Administration 219 Proposed Measures 222

XII. EDUCATION OF ADULT IMMIGRANT SETTLERS 226 Importance of Reaching Women 226 The Home Teacher 228 Organization of Immigrant Women 231 The Public Evening School 233 Education Made Interesting 241

XIII. LIBRARY AND COMMUNITY WORK 244 Place of the Printed Word 244 Rural Needs for Books 246 Package Libraries in Wisconsin 248 Selection of Books 250 A Community Hall 252 Amateur Theatricals 254 Community Teamwork 256

INDEX 259

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE PAGE

I. Number (by sex) of foreign-born white persons engaged as farm laborers in the United States, 1900 and 1910 6

II. State legislation to promote land settlement for soldiers up to June, 1919 92-93

III. Soldier settlement plans for United Kingdom and provinces Facing 106

IV. Per cent unable to speak English, of total foreign born, ten years of age and over, in urban and rural communities 147

V. Enrollment and language used in parochial and private schools in Minnesota, 1918 165

VI. Enrollment and teaching force of private and parochial schools in Wisconsin, 1914-15 and 1915-16 173

VII. Length of teaching service in Wisconsin rural schools, 1915-16 204

VIII. Percentage of population in Arizona, six to twenty-one years of age, in schools and not attending school, 1915-16 213

ILLUSTRATIONS

Long, Hard Months of Work Separate the Rough Shanty from White Clapboards and an Automobile Frontispiece

Land Is Not the Only Stake in America for These Polish Parents Facing p. 4

The Owner of this Farm, Settled in 1917, Has Persuaded Six Members of His Family to Buy Farms in the Neighborhood " 14

Friendly Assistance Makes Pioneering Less Baffling " 44

The Wisconsin Colonization Company Sees the Need of Community Centers " 54

This Two-year-old Wisconsin Farm Is Just Ready to Care for Its Newly Acquired Shropshire Ewes " 64

This Settler Started Ten Years Ago with No Money " 136

These Children and Teachers in New Mexico Join Forces to Wipe Out Illiteracy " 146

The Largest Girl Won a Prize for Scholarship " 146

Immediate Returns from Child Labor Do Not Make Up for Loss of Schooling " 214

The Arrival of an Immigrant Settler in 1883 Was Shown in a Community Pageant " 242

The Same Man Is Working for Land and Community Development " 242

A Rural Community Center Plan Was Developed by the Wisconsin Colonization Company for Southern Sawyer County " 252

INTRODUCTION

Students of economics know that the roundabout methods of capitalistic production are far more fruitful than the direct methods of the primitive economy. As we advance, we introduce new intermediaries between the beginning and the end of production. This thought occurs to one in the study of Americanization. If we would Americanize the immigrant we must seek him out in his daily economic life and see to it that the influences under which he works are calculated to give him the right feeling toward his new home. A large part of our waking life is spent in gaining a livelihood, and our work brings with it most of our associations. School and church have their place for young and old, and they likewise must be considered. Their effect is direct and immediate and is more likely to attract attention than are the elements making up the economic life.

Doctor Speek has done well in taking up the immigrant as a settler in the newer and developing parts of our country. The settlers are very largely immigrants who are trying to acquire a home and livelihood on the land. The writer of this Introduction has been studying this same subject for many years, and has done so in many different parts of the United States. The conclusion which we might reach deductively is confirmed by observation--namely, that the man who settles on the land in the right way is, with the rarest exceptions, likely to become a good American, as are also his children.

But what do we mean by the right way? We mean that he must be on a farm of suitable size, of good productivity, with needed help in learning how to farm in the new country and with sufficient time in which to pay for his farm. These are not the only considerations, but they are the main ones, and to these Doctor Speek has given his attention.

One of the outstanding features of every study of land settlement is that the first great cause of failure is poor selection of land. The second chief cause of failure is insufficient length of time in which to pay for the land. While this is of very great importance, it stands far behind the first as a cause of failure. The third cause of failure is closely connected with the second. It is inadequate credit and capital.

We are dealing here with the results which are universal. The selection of land is extremely difficult, even for unusually intelligent farmers who have had long experience in our country. To select land wisely is quite beyond the capacity of the ordinary settler. The present writer could give unlimited illustrations of this truth. The man who has lived in the corn belt of Illinois is very apt to think that black soil is necessarily good soil, and, going to another state, may perhaps select some black peat land, underlain with sand, which is almost worthless. He is sure to be prejudiced against red soil, which may, after all, be good land. Once, when the writer was being shown citrous-fruit land in California, the wise friend who was his host would point to one orchard, which was "planted for oranges," and another "ranch" which "was planted to sell to suckers"; yet the ordinary man, even if he spent many years in the study of land values, could not tell the difference.

John Stuart Mill presents, in his Principles of Political Economy, strong arguments for non-intervention of public authority in "the business of the community." He says that those who stand for intervention must make out a strong case. When, however, he turns to the consumer or buyer, he finds he is obliged to make many exceptions to the rule of non-intervention. To use his own words, "The proposition that the consumer is a competent judge of the commodity can be admitted only with numerous abatements and exceptions." He uses also these words: "Is the buyer always qualified to judge of the commodity? If not, the presumption in favor of the competition of the market does not apply to the case; and if the commodity be one in the quality of which society has much at stake, the balance of advantages may be in favor of some mode and degree of intervention by the authorized representatives of the collective interest of the state."

We have, then, ample justification for some kind of help to the settler in the selection of land. What Doctor Speek presents to us simply confirms what is known to every thoughtful person who has given attention to the subject of land settlement. If we want to bring it about that our settlers should understand our institutions and become good American citizens, we must abandon all ideas of laissez-faire with respect to land selection. Generally the selection is made for the settler by the land agent. Doctor Speek gives attention to the real-estate business, and finds that it is not in a satisfactory condition. About this there can be no question. At the same time the present writer, as a result of careful observation, affirms without hesitation that probably no business has made greater progress toward a true professional level than has the land business during the last five years. Real-estate agents or brokers are forming associations and are doing a great deal to eliminate dishonest practices and to put into their business the idea of service.

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