The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 11, 1898, Page 25

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1898. R g‘\\\ i S " LAND ONE YEAR A6Q AND HUNGRY INTHE CITY Salvation Army co-operative near Soledad, Monterey is a success. one hundred people have been raised out of the of despond by it and from being ented and starving residents of ity have been turned into valu- a independent citizens of the w colony. Cold and hunger have been laced by warmth and plenty and ry transformed to cheer. r W. W. Winchell, who has been - in the enterprise, has rt to this effect to the Commerce. It covers the Some officials of Salvation Army say that the re- ar beyond their most san- cipation. k of the new colony near edad is Fort Romie led after the man who allowed the Salvation Army to buy th and on such terms as would the plan possible. This is the ird colony blished by the army. The others located in Colorado and Ohic It is nearly two years since the pro- starting a colony in California first mentioned. At that time ander Booth-Tucker appeared the Chamber of Commerce and \ined his scheme and his hopes members were so impre d that nittee formed on the spot. 1s named the Citizens’ Coloniza- t of nan and Da b advisory board. ed them for $25,000 in 1 by subscription or ommittee raised $19,500, b time much care was cting the location for the colony. Soil and climate had to be care- lered for such aa experi- icre tract of land in § r Booth-Tucker with ee having inspected it per- he soil was found to be a able of sustaining ot or cereal crop. everything was decided upon, s were rushed forward with all peed. Only a few months after the money was obtained and the nd cured the first colonists were on ind. This was about the middle of October, 1897. At this time the colony land present- ed anything but a desirable appear- ance. The weather was cold and windy and the landscape looked wild and bleak. There was only one old house entire tract of 519 acres, and the »mains of the previous wheat op covered the surface of the land. There were only two colonists in the first party, the other members being - - N2 i g™ bl 7 | Wiy, 7H i liap\ N wfif“ % ot \l P N A Yoot i N % %}p Nser I ' murla ~ e Y %27 AURENCE ROMIE VCKER WINCHELL IRRIGATION PLANT BUILT BY COLON POPPPPPPOPPPPOPVOPIPPPPO0P0VPOPOPPP®POPS®O o2 The first year of the Salvation Army’s co-operative colony near So- f; & ledad is drawing to an end. The results are most gratifying, and show ® & that what the poor of our cities want is help, not alms. Thirty fami- @ lies (nearly 100 people) have been raised out of the Slough of Despond. ® & The managers of the colony are highly elated with the scheme, and look ¢ & forward to the coming new year with great hope. All of the assisted ¢ & colonists have paid off their indebtedness to the Salvation Army, and ¢ © have from $200 to $350 each to their credit. Major Winchell has just @ @ made a report to the Chamber of Commerce. This shows that the ex- @ pense of starting and maintaining the colony for onc year has been ¢ ® $21,554. The amount received for the purpose on notes, by donations, etc., @ @ was $21,654, leaving a balance of $1co, but with all the colonists on a seli- € 2 sustaining basis. 04 ©PBOIPIOOPeP000000 00000000000606600 ¢ simply workers sent ahead to prepare made independent by being given an for the coming of the families. Before the party had been on the land twenty-four hours active work was commenced. The surveyor had made a preliminary chart and located the lines for the main street and the principal buildings. The moment this was done plowing commenced. At almost the same moment work was commenced on the first house. The work was pushed along with all possible speed, and by Christmas the opening of the colony was a glad fact. Seventeen families started out as colon- ists, filled with hope and enthusiasm for the venture in which they were to take such a prominent part. There were children in nearly all of these families, and no happier band of youngsters could be found in all the world than these, when they reached the colony and contrasted its cheerful space with crowded tenements they had left in the cjties. A school house and teacher were ready, and the boys and girls took up their studies within a few days after their arrival. The work of providing for others was kept up, and before early spring there were thirty cottages spread over the land, each on its own ten-acre lot. In each house there was a happy family. Although there was room for more people than this on the land, the Salva- tionists had not the money with which to provide for others during the first year. The plan of the Salvation Army col- ony has been published in The Call on different occasions, but a brief refer- ence to it is again necessary. It is to provide homes for families who are worthy and without means of support. Nobody with any money will be taken as colonists, nor will unmarried men or women. The idea is to first provide for families. The colonists are to be opportunity to buy their homes on easy installments paid out of the product of their land and their work for the Salva- tion Army colony. Bach family that has been sent to the new colony has been given a house, ten acres of land and credit to the ulmount of $300 at the Salvation Army store. In order to protect itself from un- worthy people the land is only rented to the colonists for the first year. Should they prove worthy the $60 rent money is applied on the $600 which is to be paid for the land, house and wa- ter right from the colony plant. Should they prove unworthy, the colonists take away with them all in excess of their indebtedness to the colony. It will thus be seen that there is no unfair advantage taken of colonists under probation. ““This plan {s necessary,” said Major ‘Winchell, “for the colony can never be a success as long as there are inharmon- ious elements which breed discontent because everything is not done just as they wish. Out of all the families sent to the colony all but two will be allow- ed to buy their homes. These two fam- illes are all right in some ways, but they continually find fault with things and try to stir up discontent among the others. As it is, though, these peo- ple will take away about $500 as a re- sult of their year’'s work on the colony. Not so bad when it is considered that they went there without a cent.” All of the colonists except the first two who went down on the wagon from San Francisco were so nearly destitute that the Salvation Army had to pay for the transportation of them and their freight. They were entirely with- out money, and nearly without hope. But all have appreciated what was done for them, and have made the best U8 S ¥ R ’ e\ sl e DRSS L ‘M ! iy Ny %j {1 s 5 &l,‘w iny = o il i MY '.!"ln»\‘mh' il ’{"’flk”flfl";"‘!{f‘,‘ \is o gl %z I ATYPICAL CO of their opportunities. All have been frugal and industrious, and in every instance each family will clear, above all expenses, between $200 and $350. All the colonists came to the land un- der practically the same circumstances, received the same tools to work with, and have succeeded about equally well. The case of C. H. Stohl is almost ex- actly like all the others, and will serve as an example. Mr. Stohl and his wife arrived at the colony last February without any means in the world of their own. Their struggle in the city had been a hard one. But the Salvation Army came to the rescue, and hope once more cast the future in a bright light. From abject poverty they were sud- denly transported into a home of their own, with every necessity provided and a chance of making themselves in- dependent in the days to come. The ten acres of land about the house was plowed and planted with such produce as would prove valuable for family consumption. Chickens and pigs were also supplied. The things which® were needed immediately were obtained at the Salvation Army store and charged against the credit check. As well as working on his own plat of ten acres, Mr. Stohl worked on the tract that was being cultivated by the army. The provisions raised here and not used on the colony were shipped to San Francisco to be used in relief work among the poor. For this work Mr. Stohl was given credit for $150 per day. His work here amounted to $122. His expenses at the Salvation Army store were $191, leaving him still owing $68. But as the crop of his own land sold for $260 and he did $50 worth of work for neighboring ranchers he has a neat balance of $232. Considering the fact that this has been a bad year for crops, and that owing to the fact that water for irrieation did not get on the land until June, and that beets could not be planted, it makes a pretty good showing, much better than many skill- ed laborers in the city can show for the same time. Besides the pecuniarv gain, Mr. Stohl has been entirely free from worry and has consequently improved in health. His wife looks ten years younger than she did when she came to the colony owing to the more healthy mode of life. Other families make even a better showing, for several babies were born on the colony, and such bouncing ba- bies they are. From all that can be learned from these people, they are perfectly happy. That is, all except the two discordant families already referred to. Most of the people in the colony feel that they have been given a first chance in life m}d intend tg make the best of it. n concluding his report Majo ‘Winchell says: Jor “The first year is nearly finished, and it goes down in history, showing that what these people want is opportunity, not alms. They have acquitted them- selves like men. The thought of be- coming possessors of their own homes, with land enough to sustain their wives and little ones, with a cow, pigs and chickens, has impelled them to work with energy and perseverance. “The most significant feature of the entire venture is that in California’s dryest year, in one of its dryest val- leys, where the oldest and most expe- rienced ranchers for a hundred miles about the colony have failed, these pio~ neers have in spite of their inexperience and strangeness to the land succeeded and their aburdant crops speak encour- agement. There have been difficulties which seemed for a time would crush every hope, but the Lord was our helper.” Consul Booth-Tucker paid a visit to the new colony last week and expressed herself as surprised and pleased at the wonderful progress that had been made. “Nowhere else could this have been done but in California,” she said. She visited each of the little homes and re- ceived a welcome and a blessing from the inmates. She drove over the land and saw the little farms, each with its garden around the house. But what impressed her most of all was that on each face that she met was written the word “happiness.” It is now the aim of the colonization department of the Salvation Army to put several more families on the land and also to start other colonies. In a few years the re- sult will be a marked decrease of mis- ery in the crowded ‘portions of our big cities and hundreds will be giving thanks for an abundance of God's blessed sunshine. ANOTHER COMMUNIST COLONY. NOTHER attempt at a commu- nistic colony is now being made in this State and the originators g 1 OOOOOOODOOOOOOOOOOOOOOQQOOOOOOOOOOOZ ° : d o Following is one of the colonist’s accounts, and gives a fair idea of oOf o all the rest: ol ° Family of four for ten months. o Groceries, clothing, et $153 90 | ook e o O Irrigation . . 1800 | 149 days labor.. 223 65 of o Rent on 10 a . 6000 | Dr. Bal. Oct. 1st.. 6 00 5 Seed, plowing, etc. \ — T 2 | $299 65 o o $299 65 ) ©00000000000000000000000000000000000W this coast, but the most of it is shipped as well as unskilled labor and there from the East. It is now used for will be work for all. The ground has foundations, floors, steps, stairways, been carefully surveyed, a town site fire-proofing, and in fact can be mapped out and the opening for quar— adapted to almost any portion of a ries located. We will need carpentersy building large or small. In speaking of hig project Mr. Strahle says: “I have owned and operated the quarry on a small scale for the past five years, but have only been able to operate it on a small scale as I have not had sufficient capital and such cap- italists as have become interested in it alwaye wanted to buy outright.” I nave been frozen out by capitalists in ths State several times and ‘have had enough of them so I looked for another way out of my difficulty. “My plan will make each man his own employer and his own employe. He will go to work in the morning for himself. receive a day’s wages, and at the end of a specified time, perhaps six months, receive a dividend on the profits of his labor. Other plans have failed because men went in with noth- ing and received no wages. They were forced to wait for a dividend. and through some misfortune this was long in coming. The result was dissatisfac- tion and discord, men began to quarrel with one another, the colonies were broken up and another failure was scored against the communists. “Our scheme is simpler, more liberal, and it gives to all an opportunity for steady work at living wages with the privilege of withdrawing with at least what they put in at any time thev see fit. We will take in all kinds of skilled of the plan are confident of suc-Q cess. at Kelsey, about seven miles from Placerville, in El Dorado County, and Co-operative Company. The company, which was Jacob Strahle is the prime mover in the scheme and he says that he haso figured the thing out so neatly that fallure will be impossible. There is a great and growing demand for slate on©@ O0O0OOO000000OO00000OOO0000O0O000OOOOO00000000O0000000000O000000000000000000000000000000° MADE THE HIGHEST BALLOON ASCENSION ON RECORD. Henry Coxwell tells how he ascended seven miles above the surface of the earth and of bhis novel experience in the high altitudes. Special to The Sunday Call. ONDON, Dec. 2—The aerial| ascent at the Crystal Palace of Stanley Spencer has caused a great sensation here, and the feat has been declared to be a record one. Spencer ascended to a great | height, but there is still living, at the age of 80, the famous aeronautist, Henry Coxwell, who, in 1862, with James Glaisher, F. R. 8., reached a height of seven miles from the surface of the earth. Mr. Coxwell, who resides at Seaford, Sussex, was requested by vyour correspondent to give his views on the recent achievement of Stanley Spencer as compared with his own. He responded by writing me the following for publication in America: The aeronautical feat for purely scientific objects which was accom- plished in England on September 5, 1862, to the unparalleled height of seven miles, may well be contrasted and ex- amined by the side of Mr. Stanley Spencer’'s ascension with Dr. Borsen, a German scientist, on September 15 of this year. Dr. Borsen claimed to have ascended previously to very great heights alone before he came to Lon- don and placed himself in the hands of the Spencers with a view of surpassing or equaling the 1862 record, which is supported by the clearest and most in- disputable testimonies of scientific dis- tinguished men. The day selected for the recent ex- ploration was most suitable, and they ascended, according to Mr. Stanley Spencer’s account, given to the inter- | viewer of a morning newspaper, 27,000 feet from the earth. Before reaching their maximum elevation, however, which was only five miles and a fifth from the ground, they had to apply themselves to a vessel containing oxy- gen to prevent being suffocated by the lighter and colder atmosphere which was encountered. ‘At 25,000 feet,” said Spencer to his interviewer, ‘‘the air was so rarefied that I began to become giddy. I looked at Dr. Borsen, and he was making a gurgling noise as he breathed. ‘Oxy- gen!’ he gasped, and so I handed him a tube at which he sucked and felt quite exhilarated. ‘I feel confident,” he said, ‘that with a good supply of oxy- gen we could go higher than has ever been done yet.’” Let me narrate by way of comparison under what circumstances and for what purpose Mr. Glaisher and I ascended in the year 1862. “We left the earth at 1h. 3m. p. m. The temperature of the alr was 59 de- grees and that of the dew point 50 de- grees. At the height of 5000 feet (near- ly one mile) the temperature fell to 36.5 degrees, the dew point being the same, this indicating that the air here was saturated with moisture. At this elevation the report of a gun was heard. ‘“We reached the height of two miles at 1h. 22m., where the sky was of a darker blue and whence the earth was visible in occasional patches beneath the clouds. The temperature had fallen to the freezing point and the dew point to 26 degrees. The helght of three miles was attained at 1h. 28m., with a temperature of 18 degrees and a dew point of 13 degrees. From 1lh. 22m. to 1h. 30m. the wet bulb thermometer read incorrectly, the ice not being properly formed on it. ‘“We reached the elevation of four miles at 1h. 40m. The temperature was 8 degrees, the dew point minus 15 de- grees, or 47 below the freezing point of water. Discharging sand we attained in ten minutes the altitude of five miles, and the temperature had passed below zero and then read minus 2 de- grees. “My last observation was made at 1h. 54m.—above 29,000 feet (almost five and a half miles). While powerless I heard the words ‘temperature’ and ‘ob- servation,” and I knew that Mr. Cox- well was In the car, speaking to and en- deavoring to rouse me, therefore con- sciousness had returned. I then heard him speak more emphatically, but could not see, speak or move. I heard him again say, ‘Do try now, do!’ Then the instruments became dimly visible, then Mr. Coxwell, and very shortly I saw clearly. Next I rose in my seat and looked around as though waking from sleep, though not refreshed, and said to Mr. Coxwell, ‘T have been insensible.” He said, ‘You have, and I, too, very nearly.” I then drew up my legs, which had been extended, and took a pencil in my hand to begin observations. Mr. Coxwell told me that he had lost the use of his hands, which were black, and I poured brandy over them. “I resumed observations at 2h. 7m., recording the barometer reading at 11.35 inches, and temperature minus two degrees. It is probable that three or four minutes passed from the time of my hearing the words ‘temperature’ and ‘observation’ till I began to ob- serve, as returning consciousness came at 2h. 4m., and this gives seven minutes for total insensibility. “Mr. Coxwell told me that while in the ring he felt it plercingly cold; that hoar frost was all round the neck of the balloon, and that on attempting to leave the ring he found his hands fro- zen. He had therefore to place his arms on the ring and drop down. When he saw me he thought for a moment that I had lain back to rest myself; he wished to approach me, but could not, and when he felt insensibility coming over him he became anxious to open the valve. But in consequence of having lost the use of his hands he could not do this. Ultimately he succeeded by seizing the cord with his teeth, and dip- ping his head two or three times until the balloon took a decided turn down- ward. We descended in the center of a large grass field belonging to Mr. Ker- sall at Cold Weston, seven and a half miles from Ludlow. “I have already said that my last ob- servation was made at a height of 20,- 000 feet. At this time, 1h. 54m., we were ascending at the rate of 1000 feet per minute; and when I resumed observa- tions we were descending at the rate of 2000 feet per min.te. These two po- sitions must be connected, taking into account the interval of time between my thirteen minutes, and on these con- siderations the balloon must have at- tained a height of 37,000 feet (a little over seven railes).” Concerning this aeronautical feat the London Times said editorially on Sep- tember 11, 1862: “The aerial \oyage Jjust performed by Mr. Coxwell and Mr. Glaisher deserves to rank with the greatest feats f experimentalizers, dis- coverers and travelers.” Professor Glaisher died recently. Mr. Coxwell, in spite of his great age, is in good health. In these days of bacilli and microbes one is constantly 'in danger of his life. To be handed change by a car conductor or a bundle of bills in a store is to be handed so many thousand germs of disease. But a remedy has been found by which Madame and Monsieur may be entirely immune from microbes. The antiseptic glove is the very latest fad among microbe maniacs. They come in dainty kid and larger sizes for men: 2 it will be known as the Jacob Strahleg incor-© porated last month, owns 520 acres of@ valuable slate and it is proposed toQ quarry this on the co-operative pian.g The colony will be locatedg bricklayers, painters, and in fact every kind of skilled labor, and can guaran- tee them steady employment. We will establish our own store and the profits will go into the general fund. “The wages will be graded according to the class of work, but dividends wilk be equal. The men who do the braim work will, of cours receive the high= est wages, then s led workmen inm their rank and lastly laborers. All will be given a chance to improve them- selves so that when one man drops out another can be promoted from the ranks to take his place. This will offer an incentive to good workmanship and promote harmany. “So far as disposing of the products of the colony is concerned, we expect to find little or no difficulty. There are a few men already at work, but they are unable to supply the demand and I am signing new contracts every day. ‘Within three months at the furthest there will be a colony of at least three hundred men at work and we are plan- ning all sorts of improvements, chief among which is the building of a new road to Placerville, which will shorten the distarice about two and one-half miles. The success of the colonv means the opening up of a new indus- try in California and the keeping of! thousands of dollars within the State which otherwise would go East.” 000000000000 000000 000000000000 0O0000 Henry Coxwell, the Famous English Aeronaut, Who Ascended Seven Miles Above th Earth, the Greatest Height Ever Reached. From a Photograph.