THE NEW PLYMOUTH. 



77 



and united in an earnest effort to make their little 

 valley the best place on earth, can do many things to 

 enhance their prosperity. They may unite their com- 

 mon capital and provide industrial plants, such as 

 creameries and canneries, to furnish the most profit- 



Natural Growth of Sage Brush in Fayette Valley. 



able kind of market for their surplus products. This 

 may or may not be done at Plymouth, as the colonists 

 shall themselves determine. But if it be done, it is not 

 my idea that these plants shall be handled cooperative- 

 ly in any sense, but merely that the colony shall 

 invest in the plants, and then lease or sell them to 

 parties having the necessary experience and capital 

 to operate them. The colony would thus attempt 

 pnlv to make sure that it was provided with allied 

 industries essential to its highest prosperity. The 

 income from leasing the plants would be available 

 for public purposes. So also in the matter of keep- 

 ing up the standard of the colony's products. The 

 measure of individual prosperity will be the stand- 

 ard and reputation of the products of the community. 

 Plymouth will be well advertised, and I predict that 

 Plymouth butter, Plymouth prunes and Plymouth 

 canned goods will command the top of the market, as 

 do Greeley potatoes and Riverside oranges, provided 

 the standard be held to the highest notch. Men who 

 are acting together in some degree of association can 

 realize benefits from this principle that are utterly 

 beyond the reach of individuals who have gone into 

 a country in a scattering way, having no mutual inter- 

 ests or aims, and hence no esprit de corps. 



So also in the matter of curing, packing and mar- 

 keting fruit. I think the commission man need not 

 apply at Plymouth. I think my friends and neigh- 

 bors will prefer to get together and send their own 

 representatives to the Eastern markets to sell the 

 prunes, pears and apples of the famous Plymouth. 

 So there are many other benefits to be realized from 

 the associative principle on the side of industry. 



THE SOCIAL SYSTEM OF PLYMOUTH. 



Another most important principle in the making of 

 colonial life in Western America will be illustrated 

 by the social system. Isolation has been the bane of 

 country life. The hunger for human companionship 

 has depopulated the farms and crowded the cities 

 with a congested and well-nigh hopeless population. 

 Irrigation means intensive cultivation. It means a 

 small farm unit. It leads us by a natural process to 

 neighborhood association. It remains with us to 

 utilize the opportunity and make the best of its hope- 

 ful possibilities. 



There are two instincts common to all mankind to 

 a greater or less degree. One is the passion to own 



land the agrarian instinct. The other is the social 

 instinct the hunger for human companionship. These 

 two instincts have seemed irreconcilable, but this is 

 another problem which Arid America will solve. Ply- 

 mouth, on the side of its social system, strikes its first 

 blow at the bareness and loneliness of country life, 

 and seeks to blend the charms of the country with the 

 advantages of the town. 



The farm village is not a new institution. It is old 

 in Europe. It was adopted by some of the Massa- 

 chusetts towns two hundred years ago. It served 

 as the germ of the Mormon social life. In the midst 

 of Plymouth Farms will stand the village of Home 

 Acres. Each colonist when he purchases his farm 

 will also receive one acre in the village, provided he 

 will agree to build his house there. From the park 

 in the center to the outside farm will be less than 

 three miles, while the farms will average much nearer 

 to the village. The farmer must ride out to his land, 

 but his wife and children will live in the midst of 

 neighbors, close to the school, church, post-office, 

 store and other town institutions. There is no reason 

 why the social life of Plymouth should not be just as 

 attractive and satisfying as 

 that of the best Eastern 

 town. There is no reason 

 why the houses should not 

 be as pleasing in archi- 

 tecture, as charming in sur- 

 roundings, such as lawns, 

 trees and flowers, as the 

 houses in the best subur- 

 ban districts of our great 

 cities. All that is required 

 is land, water, sunshine and 

 good taste. 



THE VILLAGE 



The center of social life 

 in Home Acres will be Vil- 



Map of Payette Valley, Idaho. 

 Shaded portion showing Plymouth Colony and Home Acres. 



lage Hall, which will take the form of a reproduc- 

 tion of the picturesque Idaho State Building at the 

 World's Fair. It will be constructed of stone and 

 rough-hewn logs, exceedingly attractive and unique. 

 The lower floor will be devoted to public'ofrices and 



