68 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 



the farms could be made to pay and their owners en- 

 abled to draw a living from them. They realized full 

 well that it might take a decade before the dwellers 

 in the Ghetto, traders for generations out of sheer 

 necessity and denied access to the soil, would become 

 successful husbandmen. 



To enable the farmers to work their lands and at 

 the same time to make a living, it was decided to pro- 

 vide a place for other industries. The Baron de 

 Hirsch Committee persuaded one manufacturer after 

 another to move his plant from the city, agreeing to 

 furnish the employees with homes. Thus factories were 

 built, with great lofts and large windows close to one 

 another, so different from the dirty, dark sweatshops 

 of New York and Philadelphia! 



At first one large factory was erected, with a few 

 dozen houses close by, and these formed the nucleus 

 of Woodbine Village. The houses near the new plant 

 were occupied by its managers, officers and employees; 

 and so the first clothing factory was opened in the 

 autumn of 1892; and all, young and old, found work 

 there. By this time, too, the farmers and their families 

 were comfortably settled in their farmhouses. 



A crying need for a public bath-house soon arose, 

 for a bath-room in a house was an unheard-of luxury. 

 About February, 1893, the public bath-house opened 

 its doors for the use of the people of Woodbine, free 

 of charge. It was built of brick and comprised the 

 Russian steam and plunge baths. The Committee pre- 



