70 City Homes on Country Lanes 



tim; and he ought to do that. Savings-bank deposits 

 are strikingly less in Washington than in many indus- 

 trial communities ; a fact that signifies not less thrift, 

 but less pay. Nevertheless, it is possible to devise a 

 plan under which every family represented on the Gov- 

 ernment payroll might acquire a garden home of its 

 own within a reasonable number of years. Further- 

 more, if there is any prize that can be offered that 

 would evoke the last ounce of energy and ambition — 

 the utmost measure of thrift on the part of the average 

 family — it is the garden home and security for old age. 



We are going to see, presently, that $720 a year, 

 or even $360 a year, for the man who owns his rent- 

 free home, produces a large part of his table supplies, 

 and enjoys his facilities of amusement, recreation and 

 intellectual enlargement at the minimum cost, is a very 

 different thing from the same amount of money for a 

 family paying the last cent of tribute to landlord, 

 merchant, middleman and transportation agencies. 



The economic gain for those transplanted from the 

 city apartment to the home in a garden is important, 

 and naturally the first thing to claim our attention. 

 It is, however, when considered from the standpoint 

 of the character of our people and their institutions, 

 of less importance than the spiritual and social gains 

 to be scored to the credit of the process. If a man 

 goes up in his own estimation when he puts on a new 

 suit of clothes, as is generally conceded, how much 

 higher will he rise whin he steps from rented quarters 

 into a home of his own? His own ground, his own 

 roof, his own fireside! It will not be quite so easy 

 to tell him how to vote on election day — not quite! 



