54 THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 



on the spirit of the workers themselves. It built up 

 a feehng of good-fellowship not previously existing. 

 It engendered a spirit of cooperation that carried over 

 into the work of the shop. It created that intangible 

 and invaluable thing, esprit de corps. It was produc- 

 tive of many good results throughout entire communi- 

 ties, which were reflected in the general financial and 

 social conditions within those communities. 



No less marked were the gains from the employers' 

 point of view. The contented workman is the efficient 

 workman; and gardening, by providing better food than 

 can be had in the markets, and by virtually adding 

 to the worker's income, makes him more contented. 

 Money that otherwise would have to be spent for food 

 can be used for the purchase of those small comforts 

 and luxuries that make for added happiness in the home. 



Of great worth, too, is the recreational value of 

 gardening. The toiler in a noisy mill, or the worker 

 in a smoky forge or factory can find no avocation, 

 no recreation, that will build him up physically and 

 refresh his energies as will the cultivation of a plot of 

 ground. 



Unexpectedly enough, also, war gardening resulted in 

 a lessening of the labor turnover. One striking testi- 

 monial on this latter point was contained in a report to 

 the Commission from a busy manufacturing city in the 

 Middle West. "Workers here," said this report, "re- 

 fused to leave the city to take work at higher wages 

 elsewhere because they had planted fine war gardens 

 and were so proud of them they would not leave them." 



