interesting. City officials and 
business men have learned that it 
is a movement worth cultivating 
permanently. That is why, in 
MAKING addition to their knowl- 
it per- edge of the present 
manent world need for food, 
they are backing the Victory 
Garden campaign this year. The 
community with the largest num¬ 
ber of gardens in proportion to 
its population, other things being 
equal, is the most prosperous and 
the best community. One has 
only to look at value figures of 
what some of the cities raised last 
year, running into many thou¬ 
sands and in numerous cases into 
the hundreds of thousands of 
dollars, to realize what this 
movement means. 
Closely connected with this 
home food production effort is 
the big “own-a-home” campaign 
which is being conducted this year 
throughout the nation. This is 
being stimulated by the United 
States Department of Labor, the 
National Federation of Construc¬ 
tion Industries, real estate boards 
and chambers of commerce and 
various other organizations 
which have at heart the lasting 
betterment of the people. The 
Council of National Defense is 
now utilizing the vast machinery 
which it built up to help organize 
the nation for the pressing busi¬ 
ness of war, and turning it into 
the channels of peace and work¬ 
ing out community welfare 
schemes. This includes the plant¬ 
ing of gardens. All these forces 
realize the binding strength of 
the home. Love of home reflects 
love of country and inspires the 
spirit that produces real patriot¬ 
ism. Lincoln said: “ Let not him 
who is homeless pull down the 
house of another, but let him 
labor diligently to build one for 
himself. ’ * 
America, the land of homes; 
America, the land of gardens! 
That is a 4 4 consummation de¬ 
voutly to be wished/ ’ a goal 
worth striving for. The nearer 
we come to that aim, the richer 
in things spiritual as well as 
physical will be the nation. 
Large industrial concerns 
which have encouraged and as¬ 
sisted their employes to plant 
gardens and to raise part of their 
value of own f°od testify .to 
shop the value of the work 
gardens as a stabilizer of 
labor and as making more con¬ 
tented and better workmen and 
citizens. The National War Gar¬ 
den Commission has received 
numerous reports which bear out 
this statement. Here, for in¬ 
stance, is what is said by the 
Norton Company, of Worcester, 
Massachusetts, whose employes 
last year cultivated 100 acres of 
company land, on which they 
raised between $40,000 and $50,- 
000 worth of food, in addition to 
that which more than 2,000 work 
ers grew in their home gardens: 
“The Norton Community Shop 
gardening activities are no 
longer an experiment. On the 
contrary, they are an unqualified 
