PARADISE FOR THE POOR.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 258, 6 November 1897, Page 3 (Supplement)

PARADISE FOR THE POOR.

THE NEW SALVATION COLONY US' SAN FRANCISCO.

Mr Booth-Tucker, writing to the New York 'World' from San Francisco on September 20, says— The first agreement has been signed, the first tract of land taken, the first sod turned, the first link forged in the chain of colonies which are to girdle our continent and constitute our Salvation Army Worlcingmen's Paradise. By a singular coincidence the beautiful and fertile valley which has been chosen for the basis of our operations in California lies at the foot of the Santa Lucia Mountains, nestled among which is the healthy Paraiso Springs. Paraiso means Paradise, and a lovelier spot it would be difficult to conceive. Across the valley sweeps a range cf hills.' Between them stretches an expanse of fertile land.watered throughout its length by the Kiver Salinas, with the Arroyo Secco and other tributary streams. The valley extends from "south to north, where the river loses itself in the famous Bay of Monterey. Nearly 30 miles wide at_ its moiith and sweeping inland 10 miles, this bay is the third largest in the State.

The Hotel del Monte rises here._ A cannonball shot from it 25 miles across the crest of the pine-clad Santa Lucia Mountains would just about

find a comfortable lodgment in the heart of our colony, half-way down the valley. , , If you could sit astride it in its swift'course through the air, in leaving the mouth of the cannon you would see the long sweep of the Pacific coast with the towns of Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Pacific Grove dotted along the bay. Then as you rose in mid-air your eye would rest upon the inland towns of Watsonville, Pajaro, Castroville, and Salinas, thickly ' clustered near the mouth of the valley.

And then as you descended you would see at the junction of the Rivers Salinas and Arroyo Secco the little town of Soled ad. Some three miles this side of the two rivers, almost at the very point of junction, you would' alight on a spot which would make the most citified soul desire to become a member of our Poor Man's Paradise.

You would have seen a huge steam plough making mincemeat of 6,000 acres of earth, ploughing it up to a depth of 12 or 15 inches and turning over the subsoil for the action of light and air. You would have heard that the near-by land that was in preparation would be but one-seventh of the 40,000 acres which the magic wand of capital was desirous of planting out in beets to feed the monster factory that was shortly to spring into existence.

Cautiously anxious, perhaps, to know

whether the soil and climate would be suitable for such a growth, your informer would point you out the fine factory at Watsonville, representing an investment of more than $500,000, with an average capacity of 350 tons of beets each day. Here employment is given to 150 men when the factory is running, $12,000 a month being paid in wages" and $40,000 a month to the beet-growing farmers in the. neighbourhood. They will tell you that it is one of the best beet-producing districts in the world, and that with the costly machinery now being introduced a great future lies before the industry. & Here the workingman will have an opportunity not merely of earning wages but of becoming the owner in a

few years of a cottage and a tract of fertile land which he can call his own, and this by means of weekly pay- I ments which will range from $1 to $2 ■ a week. What do the citizens of San Francisco think about our colony? A sufficient answer to this will be found in the fact that a special committee of citizens was formed some six months ago for the special purpose of assisting us both in the choice of land and in the raising of funds, as well as in co-operating with our efforts in every possible manner.