The New International Encyclopædia/Labor Colonies

LABOR COLONIES. Agricultural communities maintained for the purpose of giving employment and training to individuals who, on account of inefficiency or misfortune, find it impossible to make an independent living. Such colonies are carried on by the State in France, Germany, Belgium, and New Zealand, and by private effort in Holland, Switzerland, and the United States. Holland's four colonies, Frederiksoord, Wilhelmsoord, Wilhelminasoord, and Colony No. 7, are the oldest, the first establishment dating from 1818. Situated near the centre of the Kingdom, they occupy 5000 acres of land, and have 2000 colonists. Admission is open to all who are willing to work. On entering the newcomer is enrolled as a laborer, and he and all members of his family able to work are provided with an opportunity to gain a livelihood. His wages, paid weekly, are equal to the rate common in the locality, deduction being made for interest, rent, clothing, infirmary fee, and the family emergency fund. A colonist remains a laborer on probation for two years, at the end of which time, if he has proved himself industrious, he becomes a free farmer (vrij boer), receiving 7.7 acres of land, for which a yearly rental averaging $20 is paid. The colonies are governed by a director and several assistants, who must be residents. They are practically self-supporting, and the total value of their property is estimated at half a million dollars. They are operated by the Society of Beneficence (Maatschappy van Veldadiyheid).

In France the labor colony at La Chalmelle was established by the city of Paris in 1892. it occupies 316 acres of land and contains on an average 300 colonists, who are chosen from the most promising of those applying to the Parisian authorities for aid.

Germany has 26 Arbeiter-Kolonien, all established since 1882. The system is under control of a central board (Centralvorstand Deutscher Arbeiterkolonien). All able-bodied men who are willing to work are admitted. The colonists are chiefly employed in reclaiming land. The rate of wages paid is a trifle less than that prevailing locally, it being deemed desirable to discourage prolonged residence. It is believed that the establishment of these colonies has materially lessened vagrancy and begging. They also afford an opportunity for discharged convicts to obtain employment, the statistics showing that of all colonists received 75 per cent. have served in prison. New Zealand has provided a Government farm of 1000 acres on which unemployed may find work, and those who show themselves capable may share in the profits. Belgium maintains two, called Beneficent Agricultural Colonies (Colonies agricoles de bienfaisance), which are really penal colonies for vagrants and beggars rather than labor colonies proper. They are situated at Merxplas and Wortel, and comprise 3000 acres with nearly 5000 residents. In Switzerland a private company (Tannenhof Arbeiterheim) has a colony occupying 107 acres, and conducted on the German plan. In England, near Chesham, Buckinghamshire, a training farm of 225 acres is maintained for the unemployed by a private philanthropist. At Starnthwarte the Westmoreland Home Colonization Society has 130 acres with about 30 colonists. It is nearly self-supporting and aims at the permanent settling of the colonists on the soil. At Hadley, near London, the Salvation Army has a farm of 1150 acres with about 300 colonists to whom temporary employment is furnished. It also is nearly self-supporting, and is very successful. In the United States the Salvation Army has three colonies, in Colorado, California, and Ohio, all of recent date. The Colorado colony includes about 150 persons, and is being successfully operated.

Consult: "Arbeiterkolonien," in Conrad's Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften (revised ed., Jena, 1901); Buäl-Bernberg, Die Holländischen Arbeiterkolonien (Vienna, 1853); Evert, Entwickelung der Arbeiterkolonien in Preussen (Berlin, 1885); Hobson, Coöperative Labor Upon the Land (London, 1895); Report on the German Workmen's Colonies, presented to Parliament March, 1880; Booth-Tucker, The Salvation Army in the United States (New York, 1899); Booth, In Darkest England, and the Way Out (New York, 1890); Gore, The Poor Colonies of Holland, Bulletin Department of Labor No. 2 (Washington, 1896).