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State Geologist Kummell, who has been
consulting with Governor Voorhees for some time on the matter of
redeeming New Jersey forest lands, will send out in a short time
bulletins on forestry, so that the people will be brought to see
the possibilities of the State's woodlands and make more than a
half-million acres cleared and prosperous land.
Some time ago a movement, looking in the same
direction, was placed on foot to have the State own the forest
lands. New Jersey is at present about half wilderness, the wilds
of the southern part of the State making up this great percentage.
The possibilities of this uncultivated section were recognized
years ago by Russian and Polish Jews, who established colonies
there.
There is a circle in the South Jersey pine
lands, touching points in Cumberland, Salem and Cape May counties
that are experimental, and, in the main, successful colonies. Such
are Alliance, Rosenhayn, Carmel and Woodbine, Baron de Hirsch's
well-known community.
Alliance, in Salem County, was at one time in the eyes of
benevolent people of both America and Europe, and its
establishment was hailed as a solution of an international
problem. The persecuted Jews of Russia were fleeing by shiploads
and throwing themselves upon the mercies of other nations,
particularly England. England, to relieve herself, sent them to
America. The problem of their disposal in this country became a
philanthropic question. This section had the advantage of being
close to the markets of New York and Philadelphia. Land was very
low, acreage enough for a whole city being purchasable for the
price of a single city lot. Soon the wilderness was made to
blossom. Vineland was transformed from a woodland hamlet into a
pretty city, attracting buyers from all parts of the country, with
successful foreign colonies surrounding it. Hammontown had evolved
out of a dense woodland into a big tract of small fruit farms. Egg
Harbor became a prosperous German town. With these successful
experiments in view, the Hebrew Aid Society was induced by a
Vineland agent, who at the time was an emigrant commissioner, to
purchase a tract which became Alliance. It was in a corner of
Salem County, and the nearest trading point was Vineland. The
tract purchased was some distance from the New Jersey Southern
Railroad, and six miles from the West Jersey road. A road was cut
through the woods, a large square opening made, and a coarse
barracks erected. The plot of 1000 acres was later split into
fifteen-acre lots, and small cabins erected, at a cost of $50, to
be paid for in twenty years, without interest.
In spite of these charitable plans, there soon
came signs of discontent. Across the country ten miles or so there
was an older colony known as
Estelle, in
Atlantic County. Its inhabitants possessed some means.
Creating farms in the wilderness did not appeal
to the inhabitants of Estelle, and many of them started out as
peddlers. Soon Estelle became a deserted village, and the fate of
the older colony had a demoralizing effect upon Alliance. The
people of the latter settlement began to grow dissatisfied and
wearied the Hebrew Aid Society beyond patience by importunities
for money to start up a business, or for working their little
farms. The Aid Society, to get rid of the annoyance, gave the
colony over to the Alliance Land Trust.
The families that remained were patient and
industrious. They raised fruit, some of them realizing from $300
to $500 a year. In winter they made garments for New York
concerns. Some of them started the making of cigars and
cigarettes. The cottages were enlarged, an English public school
was started, and a synagogue organized. Many prospered to the
extent of giving their children advanced educations. In course of
time several large industries [were] located at Alliance. The town
gradually extended toward the railroad, and now stretches along a
single street three miles to Norma, the nearest railroad point.
Rosenhayn, another of the Hebrew settlements, was started
about the same time as Alliance. It was directly on the line of
the New Jersey Southern Railroad, midway between Bridgeton and
Vineland. The New York Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society placed six
Jewish families at Rosenhayn, which now is a well-organized
village of 900 people. One of the features of the place is a
co-operative factory, where each employee shares the profits of
the month. It appears to be working well.
Carmel,
like Alliance, missed the line of the railroad. It had no
association or corporation backing. It was started in 1882 by the
association of 100 families, which, having a little capital,
wanted to get out of New York's crowded tenements. They selected a
site between Deerfield and Millville. The colonists appealed to
Baron de Hirsch, who advanced $5000. Carmel to-day is a successful
colony, but it is seven miles from any other place, and is three
miles from the Bridgeton and Millville traction line. The town is
small, the synagogue being the only public building. There are
several small industries, but most of the inhabitants still till
the soil.
Woodbine, the best-known of all the colonies, was founded
ten years ago, and is directly on the West Jersey and Seashore
Road, in the northern part of Cape May County. It contains 260
Jewish and forty Gentile families. Here is located the Baron de
Hirsch Agricultural School. Out of this institution it is possible
that the men will come who will make the South Jersey wilderness
teem with prosperous farms and settlements. This was one object of
the Baron's beneficence, another being to raise up men to preach
and apply the doctrines of Zionism. Much money has been spent on
Woodbine, and it is said that the expenditures on it each year
exceed the receipts. But there is no doubt of the success of small
farming in South Jersey. Land is cheap, and the Jewish colonist is
patient and persevering. New Jersey depends upon him largely to
redeem the waste wilderness of the State. --New York Post.
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