The Omaha
PART TWO
EDITORIAL
UNDAY
PART TWO
SOCIETY
P4(JVO ONF TO TWTXVT,
ONE TO TWELVE
JDJcJlv
I I '"TfO
H 1
VOL. XLUl-XO. 40. OMAIIA, SUNDAY MORNING, MAKOI1 22, 1014. SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
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VER 8,000 acre's of vacant lots 'and
vacant tracts, annually growing up lu
weod8, Ho within tho city limits of
Omaha. This is from a conservative
coinptatton made by competent real
estate men by going pver- the assess-
1. 1 l. 1 - m
, uiuuv uuuna, unu uutms account Si
the unplatted tracts, as well as deducting the 9 28
acres of parks. '
By far the greater part of the 8,000 acres ol
vacant ground In Omaha Is owned by nun-residents.
The 8,000 acres of weed-grown .vacant land
lu sufficient, If it were built up, to contain all the
population that in forty "years has beenforced Into
the suburbs five and ten miles away from the
business center of the city.
, Lack of convenient water mains, sowers, street
car litfes and other public conveniences have re
tarded the. salo and development of much of tin
vacant property,- Tho'absentco lahttlordB are waif
Ins for Omaha to spend , its raonby-lor.water' mains;
for the car company to build extensions, for the
city to construct Bowers tokth.o. edge of their lots.
Then they can absorb all these benefits and exact
a fat sale price from honest Omaha people seeking
a spot on which to build a home.
The soil In theso 8,000 acres is fertile.
Garden hoes are cheap.
And there aro over 12,000 school children be
tween the ages of 8 and 1C whose parents wory
all the summer vacation monthB because they
knew not htjw to keep them out of mischief.
Tho cost of garden produce is high.
The cost of cutting theso weeds off these fer
tile acres is also high, both to tho owners of the
vacant property and to the city of Omaha, for tho
city maintains a dozen inspectors whose business
it is to servo verbal notices to tho owners to c t
tho weeds.
Yes, lettuce, radishes and potatoes are high.
Every-day we hear tho complaint.
There are a few thousand' women who 'could
spend a few hours in tho morning and evening
hoeing in gardens. They, could do; so with profit,
to tho household. and, with profit to their store' of
health. ' . . ,
There aro soveral thousand men who coiilrt
spare' an hour In the morning and another In the
evening f directing tho gardenwor,k 'of their own
children among tho-12,000 boys- and girls, and'
could even handle a hoe, in a potato or cabbage
patch themselves with Just as much profit as a
golf cudgel.
But they don't,
Tlo vacant lots do not belong to them, they
say. Some real estate men have suggested there
should he a city ordinance allowing the city, to as
sign vacant lots to persons who desire to culti
vate tliCwU. This it is maintained, could bo done
bocauso tho cultivation would abate a nuisance by
keeping tho weeds down.
But no such ordinance has been introduced.
ilere aro a few things that the 12,000-boys
and girls could accomplish with tho . Intelligent
holp.of a few thousand parents mornings and
evenings: -
They could raise potatoes alone and ptodure '
884,000 bushels. No, that is not estimating; It too
high, for the United States agricultural report
show t'i'it the averago ylold of potatoes for the
United States Is 100 bushels vet acre. Evdryone
knows that Omaha soli , and climate is far above
average United States soil and climate.
Thoeo potatoes 'would supply every family In
town with teq bushels and would lcavo the chil
dren' ($00,000 bushels to ship out in the state for
spending money. '
Or, if hoeing corn is less work than hoeing
potatoes, these children, with the help and direc
tion Btlll of the few hours' pare time of their
parents, could raise 400,000 bushels of corn ThU
would give twelve bushels of corn to every family
In the city and would make, fried mush for every,
family every breakfast of tho year.
If they should devote tho entire acreage to
cabbage culture they would In a favorable yeari
raise more cabbage than the whole 'state would
consume In a year. i
But they don't want tha much cabbage. A
sane division or tne . acreage wouia give j.uur
acfeB to tho potato crop. This would yield ten
bushels of potatoes for every family In Omaha.
That should last them through the winter.
A thousand acres of corn would raise corn
V potatthes; Again, this Is not guess work. The city health MC3 M ggVW- --WglS -J II
X I Hon null of tho fw hours' -mare time of their department maintains ton sanitary Inspector at I , 'I V
enough to furnish fried mush for every breakfast
of every family in the city during the threo winter
months.
Another thousand acres devoted to the culture
of navy beans would produce 15,000 bushels, o.'
one-half bushel for every family in the city.
A thousand acres devoted to diligent cabbage
culture , would put sixty-seven heads of cabbage,
into every cellar In the city., , ,
Still thcro would bo left 2,000 acres of soil to
dispose of. .
Save this for miscellaneous garden truck and
it would furnish all the. lettuce, radishes, onions,
celery,, peas and other strictly summer vegetables
the city could consume
But no such wave of economy lias as jet ei
yeloped the youth ,and the parents . of Omaha's
youth. No ordinance permitting the city to assign
weed-grown vacant lots to Industrious boys has as
yet been written upon tho books.
"So, what is Omaha doing with these vacant
lots'? It is building up a great city around them, so
that the owners of the vacant ground can sorao dny
demand great tribute from those who wish to es
tablish useful industries on the sites.
Meantime weeds flourish. It costs the people
df Omaha annually a great many thousand dollars,
to keep tho weeds cut around the curbing of theno
vacant lots. It costs tho city other thousands to
maintain a force of inspectors who servo written
and verbal notices on the owners of the vacant
lp'ts. to cut weeds on the lots proper.
Again, thjs Is not guess work. The city health
department maintains ten sanltury Inspectors at
$75 per month; and a large part of their duty is
to serve notices to those delinquent in cutting
weeds. That is a little Item of $9,000 a year the
taxpayers of Omaha aro paying to the. Inspectors,,
besides furnishing them a bushel of car tickets to
ride out and serve 13,494 verbal notices to cut
weeds.
Then, .It takes a great many dollars to .buy
postago stamps to notify the absentee landlords uf
vacant lots that th'ey must cut weeds. It' took
2,140 such written noticoa last year.
The department of street cleaning and main-
tenance also has its troubles with the weed prob
lem on vacant lots. An appropriation of $1,500
has just been made from the miscellaneous fund
of this department for this purpose. Last year it
spent $1,200 In this work, Coming upl
No, the department doetm't actually cut weeds'
on the lot 'Proper,' but it does cut the weeds along
the curbing and' at' the edge of 'the' street along
the vacant lots. If the ' lots, wero Improved til l,
item would' not exist. .
A few figures in regard, to' Improved and un
improved ground, were made up In Omaha by a
committee headed by D. C. Patterson. The com
mittee went to tho assessment rolls, went over
the city where It took nccount of tho platted and
unplatted ground, deducted the narks and studied
the niaps of every addition in the city with a vlsw '
to getting a careful estimate of the situation'.
: It finds that there are twenty-four and one
half square miles of ground within the city limits.
TIiIb Iff about 15,700 acres. Of this 923 acres aro
in parks. Ground not platted the committee foui d
to be 4,700 acres, including parks and public
, grounds. It-foun 19,230 improved lots and tra'-ts
1 and' 23,811 unimproved lots and tracts.
On the farms in tho agricultural sections ot
Nebraska where laud Is worth $160 per acre, farm
ers never allow a halt aero to He Idle. They make
every foot of.it produce.
In Omahu where the ground Is worth from
$5,000 to $10,000 per acre, 8,000 acres He Idle.
But the city. has. at present no control over tho
vacant ground within Ita boundaries, even though
much . of It Is owned by New York and London
speculators who have never seen Omaha. The city
has no power oyer these weed fields, except that
It may pay a forco of men to ask the owners to
pleaso see that the weeds are cut.