Each private home should have a yard of about 1/4 hectare. That will allow a worker to raise a significant part of the food he needs from his own land. His life thereby becomes more secure, and he is less dependent on his employer. If the worker becomes an owner who is assured work and the results of his labor on his own land, he will be able to survive necessary reductions in working hours that under current economic and social conditions can result only in absolute poverty for workers.
Objection 1:Agriculture will be hurt by the gardens of homeowners.
Response: Homeowners will be unable to raise either grain or animals on their piece of land. They will have to buy these, as before, from farmers. Their produce will harm no one, for it will not replace existing production, but rather allow the worker to consume more than before. They will produce that which they lack today because they are unable to buy it. The market for German agriculture will increase significantly as a result of decreased unemployment and our commercial measures.
Objection 2: The produce of homeowners will harm farmers’ markets.
Response: Homeowners will not sell their produce, but rather usually consume what they produce themselves. Farmers sell little directly to workers. But even if sales decline slightly, it will be made up ten times over by increased sale of young plants, seeds, etc., to home owners.
Objection 3: Brüning’s government had a complete fiasco with housing settlements at the edges of cities.
Response: That is true, but our plan is entirely different than Brüning’s. The new private homes will not be dog houses, as Brüning’s System planned, but rather solid, useful homes in which the owners will take pleasure.
Furthermore, Brüning’s housing developments would surely be threatened as he reduces unemployment payments, without the settlers being able to support themselves from their tiny plots of land. National Socialist housing developments will benefit from the general improvement in the economy, which will guarantee that the homeowners have jobs(usually part-time employment). This produce will be an additional resource, not his only source of income.