Spare Land for Hard Times: Seattle's Pingree Plan

The committee overseeing Seattle's Pingree Plan has drawn a contract to protect itself and the owners of land, so that people given allotments cannot claim continued use or sue the committee or the landowner for labor, improvements or other demands. The contract reads:

'To the Pingree Plan: I, a resident of the city of Seattle, being desirous of obtaining the use of land for cultivation for this season, apply to you to obtain spare land for cultivation. I have a family of children and am in indigent circumstances, and I ask the use of land for cultivation as a matter of charity to myself and family. I do hereby agree to abide by your rules, orders and directions completely, and you shall be the sole judge and arbitrator in any matters of dispute that may arise between the undersigned and yourselves, or the owners of the land, and I agree to abide by your decision as a final determination of all such disputes.

'It is distinctly understood by me that I will go on to cultivate the same, and on the 1st day of December, 1895, I agree to quit possession of said land designated for me without having caused any waste or injury to the premises. I do hereby expressly waive any right of charge for any fencing, buildings, clearing or other improvements that I may place upon the said lands. It being distinctly understood that I go into possession of the said lands without having paid any consideration therefor.'