New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-08-07
NFW- ENGLAND HILL TOWNS.

marked In the previous CeusuS' h"o N""'
1t has been q favorte explanation Win
students of finance and social progress that
the unnatural initiation of the currency ana
the development of large class OF mlddlemeh
after the war, drew cOuntrymen to the clt'es'
because trading was more profitable than farm
ing. But the financial reaction, with all the
close pinching and real suffering which were
common between 1873 and 1879, has not
checked the movement of population to the
cities: has not repaired the dilapdated home
steads ON many of the New-England hills
With rare exceptions, the large towns ana
cities have grown larger; the little ones,
less. Even where the census shows that
small town has gained, the chances are that
new factory has been built on some Dlther'o
lttle-used water power, or some new Ianhco
invention has gathered cluster OF opera
tive families for its manufacture. AT any
rate. II Is not the hill towns devoted to corn
and grass raising, it is not the purely esrl-
cultural interests which have attracted more
people. 1t is easy to take the census returns
and point out many towns when are elther
stationary or whose gain is below the natural
incl ease of population by the excess OF Oiiths
above deaths. Beyond these ale many others
and the word "many" is not an exaggeratioh
whose loss in the last five years varies from
10 l5 per cent. Berkshire County, III western
Masss chusetts, will illustrate. Hancock town
loses over II pei cent OF its 100 people III
1875: Afford over Ia per cent or ITS $50,
and Beckett about 1913 per cent OF IT'S l,oZ9'
All over New England, fiom tie northeast
corner of Maine to the south vest corner OF
Connecticut, ale similar instances OF Geclne'
tn ,ugh the loss will rarely reach so hlgh Il
percentage On the other hand, the cities have
grown. Some have maize small percentage
Of gain. Others, like Fall River and HOlyOke,
have Gained many thousands absolutely and
n heavy per cent relatively. The clty-Ward
tendency is by no means checked, but in
creaSing.
One thing made clear by the statistics is the
necessity for IL revision OF the common Judg-
mcnt of the severity OF city Poverty com
pared with that of the country towns. Desti-
tuition has not driven people from the cues
into tic surrounding country TO get Il hVlh&
| from the soil directly. 1t has been us nara
for the New England farmer to make Il
living from his rocky c0rDiields ana irregular
| acres of grass, rs it has been IVr the city me-
| chanic or laborcr Doubtless when the returns
| from the Western States are i'll, II will be
found that the hard pressed workers IN both
city and country of New-England have
| migrated to where land Is good and cheap, ana
where the pressure OF population Is less. but,
| if there has been any migration hom New
! England cities, the adjacent towns have not
| been enlarged by tic overflow Their depie-
ton has continued, and the lament which has
| Income familiar over tie dccadGnce or the once
| thriving farming communities OF the Eastern
| States is row as timely as it ever was. Bat 1t
- also as useless and as foolish. It Comes
| either from those Whose IDEAS Of Arcadlan
simuliclty do not include the haldohips and
INVITATIONS of the hill-town farmer, or from
those who do not realize VIVA; they are losing by
their solitary living ana what those have
gained WHO have abandoned the old fam foI
| the more sociabic village.
There is no poetry about these old aban-
dored hOmestcads-at least not to these WHO are
evhorted TO stay and build them up for the
sake of the family name, for the honest yeo-
many, for the town credit, or for any other
equally unworthy sentiment Summer VS.
ito.s may sigh over the decline OF the once ros-
perous molly moral, independent farmer.
| But summer bIceZes are not winter snow
drifts: playing croquet in the old yard, or
| eatinc anples in the orchard, is not cutting the
wood ON the mountain lot, OF hOeing i'll the
stony field or haylng in the DOGGY meadow.
On the cid homestead the dutiful son OF The
estimable old folks is separated far too much
from human society. 1t is far TO the nearest
neighbors; visitors are few and they are the
same old faces His children have to walk lar
| To school, and the school keeps fewer weeks
than the city school; has poorer teachers,
fewer scholars, less life, less well-drected
study. He is out of the current Of human life
New books ale rare and the supply of news
papers is scanty. 1t is misfortune to the man
who lives on one of these old farms that he
cannot sec his way clear to moving where he
will have more and nrarer neighbors and
live q more human life. Lack of social inter
course removes stimulus TO personal growth
which makes the solitary man narrow man
Executions may be found where solitude has
been rich in thought, but the rule is that the
man who is much alone Is out OF sympathy with
human life in many natural phases.
Is this depopulatIOn of the New England
bill-towns likely to continue Evidently it ii
for an indefinite period, and financial reasons
will in the main determine IT. Taxation n
these towns is generally high, the great burder
being the cost Of maintaining the highways
Where the roads of the wealthy village or city
on the low lands are only slightly injured by &
storm, the roads of the hill towns are torn int
gullies and made, in some places impossible
Departing people take no roads with them
Part of the tax-paying property goes but thu
roads remain. In time old roads arc CLOSED
r,. The burden of taxation, joined to socia
disadvantages will continue for years to de
, populate the former well do farming dis
tucts. In many plac es already the once well
titled lands are overgrown with brush ant
; | ..,.,x +r.aa Eapces arc rotten and stone wall