The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1883-10-03
- conntrY d. The City.

We reproduce the following excellent
editorial from that excellent paper, the
yatehex Democrat Ii shows that the
rural districts are more favorable Tor the
development Of healthy minds nheAlthy
bodies. and that the large cities make
drafts upon the country for men 70 ili
the most arduous and responsible posi-
tions:
1t i one of the great advantages Of =
republican form of government, or rath-
| er Of a confederated government, that
the strongest infellects of the country
do not converge to q great governmental
centre. In this respect the United
States Is among the first in furnishing
/ from the several States the brain that
governs the country. The commercial
cities of this country furnish probably
| fewer of the men who mould and form
/ political opinion, than any similar popu-
/ iation in the union. London L Eng
! land Paris Is France, but New York Is
not the United States. No occupant OF
/ the Presidential chair, with the excep-
ton Of the present incumbent, who has
succeeded to it by accident, has ever
been taken from any of the great cities
The greatest Statesmen in the Senate ana
/ in the House have come from the rural
/ districts
i II is therefore little arrogant on the
part of the inhabitants OF the great
Il cities to affect a contempt for their
country cousins, and to assume airs OF
! superiority over them. Even in com.
mercial life we frequently find the most
successful business men are poor boys
who have come from the country with
their habits of industry and economy,
and have bv their exercise achieved
wealth and distinction in business cir
eles.
And this is not all; there is really
more attention paid to the mental and
intellectual culture outside the large
cities than there is in them. A recent
collector of statistics says for example
shat one-fourth of the circulation o
the North American Review is west o
the Mississippi river, and that quartz
: part of the sales of the Encyelopedi
5 Britannica 90 into the same region, wher
: Robert Livingston declared In 1904, w
shall not send an emigrant for hundre
!. wears. Another periodical similar
= the North American has 90 per cent {
its circulation in the territory betwee
! the Alleghanies and the Pacific, and u
= principal New York newspapers ha'
l, more subscribers outside of that eli
: than they have in it. The sales OF boo
y present a like showing, the publishe
= certifying that far more of the best Gu
y !, rent books are ordered from the smi
= towns than from the large cities, in pl
= portion to population.
= In what we call the country we
4 course include the smaller towns, the
n which do not aspire to the dignity
2 great cities. Moderate aggregation seel
le necessary to develop the higher qualiti
= of the mind, and the attrition whi
= does not wear away too rapidly W
= brighten the intellect to the greatest p
. lection.
II, The writer whom we have quot
above, Rev. Edward Everett Hale,
the North American Review, conten
'sthat in every community there q
enough people of education and REIN
habits to take the lead of social order q
to lead it well; and the result is tt
thought is stimulated, and person
Independence promoted, and kind
character built up which can always
depended upon to do the right a
patriotic thing. This striking and me
important fact is precisely the one u
the Englishman overlooks or fails
comprehend Because London Is III
land he will not let himself doubt IL
some forceful metropolis must occupy
al like relation to the United States, VIII
in sober truth the elements that preser
and dieect our vital interests and decl
an what the national life and characi
~ shall be, are entirely apart from the lal
h cities. and infinitely more representatl
,,,' and masterful than the classes that ht
me- sway in the centers where Tweeds a
m Kellys are engendered"
.od We need not therefore fear the dem
,os alizing influence of the large cities,
- long as there is territory left for the t
m. M expansion of our population. The CO.
90 try element will always exercise a pl
,cb fying influence by the infusion at
al quent periods, of new and purer mattel
,;s. into the contaminated atmosphere OF
pas great commercial centres.