Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1891-08-29
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
CIVILIZATION THREATENED.


The Toledo (O.) Sunday Journal,
edited by c. C. Packard, is one OF the
many able and influential journals that
see and confess the need Of some radio
al cure for the evils that affect not only
this country, but tho whole civilized
world. There is found in all countries,
no matter what their tariff policy,
tendency that threatens the extinction
of civilization. 1t exists in this coun-
try and it will be notably demonstrated
in the next census, by the figures show
ing the growth of city populations and
the relative shrinkage of rural poputa-
tons Commenting on this the j Journa1
says:
s'When men flock to cities, and when
farms are abandoned, or concentrated
in the hands of a few, there arises a
situation which indicates that that
which has forever Eeen the curse of the
| race, and which has always toreshad-
owed the downfall of that nation IN
which such event transpires, the abase-
ment of the masses. This is true OF all
the nations of history, from the Chal-
deans and Assyrians down to mighty
Rome, for no people thrives permanent
ly whose existence is drawn from the
soil by alien hands The agricultural
poIIlCu u SuCu SIS>NJ
comes separated both in habit and
thought from those residing in cities,
and the latter produce a race OF ener-
vatcd and weakened people, who easily
fall victims to their own vices superin-
duced by absence from that great pro
! moter of national, as of individual
strength, the soil.
! This is true, but not the whole truth
The degradation of the rural commun-
! ity incident to this process accelerates
that tendency which originally made
heather and pagan terms OF reproach
| and caused all that is desirable In the
life of the race to be called civilization.
It is well that men should live close
enough together for companionShip,
and overcrowdng and isolation are
alike to be deplored. That we are I'M
dergoing the process that destroyed
| Israel and wrecked the civilization OF
Rome is apparent to every man VINO
does not willfully close his eyes 10
| what is going on around him. NC
| country born man of forty or more
needs any statistics to show him how
the condition, financially and social Y,
of the farmers of the eastern and mid
die states has changed for the worse
since the days of his boyhood No one
| ndV1uS even lllS Itltat k'Si i1i>AoA 49, ~ "
edge of the life of the idle rich, and
their hanrers-on, can doubt that the
! standard OF morals among them has
fallen very low and is steadily falling
That the same is true among the very
poor is matter of police court record
Our Toledo contemporary not only sees
| the tendency but it sees the cause.
says:
"Under our system of laws. whicl
permits unlimited private ownership O.
the soil there has arisen wrong
which we arc all willing to condemn
alien ownership of great tracts by Tor
eigners who have neither part nor 10
with us nor with our growth. and who
simply hold the soil from those VINO
would otherwise find there homes fol
themselves and families. But with ou'
criticism of this alien ownership. con
| fessedly wrong and unfair and unJuS
to those who come here to make per
manent homes, perhaps we Will neee
to go deeper in this matter and dis
cover how wisely we follow the Eomar
rather than the Celtic or Saxon plan o.
land-holding, and whether we are bes
situated by vesting in some fortunate
person or his descendants that which l:
as much a matter of pu bic right as the
| ar. LnG water OF N'''' Va A1'.
tire. as is preferred, provided the
earth, equally with the air and colder
sunlight. and the boundlcss ocean, ant
it is not unwisdom which opposes The
holding Of land under perpetual ten
ure by those so fortunate as to acquire
| it. 1t was not the owners of the Caiu
met and Hccla mines who planted th'
copper deep in the bosom OF the carti
at that point They tolled not, nelthc
did they spin, nor put forth at atom o
intelligence. or effort to provide tina
which is rightfully common lhheril
auce to ell. 1t was not man, but ma
ture, that buried the coal and iron un
derneath the Appalachian mountains
although it is now man who sits IN NJ
Wall street office and DEGREES hoV
much coal shall be mined in a give
time, in order that a certain price sha'
lie maintained. Man had neither 10
nor part in planting minerals: the gas
the oil. the marble, nor the preclou
metals in the earth, any more than Il
has provided the water that falis !
blessed dew at night, or in cool aa
refre shinr showers to soak the parchc
earth by day, or the genial sur
shine which makes lifo and haI
pincss. And yet man has SO arrange
| that Whlle all must nav I ''S~N'7' ~ :"
and sunshine and water, few are a
lctted the rich blessings bestowed 10
the race in the bosom of the earth, an
nothing infaiiibfy remains for IN
masses but bare SIX feet OF SOIL J.
: which they are permitted to lay theI
weary bones, after obeylng the pee
and call of the fortunate few in all tn
long and dismal years during whlc
. | they have endured want and penury.
Under such circumstances II IS no
wonderful that hopelessncss of adt
ouate reward drives the poor as well
| the thrifty and ambitious from tn
country to the easier life of the towi
where the chances seem greater, {
. that the hopeless poverty OF crowde
. multitudes drags thousands down
crime and shame. Yet men laugh q
!. | IL. IL, ciNiEZltin can