The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1892-05-11
Alice Z. AfElene.l

1Oru OneSterneld, at the age OF seventy,
was IN the habit of saying to his old serv-
ant. Tyrawley: "Ty, you and have
been dead for many years If We only knew
it. Let us walk down town and rehearse
our funeral"
When learned political economists,
those unextinct pachvderm OF modern
learning, who are looked upon as the finest
products OF the nineteenth century civii-
cation, step out of their libraries and par
lors and tell US with an air OF divine i'm
pertinence that social classes owe nothing
to each other" and that the crying evils
existing at the centers of our large cities
are inevitable" American society is re-
hesrsing its funeral.
NegIecting the proper study OF man.
kind" our educational institutions have
afflicted us with redundant learning on
bugs.
Ii civilization is a process of social de-
velopment and not an abnormal departure
from the conditions OF nature, and ii cities
are the natural outgrowth and necessary
ia ctors of civilization, none of the evils
which follow upon the crowding OF masses
oil people in cities can be accepted as in
evitable.
A well-known writer on the social prob
lens of the day SAYS: There are certain
inevitable results which follow upon the
crowding OF masses of people in cities.
These are, first, an excess of demand over
supply in the necessarles OF life and q
consequently increased cost of living /;
secondly, an excess OF supply over de-
mand IN all departments of labor, profess
fessional, clerical and mechanical. and for
many constantly increasing difficulty OF
obi aiming the means OF living; and third.
ly, development Of crime, intemperance
and other vices.
The above enumeration does not accord
with existing facts. 1t is not true that in
cities there is an excess of demand over
supply in the necessaries OF life. Except
when controlled by monopoly or inter
-up.ed by some temporary natural obstruc-
ton, the supply of necessaries OF life in
cities is in excess of needs, and the larger
the city the greater the excess. If cases of
individual deprivation OF these necessaries
! of life in cities is in excess OF needs, and
| the larger the city the greater the excess.
| If cases of individual deprivation of these
necessaries arise it is not because there is
any lack of supply. Nor is the cost great
| er. Cities are the receiving and distribut-
ing reservoirs of the products OF industry,
| and at these centers the cost of these prod
ucts to consumers is in many particulars
| less than at points more or less remote.
Exception might also be taken TO some
| of the other counts In the indictment, but,
granting them all, they are none OF the m
| inevitable" Are we to accept this pious
| folding of hands over the evils of our CIV
! ilization on the plea of their assumed In
evitability, with its concomitant recourse
to charity mongering palliatives, In place
| OF a thorouShgOing examination into
| causes and adoption of efficient remedies
The proximate, If not the ultimate.
cause of these evils is the congestion OF
population at the city centers-congestion
as distinguished from vital incorporation.
To whatever extent the population Of a
city is in excess of the functional activity
of city rs an organism OF the social body
| there is a congestive condition.
OF the total population of the United
| States eleven and two-thirds millions are
dwellers in cities. That is to say. 223 per
| cent, or more than one-fifth, of the entire
population of the United States today is to
| befound in the cities. OF this population
very nearly one-third is in the cities OF
| New York. Philadelphia and Chicago, in
| Guiding as part OF New York its tributary
| cities of Brooklyn and JERSEY City.
Is such an accumulation OF population
in cities a legitimate result OF necessary
| tendencies of social development, or is II
| an evidence OF disease? Are not such
cities as London, Paris and New York
monstrosities, hydrocephalous formations
| Is not their rapid increase, such as has
/ taken place in recent years. thing to be
| ! hon ToAlToh1x- hnocfaS
| of? Considered in connection with the nc
| lees rapid development in labor saving
machinery, whereby the work OF ten men
is performed bv one, is there not some
thing still more strikingly abnormal and
| inconsistent in this increase
Playing with forces so strange and mighty
that they have changed the face OF the
| world, we have drifted into new epoch Of
| civilization, and continued to apply to its
problems the wisdom Of the anCients
| Attempting to carry the commerce of the
Atlantic in the galley-bOats of the Romans
would be idiocy less stupendous.
Three-ouarters of a century ago, in the
| beginning of the epoch steam, wise men
said I'VE have arrived at the golden age
the giants have come to bear the burdens
| of men. The gods of fire and force viii
enrich this fair world there will be
enough for all. Poverty will vanish like &
| dream The music of wheels. the laugh
ter of steam and STEEL will take the place