Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-06-12
TOWN DECADENCE.

writer points out the silent tragedy that
Is overtaking the small villages In all
our north central States. One by one,
family by family, he says their inhaD-
itants slip away In search OF other
homes; a steady but hardly perceptible
emigration takes away the young, the
hopeful, the ambitious There remain
behind the superannuated, the feeble,
the dull, the stagnant rich, who WILL
risk nothing, the ne'er-do-wells VINO
have nothing to risk. Enough WORK
ers remain to till the soil, to manage
the distribution Of food and clothing,
and to transact the common business
of life: but the worlds real work Is
done elsewhere. All these small com
munitieS had their period OF active
growth; many Of them, indeed, grew
too fast; some dried up and perished.
Their people look back sorrowfully to
the time when the railroads were built,
when the mills were grinding, when
town property was worth more than II
cost That happy period was from
ten to thirty years ago; the general de
cline Of the small municipalities Of the
West became most noticeable during
the decade from 1880 to 1890.
OF 6,291 townships enumerated II
the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Iowa and Michigan, 144 have remained
stationary in population between 1880
and 1880; 3,003 have gained and 3,144
have declined, and this In face Of the
fact that the population Of these States
gained largely during the decade, the
Increase in Ohio being 474,OOO, in In
diana 214 900, in Illinois 74S, 900 and In
Iowa 2S7,OOO.
The chief productive Industries Ii
small Western communities have been
the manufacture Of agriculture imple-
ments. Of brick and tile, cooperage,
grist mills and Touring mills, foundriea
and machine shops, saw-mills and mills
whose products are made from logs
and bolts, the making Of furniture,
wagons and carriages. Twenty years
ago all these trades fourished in every
village of thousand or more popula.
ton. 1 have been familiar from child.
hood with one such town where the fol.
once in active and profitable operation:
Four Touring and grist mills, three
saw mills, five wagon and carriage
shops, three woolen mills, three furni.
ture and cabinet shops, one foundry I
and machine shop, two cooper shops, |
besides many smaller industries. AL !
the flour mills are silent to-day, though |
two new ones have sprung up in their
places, operated by steam instead Of |
water power; all the saw-mills are
gone; all the wagon and carriage-shops
are deserted, or at best do a little re-
pairing; two Of the woolen mills be-
long to the past and the remaining one
does small business; and cabinet
is hardly any more a REQ
osnized trade. One by one these little
centers of Industrial activity succumb-
ed to the inevitable; every one Of them
tells story of heroic struggle with con-
ditions which they but dimly under
stood and were powerless to resist Yet
this region Is portion Of the State of
Iowa where crops never fail and where
nature has done everything to encour.
age prosperous population.
One Of the serious consequences O
the drawing away Of the youth and
energy Of the villages and towns isl
found In the benumbing effect II has
upon those who remain behind. There
ls little incentive to start new enter.
prises, and especially is there small
encouragement for boys to learn skill
ed trades. Hence the prospect before
the boys Of these villages is depressing
In the extreme. There is practically
NJ chance for boy to become skilled
In any trade except In the building
trades, the blacksmith shops, and In
the commonest handicrafts. The late
to the value Of manual.
schools Is confined almost ex.
clusively to the largest cities Nothing
Is done In the smaller towns to teach
skill or general e1pertness in
the useSPf tools, and the idea Of any
public effort to encourage the educa.
ton Of highly skilled mechanics In any
Is not even thought Of. A
boy may learn to hold q plow, to shov.
el dirt, to do common carpenters work,
to paint house, to shoe q horse, he
may learn how to clerk In q store, 70
become a lawyer, or to sell life-insur.
ance; but the country towns are abso
lutely dead to the needs Of cult!vatins
the mechanic arts, and teaching the
American youth that general knowl.
edge and special skill, without which
our native workers are being so rapid.
ly driven out Of the higher branches Of !
Industrial activity. In Switzerland,
Germany, Belgium, Holland, Austria,
the village boy or girl with an aptitude
finds a school near by in which he mAy
pursue the lines Of study proper to
lay the foundation for any art OF can.
ing, and in most cases he may then
enter a trade school from which, after
years Of the most thorough. practical
and technical instruction, he may Be
graduated, . finished master Of his
chosen trade.
What Is to become Of the American
rural and village population, which is
shut out from even the benefits Of such
manual training as may now be had
In the high schools Of the most progres-
sive cities7 We are fast creating q
peasantry, which, in another genera
ton, WIN seem rude in comparison
with the peasantry Of Europe, unless
we adopt some enlightened method Of
our workers to compete, man
for man, with the artisans of Europa |