The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1897-01-15
more dense from this movement is
without foundation.

|
The movement toward the cities is
attributed to the better advantages
which a life in the city offers, and
the better opportunity it gives to the
exploitation of capital and energy.
He believed this explanation hasty
and superficial. That the cause lies
more deeply in the : cart OF the race.
The growth of cities 10 but recently
become a recCgnized l. CT ~ social
philosophy. g es are oid Z, heir
advantages not new, why d en-
of the eaIiIer cel. ava
their advantages ~ hould u CIV
awaken to the coU,>i> OF I'll
value of city lifes0 late ne Gen.
turies. The condlL IN for ove-
ment cityward haveloNg existe 10
logically the movemen should h We
begun earlier. He held that becau 5"
men did not know how to produce and
distribute products sufficiently sus-
tain life in great masses, while true,
was not an answer, and that inven-
tions, discoveries and developments
are not primarily the causes OF things.
They are simply effects whoses
causes are back in the spirit of man.
Collectivism is the creed of the 18th
century as against individualism OF
the 18th. 1t is a reaction against
that force which ended in the mad
fury of the French revolution. States
men and poets alike saw that in in
dividualism there was nothing but
anarchy and despair ahead of the
race. They abandoned it and worked
out new doctrine in unconscious CO.
operation, but as though inspired OF
God, and they builded better than
they knew. In rapid succession from
Germany, England, France and Am
erica came announcements of doc
trines which led up step by step to
J collectivism and the principles in
volved were the seeds which quicken
ed and ripened into creed affect
| ing national life, revolutionizing
science, art, religion, politics, collect
ing life into great centers and chang
: ing the mental, moral and social as
t poets of Europe and America. And
: then followed a reorganization of ma
q tional life, and this century has seen
the evolution of common conscious
!. ness in the civilized world from the
i destructive faith of individualism to
the constructive faith of collectivism,
e and in this faith must be grounded
e the universal tendency to gather in
r cities. COllectivism is a creed based or
= the idea that the state can carry or
+ vastly more social functions than it IL
J. accustomed to undertake. 1t holds
that it is the duty of the government
v to take upon itself the largest exer
# else of power and.activity,not incom
e patible with individual progress
is There is an immense loss and waste
e of energy in individual activity. a
j. time will surely come when public
)6 and private functions will be more
lie nationally distributed. What tn
10 limit of distribution between indivi
~ dual and state will be cannot be pre-
dicted snor deduced, but must b
worked out in daily experience. TIL
D rise of corporations has been stimuli
taneous with the rise of cities. The.
y" have grown up together. The wor
corporation first appeared in the COZ
s1itution of the state of New York i
1916. In recent constitutions Who'll
D. section is devoted to the deinitio
at and restriction of cooperative power
IN He touched to some extent upol
e. the question of municipal govern
to ment and held that divided respons
n bility was one of the principal cause
err for the evils which exist.
r. He did not look upon the growth {
M cities as an evil to be feared, but hel
a their growth to be destinct featul
a of a developing civilization. Th
~ danger was not in their growth, bu
ne in the failure of craftsmanship
n keep pace with their growth. Th
n great policies of the world have bee
IT,. suggested by unsophisticated mel
en- Its great discoveries and immort;
100 creations are due to those who hay
ed lived close with nature and simpl
of folk. The cities, on the other han
ed have .been the great agencies to d.
he velop these faiths and policies for til
on practical needs of men. Cities out {
RS, their valuable experience have o
of gained charity into science; hav
IS. made possible universities. theatre
IS. and art museums, and founded as!
wv lums and hospitals. They work OF
"a a social solidarity impossible to rur;
la people. City and county togetht
k round out complete society and til
y. movements between them are who'll
lie some and beneicent. Through the
lis mankind is improving it's quality an
ne humanity is realizing its hope.
pc DR.. E. j. Davis opened the discu
at sion. He confined his remarks large