The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-29

cnusetts Agricultural college read an exhaustive paper upon Recent Eco homie Changes in the State of Massa- chusetts He said in part:
 Stability and prosperity in the econ omic development of Massachusetts re- suit from the proper adjustment of centripetal forces to centrifugal, Of con- centration to diffusion. The concentra- tion of population is the first fact. There are 311 people to the square mile in the state; for the four counties clus- tering about Boston, S02 Cities and towns of 10000 or over contain Sl.3S per cent of total population. Concen- tration in congested districts causes ar- rested growth or decadence elsewhere, where 1885 abandoned farms have been reported.
 Changes in agriculture accompany changes in population, Less than per l cent. of the people are engaged in agrl- culture, while other real property has increased in value nineteen times fast CT. There are marked changes in transportation. Steamrailroads pay div idends only by building no extensions, by rigid economy and by making their | existing plants more efficient. Combl- | nation has about reached it's limit, four companies doing 99 per cent of the bus- | iness Electric railroads have had marvellous development, from DO miles | in 1889 to 1,402 miles in 1897. These are l intimately connected with concentra- l tion of population and are made possi- ble by it, but in the end checking it by scattering homes. Building an exten- sive system of macadamized roads in l all parts of the commonwealth results from concentration of population. These also further tend to check congestion. The common use of the bicycle and the i telephone tend to the same end. "Centripetal forces draw manufactur- l ing from hamlets to the great cities, l from numerous private forms into the ! power of corporations. But the law or 1 supply and demand, together with rigid 1 state control have protected the pubic while trades unions and factory acts have also protected the laborlng man ] Concentration of weath follows concen- i tration of population. The unearned increment of various kinds are taken 1 by those fortunate enough to seize | Lue1H. But all lOICtS dIS WOl hiAieo hoi ~ , more general distribution of wealth 1 Most interesting is it to note the recent l changes iii the relation of the state to l industry. The movement is towards l the prevalence of centralization over ! local self-goyernment. There is a rapid I growth of state commissions and the 1 employment of state money and state J officials in the service of towns and vll- I lages. Thus the advantages Of the clt- < ies are extended to the small towns, and vice versa. Especially is good se- cured by the establishment of system l of practical education by means of
 manual training and technical schools. The end being the discovery Of the I greatest amount of most valuable knowledge and it's widest diffusion among the great number of people.
 The evening session was held in Col oniaI hall on Grove street. A very dis tinguished audience which completely filled the large auditorium was presant.
 President Timothy Dwight made the
 address of welcome in his usual happy vein.
 Professor George Park Fisher, Yale's world famed church historian, made the address of the evening, which follows below.
 I Professor J. M. Vincent of Johns Hop kins then gave a brief address on Mt nicipa1 Life in the Twelfth Century.
 He took the ancient charter of the city of Strassburg as the basis of his paper,
 stating that this charter is probably the oldest municipal document in the
 world. His remarks about the strange methods of taxation and the unique ap-
 pointment of officers were very anus ing.
 1 Dr. Fisher then appointed the follow ing committees for the coming year: Finance committee-Hon John A. King, New York; E. w. Blatchford,
 Chicago.
 Committee on programme for next
 meeting-Professor A. B. Hart, liar yard. w A. Dunning, Columbia univer-
 slty; Charles Haslins, University of
 Wisconsin; Fl. E. Bourne, Western Re serve; H. B. Adams, Johns Hopkins.
 Committee on nominations-A. l.. Lowell. Bcston; R. G. Thwaites, Ma3i- son, Wis; w. P. Trent, Sewanee, Tenn. Committee on esolutions-Professo D. c. Munro, University of Pennsyl-
 vania; H. F. Bourne. Western ReserAe e. Professor Charles Kendall Adams then gave the report of the committee
 on time and place of next meeting. He
 stated that the invitations were many
 and pressing, but the committee had been led to decide only on the grounds
 of historic interest For this reason Boston was nemed as the next place Of
 meeting. In 1900 the society would meet
 in Detroit. In 1901 in Washington. The
 committee would inaugurate triennial policy-one year the convention to be
 held in the east, the next ir the west
 and the third year in Washtngt-n.
 The visitors were extended recep-
 tion by the local society.
 At 10 o'clock yesterday morning a
 preliminary joint session was held with the New England History Teachers as- sociation, many of whom are here to
 attend the meeting of the nati1 bcdy. The papers read at the morning ses- sion were "A Plea for the Study of
 Scottish and Irish History" by Profes-
 sor H. Morse Stephens of Cornell uni- versity; Practical Methods of Con- ducting Large History Courses" by Professcr c. A. Duniway of Leland uni- versity and "The Report of the Con-
 mittee of Seven on the Study of His tory in Secondary Schools" by Profes-