The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-07-17
VILLAGE ENVIRONMENT

The Larger Towns in the Vicinity
Have Absorbed Local Industries.
Indianapolis Journal: A few weeks
since the Journal called attention to an
article in the North American Review,
entitled 1.-THE Curse of Education" in
which the writer attributed to our sys-
TEN Of public education the Increasing
number Of people who are idlers be-
cause they have been led to seek em-
Payments which win enable them to
live without manual labor The drift
Of the article was to show that our sys-
tenn OF public instruction units the
young for those general employments
which are essential to the well-being Of
any community. The writer complains
that while considerable number of
persons could be found in villages who
could teach schools or engage in some
Of the professions, 1t was impossible to
find carpenter. cobbler, a black
smith. or other mechanic who could do
good job of work. In the July num-
Der Of the North American Review is
reply to this attack upon our public
schools by Mrs. Van Rensselaer, who
shows that It Is not the overeducatiOa
in the high schools of which Mrs. DGV-
Is made complaint which is RESPONSE
BILE for q class OF people who are too
good to work, since comparatively few
Of those who attend the public schools
ever entef or graduate from the high
schools. The figures presented In the
reply show that in several eastern cit
les at least 90 per cent of the children
attending schools do not enter the high
schools. but are put at work by their
parents.
II there are more idle men in vii
lagos now than formerly, 1t is due to
the fact that the larger towns In the Vi
cinlty have absorbed the industries
which were once ideal. The village
shoemaker Is no more, because the shoe
factory. with its machinery, can make
really better shoe for a less price
than the mechanic who did everything
by hand. The harvesting machinery
has taken the place OF armies OF lab
orers, In the villages near large towns
the larger establishments and the rail-
roads have taken the business. because
they can do 1t cheaper. 1t VIII be
found that considerable villages with
in twenty or thirty miles OF n city like
Indianapolis no longer have bakers, be-
cause those who retail bread can pur-
chase 1t cheaper OF the extensive bak-
ers in the city. Not many years ago
the butcher in the village slaughtered
and cured the meat he sold. Now the
farmer sells to dealers. who In turn sell
at the large stockyards, and the deal
er in the village purchases his meats
from the packing houses In the large
cities. So with other branches of In
dustry. Articles which were once made
In the homes or in the villages are now
manufactured exclusively by the lar
ger producers In cities, who have capi-
tai to Introduce labor-savlng machin-
cry. Not many years ago there was a
carriage factory In every village, but
they have passed away, because they
cannot compete with the extensive es-
adjustments, and the repair shop is
all that remains. Inherent aversion TO
earning breld in the sweat of the face,
not the education Of the common
school, is, responsible for the loafers In
village, country, and city. There Is a
good deal OF land in the vicinity OF VII
lagos that needs better tillage. The
systems OF electric roads which are GER
tain to connect the villages and the
farmers with the larger cities seem TO
promise much for both. There are
many people in the cities who Will
choose the village for their homes when
the cheaper transportation Of the cleo
trio railway, at convenient hours, VIII
enable them to attend to employment in
the city,