Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1899-06-15
RURAL DEVELOPMENT.
Alarming Condition Brought About
by the Gold Standard Trust
Breeding Policy.

The Land and Title Register, which
| IN no sense can be called yellow jour
nal. discusses as follows conditions IN
| country and city during this gold stand
ard, trus1-bree6ing era:
Political economists, students OF
| sociology. as well as those who are
neither, have noted. with varying notes
Of ALARM uneasiness or severity, the
| movement Of population from the coun-
| Try, its farms and its villages. 10 the
J cities. which has been 50 marked
feature OF the last TWO decades. There
were periods when this movement was
net with acclaim By the press Of The
growth Of their ambitions IoysIls with
@xultation as giving evidence CT the al
7rac1iyeness Of their various cities
Later. when the bubble Of good times
hurst. and industry seemed TO be affisct-
ed with partial paralysis, and There
were crowds Of idle men on the streets
and the authorities were besieged 10
dispense charities. the same papers
! Iaznented the congestion and plead with
the unemployed 10 go back 10 the land.
With owners Of vacant city lots, the
owners of new additions. who had
bought by the acre and that they might
sell by the square foot who shared the
exulting sensations of the press and
viewed the thrush from the country
with warm appreciation. When tie
b9bble collapsed those of these who had
rot let 90 their holdings, and some who
had. taking back security on them, be-
gan TO have z dim consciousness that
there was something wrong in The
economic conditions that had caused
the movement from the farms
But there is 3 deeper significance to
this movement than the upbuilding of
ambitious cities or the disposition of
acres in lots, or the advance of
real estate prices, the resultant of
congestion II is the effect of vast
forces set IN motion by the economic
changes that have made the last half
of this century so ePcchal. and which
have operated in every land where clv-
ilization has made those changes pos
sible. It is not alone the United States
where this transition Of population has
been so strong as 10 draw attention
and comment. but from every country
of Europe come the same stories CT
city growth al the expense of the coun-
try The percentage Of growth Of
cities everywhere ou1runs that of the
state OF nation
Even where this seems To he the ex-
cep1ion when a single city is compared
with its state. as Boston. whose percent
age Of growth between 1850 and 1890
was $50 and thar Of the state 24-57- or
Philadelphia where the percentages
were respectively 23.5s and 22-77. the
slight margin is due 10 the inclusion
under the state of the numerous other
towns and cities IN the state that have
been pecei y5ng their share OF the ex-
odas- The minor causes are many bpt
the ma ior cause Is the introduction of
labor saving machinery On the farms
that has produced an even greater cis-
placement o. labor than has the same
machinery in man ufectures. The PRO-
ductiTe capacity Of the farm hand has
been Immensely increased The union
over. one hand cares for IS acres, IN
the prairie states the ratio is one 10
81. In the latter the production OF
grain Is ESQ bushels. and Of meat $40
pounds per hand seDgag ed- The labor
Of three men Tor . year on North Da-
kota farm. Atkinson states, produces
material to bread ! 600 persons for one
year The rural population of this
country increased, during the decade
ISS1-9o. but u per cent, while during
the same time the production of wheat
increased I per cent. that of corn -
per cent. and that OF oats SIS per cent.
On the average one man on the farm
now can do the work that required five
men 40 years ago And this displaee-
nent OF farm labor IN this country has
been accompanied with an immense in
crease in the area of land under calti-
walton. Between 1850 and 1890 Isl, 000,
600 acres have been brought into tillage
in the states west of Ohio In part this
Is due TO inaIni grafton, IN part TO the
displaced labor turning TO the virgin
soil. but. especially among the native
population. the displaced have moved
ci-yyyard- Excluding from urbanites
those IN villages of less than 5.00O pop
uiation, the urban population increased |
between 7sSo-90 ~ per cent, while the !
rural increased 12 per cent Excluding
New England cities. the largest per- |
centage Of growth. 6-.65, was in cities j
OF from 5000 TO $4,000, and the next /
greatest 6-so. was in cities between |
1e5. 900 and 100000