The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-02-15
Uhe messrngrr.
FARMING AND RURAL POPULA-
TION.

1t viii prove a blessing TO the south,
and to the north too. if it be true as
given out that the tide is now turning
towards the farmers-the country-that
b great rush cityward a reached its
highest point and reaction has set in
We do not know that this report is well
based, but wish IL was. IL the people
will stick to the farms and learn how
to improve them, to enrich the lands
and to cultivate wiseIT. knowing some
thing Of scientific farming. and learn to
diversity crops wisely. it will be a good
day for the south. It is known that in
parts Of new England there are many
abandoned FARMS. In England agricul-
ture has declined no little small as is
the area of that greatly favored coun-
try. The Atlanta News SAYS:
Everywhere in congested centers
the cry is going up, Back to the soil
The leaders of thought. quick to catch
the drift. are already endeavoring to
account for the change hat is coming
owe the people. 1t is pointed out that
the native born LondOner becomes ex-
tinct in the third generation. Com
menting on this significant fact, H
Rider Haggard says that If the race is
to thrive n Britain remain mighty in
years to come, say good-by to towns
and get back to the land which bred
your fathers
The most truly independent people
our COUNTRY has had are the industri-
Gus, intelligent farmers. The rush for
towns and cities has ov~er-crowded
them while depopulating the rural dis
tricts. As the News says, the "conges-
tion in great cities undoubtedly tends
to swallow up the individual and rob
man Of his independence Of thought and
action. It makes of him a machine,
~derendent upon the mercies of whims
of great corporations and employers
Who never come in contact with their
employees and. worse than this, places
him within the sphere of temptation in
which rum, poor food and all species of
vice play so important a part" OF
course there are thousands who i'm
prove their conditions. but they do this
often at the expense of the young men
who are born in the towns. 1t is stated
that a book entitled Wealth versus
Commonwealth by Mr.. H. D. lloyd,
predicts that the cities will n day
completely disappear and the people
"be educated back to the soil agar.
We do not believe that. for the world
has had it's towns and cities through the
centuries, and great cities have flour
ished and then ceased like Babylon and
Others of antiquity. That splendid
writer, Lord Macaulay. in a famous
passage foretells of the utter decay OF
London, "the nation" as Thomas DE
Quincy called it a half century ago.
1t has nearly 5000. 900 inhabitants, but
the time will come. according to the
Macaulayan prophecy. when a barba-
rian will sit around it's ruins fishing in
the river of ten thousands masts.
It is not that cities now or hereafter
must decay and cease. but that the
EARNS shall continue to be we'll Guilt
waited and always continue to be the
stay and help and nope of a nations
prosperity and life. Let the state seek
to develop agriculture. Foster it for =
is indeed the chief backbone of a free
people. Let legislatures be watchful
of it's interests, and let laws enacted
be favorable to its maintenance, to its
progress.