Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1903-03-28
Cities and Towns, Once Pros
porous, Given Over to
Vice and Crime.
NATIVE STOCK is FAILING
ln~termarriase Of Families, Polysamy
and Gross immortality in Many
Communities - Churches
Lose Members.

the Connecticut Bible society, closely
following, as 1T did, a sensational state
ment made by him which charged
man, of the small villages of Con-
necticut with depravity, illiteracy. and
drunkenness to an excessive degree.
Mr.. Hutchins specified Ashford as a
particularly fragrant instance Of this
deplorable state of affairs, but includ-
ed many other places in his arraign-
ment.
A Connecticut country family. con-
sisting of a mother and three grown
sons, who can trace their ancestry back
to n of the proudest names among
the settlers of New England, and yet
not one Of whom can read, was one of
the discoveries which the preacher de-
scribed in a paper which he wrote on
the day of his sudden DEATH.
According to him not only moral de-
terioration existed among the country
people In isolated districts of Connecti-
cut but polygamy was often found
there, besides other loose methods Of
marital relations. Mr.. Hutchins de-
clared that all through Connecticut he
came upon an immense number of in
dividual cases which seemed to show
that, with the isolation of the towns
by reason Of the withdrawing Of their
manufactures and home industries,
had also come q steady mental and
moral deterioration, SO that today Con-
necticut native stock was either dying
off or becoming degenerated.
Entire Towns Going to Decay.
The proofs Of this ~decaying country
life, Mr.. Hutchins said, were to be
seen in the hundreds of abandoned
farms, ruined mills, tumbledown fac
tories and silent churches. A stately
mansion of the past is now occupied
by either some degenerative native or
by an alien, whose meager wants are
met by the use Of the back rooms of
the house, while the vacant front
greets the passerby with the silence of
the tomb. l have counted" he added,
seven such deserted homes within one
mile, while only two houses were still
on a road that was once full
or busy life, n that within fifteen
miles OF the city of New Haven.
sparse neighborhoods," he said.
and limited associations have led to
the marrying and intermarryinr of
eighbor and even of near relatives,
or or not marrying at all. We talk
about n polygamy Of the Mormons. I
wonder II we realize how much there is
Of 1t actually in this state. Cases of
this l have ound abundantly In my
travels throughout Connecticut. One
case l may mention. There is a family
living on the line between Connecticut
and Rhode Island in an old shack put
together with poles and slabs. in which
l found a man with two women. one
having a family Of children, the Oldest
or whom. a girl Of 16, was already a
grass widow. The town could not pre-
vent the scandal, as the family could
move across the line the moment It
came under the eyes of the law.
Much immortality Prevails.
In this connection 1t might be said
that there Is a practice which is be-
coming more and more common In the
country towns of men and women liv-
wing together as HORSEPOWER and house
keeper. In one ne~ighborhood Of about
thirty families 1 counted eight that
were living under these conditions. In
another town the first selectman, looked
up TO as eminently respectable, was
unblushingly living under these same
family regulations.
"Decaying and dead New England
blood is to be found in all such towns
The stamp of degeneracy Is unmistak-
able. In one town (Ashford) of about
zoo families So per cent. of the people
are non-churchgoers and 80 per cent
or the children do not attend school
The main organization, as far as 1 could
see, In that town was a brass band
and this was fostered with q care tina
neither church nor school house re.
ceived. Illiteracy, insanity and imbecil-
lily were in this town in a marked de-
gree.
"One family, in which both parents
were foolish, had grownup sons and
daughters whose children were all OF
the same mental stamp. II another
family a poor father was taking care OF
three sons, all Of them idiots. This
town two generations ago was one
of the most f1ourishing and vigorous
and cultivated in the county, and today
adJoins one Of the finest towns In thu
state.
Two Churches, but No Preachers.
In Fairfield county Is q town O
nearly the same population, and IL
nearly the same degenerate condition
There are two churches here, blu
neither supports a preacher. Here is
class of people who might be called tn,
mountain whites of Connecticut Thes,
poor whites of the north are becoming
q new class in New England that is be
Ing made out OF old New England blood
degenerated to It's present condition
These are the hewers OF wood anC
drawers Of water for the better classes
They ave no ambitions, are improvI
dent, ignorant, often not able to reac
or write, loose in their family relations
which is, by the way, OF the curse
iof Connecticut, socially corrupt, givel
to hard ider drinking, and often to tn
opium habit.
They herd together, as in one sucl
house 1 found the patriarch of tn,
tribe, perhaps 60 years old, with hi
wife, son and orphan grandson. Witt
them were another son, his wife, an,
his five children; then another daugh
ter, with her husband and three small
children; and still another daughter
with her husband and infant. The
were all living complacently on wha
odd jobs they could pick up. Vice an,
filth reign in some of these place
called homes.
"In these towns the church, as an in
stitution, is hardly holding It's own an,
is having little Intellectual Leadership
In n town of 400 inhabitants an,
three churches n has an attendanc
of thirty-five, another of twenty, an,
the third of eight. In another town O
600 people there are sixty church mem
bers. Often half a dozen persons O
some n family bear, the entire sup
port of what was once a communit
institution.
Congregations Show Losses.
I'm seventy-two Congregations
churches in these towns, having 5,91
members, there were 237 additions las
year, but there was also $50 deaths o
removals, leaving a net loss Of ninety
three. Moreover, twenty-three of thes
churches added no new members, an
ten others only thirteen by letter fror
other churches, so that thirty-three O
these se~venty-two churches received n
new blood from among the younge
element. or the 1926 Congregations
churches in the state, fifty-six receive
no new members last year, and fourteeI
lost in membership.
"Of the villages themselves 1t coul
be said that a sordid materialism O
animalism seems to be literally growinI
about It's doors. There is a belt, o
region, between towns that present
frontier conditions. Most of our bruta
crimes occur in these regions. Absolut,
heathenism seemingly reigns now II