The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1903-04-10
AN ECONOMIC cAT1P MEETING.
"A place Where Farmers are Learning
Some simple Lessons in
Cooperation,

-TITITFTFE a4IMEEL4aHf
In days of old when America was
young, Camp Meetings We're a cha
acteristic of the Peoples Life. These
were usually held5onee u year. Some
central place near to water, Tor man
and beast and baptizing, was selecled.
Here the People gathered in great
throngs, to hear about the place
where nobody sang for money and
nobody sent them away 1and the
other Elace. s
The Camp Meetings are nearly All
gone. Their place in the Life 81 tAe
People hts been taken by e.hautanquas
and Summer Assemblies. In these
open-air colleges, the people gather
by thousands in search of recreatlon
and light on pGesentrday problems.
There arc classesin Physical Culture,
Cooking. Shakespeare, Art, Economies.
In place OF the fury OF the preacher
rioting in the imagery Of heaven and
hell, the professor is there with ms
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES inviting thepeople
to behold through a glass clearly how
zone star differs from another star IN
glory"
There are moresthan thirty OF these
Twentieth Century Camp Meetings Or
oypen-air Colleges in Illinois lone;
nearly three hundred in the United.
States. In many cases the county
fairs given up for the Chautauqua.a
The movement bids fair to become a
craze. Among all these latter day
gatherings Of the people In tented.
cities in the hadytemplegroyes none
has so marked an individuality, SO.
clean-cut a present day program as.
the Economic Camp Meetings at Ia
coma Park inSouth Dakota. Tacoma
Park is fifteen miles northeast OF the
city of Aberdeen. No one would sus-
pect the presence of a park, The.
largesttrees are scarcely more than an
bushes, but these are the best IN IA
country where there issprairie, prairie.
everywhere, and never a beech nor an.
elm, an oak or a walnut. Here for
twelve years a group of farmers ard
their families numbering nearly a
thousand, have gathered every yyeaf,
to live together in tents, prairie,
schooners orscook shacks. They arc:
there first of all to1isten to leaders Of
economic thought. They assemble.
on the Jim river the 9th Of Juneand
tbrfeai ann With the close of Tire
Fouth OF July. This. Jim river. is
about the slowests thing in the river.
line imaginable. Rain storms and.
melting SHOWS can scarcely persuade.
it to ssmore on. q BUTT is a river,
and there is nothing slow about the
hardy prairie farmers on its banks.
They are ahead by about ten years Of
the newly awakened interest in and
anxiety about economic conditions.
anditlleir effects on social, religious.
andspoliticala life.
This Economic Camp Meeting is a
child OF the old economic movement,
for3fair play among the farmers Of
the~prairie states jeeringlg called.
Populism. They were cartooned with
long boards and hayseed hats. But
those hats had something under
them. They were called anarchists
and revolutionists by tile privileged
who preyed on tllem. IL is AZ cheap
bravery to hurl epithets. u
They wereicalled anarchists because
they dared toSdoubt current orthodox
economic theories. The hereto ofi
today may easily be the hero gof to-!
morrow. Perchance those same Old
caricaturei farmers were firing the
shots now being heard around the
world. Certain iit Is they have GOOD
cause to smile, as they see the staidj
old New England folk, under the
stress OF the coal famine, preaching
the doctrines they dared to present.
Eg4taG1f9ts1htaalI HnEIT
years ago, and2b esdespised.for. So IT.
chances that this Summer Assembly
OF farmers, this Economic CampI
Meeting among Chautauquans-mayi
itself be the f~orerunner ola new irn.
pulse Of the People after Truth on
presentday problems. The Tacoma
people have q splendid auditor
Jun on the hillside and 81 natural
amphitheatre. Here the daily eco
n ltolrllc lectures are given, and here&ar
night theatrical company gives
these PulriItans 81. the Prairies ~.
Of the fairylanldS of Tie stage.
;lnE another hall the young folks dance
the Virginia reeland the like tiil
midnight mil The afternoons are given
to healthy SPORTS.