The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-16
REMEDIES FOR CITY CONGESTION.


 One of the great evils of the day is the congestion of population in the cities and towns One of the greatest benefactions that could come to the entire, country would be . means of curing the evil. It is misfortune to any section of the land when the rural population abandons the farms and fiocks citywards. It is . double mis- fortune. because prosperous and con- tented agricultural population Is the surest foundation of good government, and because an overplus of city resi- dents cannot find the room. occupation and subsistence which makes for Good citizenship. Hence any means which may be adopted to. discourage the aban- donment of rural, homes and to make the rural population contented should be welcomed and adopted.
 Thre are two things which will help to bring about what we look on as a most desirable consummation, and the first is for the farmers themselves to make the country homes attractive and desirable. That must depend on the individual families themselves. The time should be past when the farm home was only regarded as a place to eat: sleep and work. There ought to be among farmers-and we say 1t with full knowledge of the fact that 1t looks like offering advice-but there ought to be among them a spirit of competition in something else besides growing big crops and raising fine stock, really meritorious and desirable as these ob- Jects are and should be. There ought to be among them a spirit of rivalry and competition as to which should have the most pleasant home and the happiest and most contented family. The wives and daughters should lind something in the home life more at- tractive than cooking, scrubbing and other drudgery incident to country life. The boys should find something more satisfying than working in the field all day and feeding stock and splitting wood between times. If the home is made pleasant and attractive to the youths, it will largely take away the desire to "go to town" We know this to be true, and know that each farmer has 1t largely in his own power to induce his children to remain at home and be satisfied with it.
 But this is a matter for each rural resident to settle for himself. The second proposition is for others to carry out. In a recent issue of The Portland Oregonian, under the heading Cheap and Frequent Communication" that paper expresses its pleasure over the proposed extension of the electric railways, or "motor-car system" as 1t calls it, into the rural districts adja- cent to or within easy distance of Port land. That is the agency which we foresee will build up and popularize the rural communities of Alabama. As 1t Is now only a few favored ones are so fortunate as to live near a depot. and in a great majority of cases these must take an entire day to come to Montgomery, for example. and return to their homes. Taking this city as an example, there are thousands of people who can only come here at the sacri- ice of an entire day, and often they must make a journey of miles to reach the road. They are practically depriv- ed of the pleasures and benefits of easy and frequent visits to the city. and have no speedy and easy methods of getting anything out to their homes.
 Here Is where the electric system comes in to solve the problem. With the cheap and practically inexhaustible supply of electric motive power. these roads can be built into almost every community. The roads are built much cheaper than the railroads are, the rolling stock is far less expensive, and the cars are operated a great deal cheaper. In addition to all this, they make much more frequent trips at less cost to the passengers. Thus 1t would happen that those living within a score of miles of Montgomery could come at almost any hour of the day and return at pleasure. And thus they would largely lose their sense of isolation and feel themselves at all times in touch with the world. They would not feel that they were cut off and hemmed in from all communication with their fel- low-creatures. nor would they feel the longing so many of them now have to abandon the country and take chances in the cities.
 It seems to us that these two agen- cies-more beautiful, pleasant and at- tractive homes and more frequent and easy communication with the cities will do much to make the rural resi- dents better satisfied with their homes and less inclined to flock to the cities to swell their already overcrowded population.
 One of the neatest publications of the