The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1905-11-30

foods of the Mississippi and its tFlbu-
tsritS will be led out through net
work of canals, large and small, anu
sfoTGa I'M reservoirs, aud every uiop
devoted to beneficial use, use tDat
NiII b,. 50 valuable that its value LOT
Inayination will count for nothing III
COMPARISON. 1t may be Il great many
wears before this will happen, but 1t
i certain TO come. In 10 other Way
can the vast population with winch
this country will TEEN within lew
hundred years be provided with the
food 10 sustain il
Japan, from her total area OF l4i,-
GI5 suIGIre miles, of which only 19,Ou0
are cultivated, collected an annual
| revenue before the war with RUSSIA
began of SI21. 433,I25, and her exports
amounted to $124.30S,923.
The average population per square
mile of Japan is 299.T6, but only one
seventh of her territory is actually
under cultivation.
A Thousand Miles Square.
A section of our own country con-
tained within square extending one
thousand miles north from New Or
leans and one thousand miles west
from pittsburg, and containing one
million square miles, If us densely
populated as Japan. would sustain Il
population of 300000.000; but much
larger proportion of this great square
In the center Of the United States
could be intensely farmed than III
Japan, where only one-seventh OF the
total area is cultivated.
On the 10000 square miles of land
in Japan that is actually farmed. they
sustain 3O.0O0,0O0 farmers. Ii Is a
safe estimate that ut least one-half OF
the thousand mile square central sec
ton of the Unued States above des-
cribcd could he as closely cultivated
as the productive fields of Japan.
Those Japanese fields sustain over
fifteen hundred people 10 the square
mile. At the same ratio of population,
our own thousand mile square central
section would sustain I50,UOO,0O0 OF
farming population alone,
| A population of over fifteen hundred
to the square mile sustained by agrl-
culture seems TO the ordinary mind III
credible; but on the Island of Jersey,
off the English coast. a population of
over thirteen hundred TO tie square
mile is sustained by out of door agri-
culture in climate by no means best
| adApted to intensive farming.
1t must be borne in mind that we are
talking now Of the possibilities of
future development, and the facts and
figures above given will no doubt he
looked upon rs utterly chlnerlcal by
the average reader.
DeGeneracy England.
Bear in mind however, again, that
they are based only upon the assump-
ton that "" in this country should at
tain TO II point of development already
reached 10y the Japanese people, and
Oh which rests their national strength,
II is iru" that our development dur
Ing the last hah-century has not been
towards GiW land. We have followed
in the footsteps of England, rather
than Japan; and while, in fifty years,
Japan has restored the land to her
people and rooted them TO the soil in
ZONES of their own, England has
done the contrary. She has driven
her yromanry from the farms TO the
cl,rS, where they have become fac
tory operatives, and degenerated
physically ana mentally to such de-
cree that the dcgrneracy of her citi-
zenship now presents itself to the
statesmen OF England as a most up.
palling problem.
We are doing the same thing, bu,
we are not, as yet, feeling the eiTec;s
f il 50 severely because we have still
l larger prof. urtion Ct our ptopie Oh
the l-..-I.
EaG.s to the Land.
We have much to do to reverse thu
tide OF popu.allon, and turn it frou
the cities back 10 the land-from TIL
tenement to the garden. 1t must no
De ina inpd tnat it Is necessary, y
rider to accomplish this, that tn
workers in our cities or in our fac
tories should quit their present EN-
jloympi.t and lrcOme farmers. y
ihat is necessary is that the facilitie
Tor rapid transportation afforded b
our trolley system should be availe
+ to plant GERRY factory family upo
It least an acre Of land.
Let that be done, ard the problel
: ! .acticallv solved - matt,
though the acre be used for nothill
but to raise cuIckens and keep goa
The children Of the family will hay
| IItNi dlI anu HtHSlIiiit Nlii phiN nm
and will grow Up to be healthy me
ard women.
The lever with which we mu
move our population back TO the Ian
must be the public school system.
Gardens and Handicraft.
y Every child in the public school
Il boy or girl. must be trained from j
d earliest DAYS of school life to cult
!, vatc the ground and make thins
u u grow in garden. and TO raise pou
y try, and do all that needs to be dol
:. TO provide the food for family fro
i. an acre of land.
II Add to this a training in simp
rs sloyd work and home handicraf
~ cooking and sewing and making thin,
N for the home and you Wa. have CT
70 ated the impulse in the minds of Il
multiplying millions Of our childrt
If which will lead them to shun Il
r. bricks and the asphalt. the slums al
the tenements as they would shl
% the plague, and fee from them f
le enough into the country to have :
acre at least for a home and a Ga
den.
Create this impulse in the minds
H. our children, the millions upon m
IL. lions of them who are attending, al
will attend, our public schools, al
Is they will find way to solve all I
% rest Of the problem. how to gel.