The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1907-02-01
BUY AT HOME.

j
urday afternoons and exchange news
and experience. You go to it for a
day of recreation when the snow
comes, the fair, or on holidays.
| There during the winter lecture
course you hear great orators and ex-
celient musicians. The political raj
lies, the church conferences or asso-
Citations are held there
BY and by in the pretty little viii
lage church, whose spire you can see
from your farm, your son will preach
the gospel. In the brick building two
doors from the corner farmer boy
will open law Office, and in the little
frame two blocks away another son
OF the soil, Just back from college, will
begin the practice Of medicine.
There is the high school to which
| you send your children, and there
after awhile your daughter will teach.
| And some day when you find the
farm work too heavy for your age,
and want to get near the children, you
will build on that grassy corner lot
two doris from the Methodist church
and move to town.
Yes, the town is mighty good thing
to have, pleasant thing; and the
out Of it. For it grows according to
the trade 1t gets, and the more It
grows the more 1t can buy and the
higher will 90 your land.
| A good town, you know, where there
is plenty of work for carpenters and
bricklayers, and masons and smiths;
work for everybody at good wages is
worth ten times as much to the sur
rounding country as the little sun
burned village where the carpenter
and the "storekeeper" play marbles in
the streets.
The Moral Obligation.
But the last and strongest reason
why 1T is right that the country people
spend their money at home is the mo-
raj obligation.
The town is yours, yours to ruin or
prosper. The same sense OF obligation
should prompt you to support it, as
prompted our old Teutonic ancestors
in the forest OF Germany to stand
elbow to elbow in protection of their
village. The same spirit of loyalty
should inspire you as fred the High
land Scot to spend his blood for the
welfare of his clan.
The country town with all it's faults
is the best governed, most enlightened,
most moral and happiest spot In
American civilization. 1t is a good
safe place. Not too swift, nor yet too
slow. In touch with the current of
progress, but not raciN with greed.
The place from which come nearly all
the great business men, lawyers, schol-
ars, preachers, physicians. The place
where men are neighborly and help
full
This town. my farmer friends, 10
yours But the city belongs to the
mail order houses and the devil. With
it's corrupt government, it's overflow
of population. and its vice, the great
city is the menace Of our morals and
our liberties @ t.af
The city, like the dragon, swallows
the vast throngs of country boys and
girls that flock into it, and by and by
when health and virtue and hope are
gone, spews them out to die in want
or wander as derelicts over the face
of the earth.
And don't you see, my friend, that
when you take the money from the
country town, you destroy the chance
of success there, and the boys and
girls will follow where you have sent
the money?
This town of yours was founded on
faith, on the faith in the customs Of
men for hundreds Of years to trade
at the nearest town. These merchants
and carpenters, masons and editors
are your neighbors. They have grown
up amongst others like you.
They have put their all in q little
business, money, time and hope.
Around the corner there is little cot
tage, and the wife and the baby-it
may be your grandbaby-wait; and
there is a smile OF happiness when
business is good" but the troubled
| look comes when business 10 poor.
They are struggling to live, and pay
for the little home, and by and by
educate the children. They are your
neighbors and friends, not your ene-
mics. They work hard-you scarcely
realize how hard-and are not living
high. They have pinned their faith
to the town-your town.
Their success of failure is in your
hands. For your trade they will give
you good returns, and all will prosper
together. If you withdraw your trade,
| failure must follow. Some poor strug-
| gler must go down facing bankruptcy.
The light must go out OF some wom-
ans eye. and hardship be laid up for
! the child.
Even IL you could save q little by
sending your patronage to the city, do
you not think 1t the fair thing, the
just thing, the right thing to trade at
the little home town with those you
know, those whose prosperity and
happiness are in your hands?
For 1t IL written, Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyse1f. f."-Wiliam H.
Handy. editor OF Marceline. Mo-, Jour
a. D,.A1 1(Ah