The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1907-01-31

course you near great orators and eX-
cellent musicians. The political rail-
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 a farmer boy
will open a 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
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 a mighty good thing
to have, a pleasant thing: and the
out Of it. For it grows according to
the trade it gets, and the more 1t
grows the more 1t can buy and the
higher will go your land.
A good town, you know, where there
is plenty of work for carpenters and
b~ricklayers, 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 it 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, az
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 fired the High
land Scot to spend his blood for the
welfare of his clan.
The country town with all its 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 racing 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, il
yours. Rut the city belongs to the
mail order houses and the devil. With
its corrupt government, its overflow
of population, and it's vice, the great
city is the menace of our morals and
our liberties.
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
rhe money?
This town of yours was founded on
faith, on the faith in the customs OF
men for hundreds of years to trade
mt the nearest town. These merchants
and carpenters, mason and editors
are your neighbors. They have grown
up amongst others like you.
They have put their all in a little
business, money. time and hope.
Around the corner there Is a little cot
tage, and the wife and the baby-it
may be your grandbaby-wait; and
there is a smile Of happiness nac:
business is good" but the troubled
look comes when business Is poor.
They are struggling to live, and pay
for the little home, and by and by
educate the children. They are yo",
neighbors and friends, not your enc
mics. They work hard-you scarcely
realize how hard-and are not living
high. They have pinned their fs'th
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 II you could ave a 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 thos. you
know, those whose prosperity and
happiness are in your hands?
For ii is written Thou shall. love
a.. --sxLlN. .. . Nyti..-