St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1908-05-30
NEED SMALL TOWNS
THE BuLWARK AND THE HOPE
OF THE COUNTRY.
GENERALIZATION AS AN EVIL
suiiding Up Of Large Cities, with
Their Crowded and Disseminated
Population, One of the Perils
That Menace Nation.

There are many country merchants
Nho see their trade gradually slipping
away from them-leaving the country
ana going to the great cities by the
channel of the mail-order trade. writes
Feorge H. Maxwell In the Michigan
Cradesman.
mere are many country editors who
zee the prosperity of their towns de-
pIeted and circulation and advertising
income reduced for the same reason.
There are very few, however, who
realize that their problem is a nation
81 one, and that it is wrapped up in
and part of the great fundamental
question whether this nation shall be
perpetuated or shall be DESTROYED by
the physical degeneration of human
tty, the social unrest, industrial discon-
tent, moral and political corruption
and class hatred bred in the city
Sums and tenements and certain to
eliminate in anarchistIc crimes, riot
Gus mobs and all-destroying social I'D
heaVals as the result of some long
continued period of industrial and
commercial depression.
The fact is that the upbuilding of
the country town and suburban vii
lage, as aR antidote and safeguard
against the poisonous social, moral,
physical and political consequences OF
herd1ng millions of our working people
together In the unnatural congested
life Of the tenements, is the one great
question that rises above ali others in
Importance as problem thatthis ma
ton must solve. Unless it does solve
1t, 1t will suffer death from human de-
Importance as problem that this ma.
tons and civilizations that have risen
IN the past only to be destroyed. Ours
VIII be likewise destroyed unless we
take heed in time.
The danger arises from the con-
gestion of population in cities and
from nothing else
The solution lies in checking the
further growth of cities as the
homes Of industrial workers and scat
ter1ng those homes into and among
suburban homecroft villages and in
country towns and rural settlements.
To do that, trade and industry must
be decentralized. Industries Of all
kinds must be established in the su.
burbs of the cities or in the towns
instead Of in the congested centers.
That is something that requires an
organized campaign, but first it re-
quires current of right thought in
the minds of the people.
1t requires that everything should
be done that can be done to hold in |
the existing towns and villages the |
trade that now naturally centers there. |
Any part Of it, small or large. that |
Is diverted to any of the huge central !
nail-order concerns in the big cities. |
and thereby taken away from the 10 |
cality where it originates and belongs.
Is an influence that promotes Just
to that extent the growth of the syiI
that is eating at the heart of our ma,
donal life. Whatever is needed to sup
ply the needs Of every household in
every rural community should be sold
over the counter of local store and
not through the postoffice AID the mali
,rade.
Then comes the question OF the
growth Of towns and villages. There
8 where the country editors and
merchants can help themselves, Once
get 1t into the minds of the whole
American people that the salvation
If the union depends on the I'D
building Of the country towns and
suburban vtllages-get the idea plant.
ID and deeply rooted so it will grow
tself-and a thousand influences will
enter the field and enlist for this great
campaign for rural and country town
md village development to check the
'vergrowth of cities with all its result
mt evils.
1t can not be done all at once. The
irst thing is to get public thought
Lcttvely aroused and turned into
light channels. There must be a COM
'lete common conception in the minds
Il millions Of people of this new ma
ional ideal Then there must be unit
d, concerted and vigorous action to ,
ealize that ideal. The facts and ar
to support it must be dis
eminated through a great educational
entirely separate and apart
rom politics.
Every country editor and country
merchant should be leader in the ,
Movement in his locality.