Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1908-11-01

I "ANAA ifN p lthiiANf ~ AAAAh7AuAAA0, AtNAN
tticn cenrcrs, and organized athlet'c
sports"
In a larger sense the reason for this
change in the source Of good Ameri-
can citizenship due to the alleged de
cadence Of tho country boy may be
found in the old saw which says that
all No1k and NJ play makes Jack a
dull hoy. 1t does even more than
chat. ana in the long hours OF diri-
cult labor which fall to the lot Of the
average country boy is found n h1ndi-
cap to his proper physical and mental
development. The average city boy
ON the other hand works during far
shorter hours and the near now pro-
vided for his physical strengthening
I'M tho shane OF Fairgrounds and gym
nasiums are far in advance OF those
/ TO which the country boy has access.
Two decades ago this was not true.
Then there were less than fifty gym
uasiums in New York, most of them
either private or expensive, and
therefore prohibited 10 poor city boys.
To-day in this city there are twenty
i've hundred gymnasiums, most OF
hem public and free. Within tho last
decade too have come the Fairgrounds
medical inspection, food inspection and
the like. al OF which have tended to
mako the opportunity of the city boy
better than that Of his country
brother.
There would seem 10 be a good deal
of misconceptiou about country and
city boys at present. Probably nine
/ persons out Of ten would laugh at
die assertion that country boys are
on the average physically inferior TO
city boys. Yet it Is made as a result
Of most careful investigation. Popular
fancy is wrong, tor the city boy Of
today is not the pale faced hollow
chested, stuntcd "kid" that he has so
long been pictured. In such compe-
titions between city and country
schools as have been recorded the
city boy has almost invariably been
victorious. Apparently he can outlast
his country rival, both physically and
mentally.
OF course this dccadonce Of the
country boy may seem to many to
be as yet unproven theory. For OBJ
.ious reasons it is not fully demon
3tratcd for the rcason that improved
conditions of physical development in
he city are of very recent origin, but
hero is plenty Of evidence to point
toward the superiority of the city
BOY. A computation made last winter
,hOWcd that n majority of the persons
listed in Who's Who in America"
we're of city birth. This so far as the
good Of the whole country is con
terncd is not a fair comparison for it
S neither on the great nor the near
great hat the future of the country
depends, but on thai indefinable char
tctcr known as the average citizen.
Comparative figures are not wanting
n this field, however,.
1T is well known" says the Apple
article, that the city recruits in
he Union army during the Civil War
made better soldiers than those from
he country. They were quicker,
PRAYER, moro intelligent, and, what is
remarkable, could stand more
hardship. y Spanish war officer told
hat his New York city recruits
vcrc the best and bravcst men he
lad, with the exception Of some Bow
ry touEhs, who were worse thar use
ess. The tough is the waste product
f the modern city"
Statistics dealing. with adults in this
onncction have been collected with
rcat detail in France, where it Is
that the most thickly populated
istrict shows forty-threc mon of Ee-
Jus to every ono hundred thousand
Inhabitants, as against five to every :
n" hundred thousand in rural dis
'icts. The figures show conclusively
hat the largest cities are invariably :
roportionatcly far ahead Of country ,
i@stricts. =
OF course all Of these facts are :
or less straWs, and by no means :
that the country boy is going
the boWWoWs. But they do show
the typical useful citizen is fast i
ecoming a city bred type. due to the q
tct that there is more done for the =
.ty boy than for his rural brother. /
hysically the now type differs from \
lo old tnsovoral ways. The city boy O
not so large as the country boy. S
pr Is n" capable Of such great i'm y
.ediatr physical effort. But he is cap {
of more sustained effort, aud p
ems to be more adaptable. one n
ling that has come To be realized is n
Ie necessity of providing the country "
~ with the opportunities and care q
NV bestowed on the city y~oungster. i
the barefoot boy with check l
tan is in "a fair way 10 lose his bal Il
Ice and fall from thc exalted ncdcr- l.
ne has so long occupied. At least Il
ats what persons who have studied .
@ matter say. Il