The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1908-08-28
new NATIONAL IDEAL,
Upbuiiding of Town and Village
Upbuilds ire Race.
SALVATION OF THE COUNTRY.

It Depends Upon Checking the Tend
ency of the People to Gather In
coneested Centers-How the Mail
Order System Kills Rural Life.
From an editorial article by George
b. Maxwell in Maxwell's Talisman the
following pertinent extracts are taken:
There are many country merchants
who see their trade gradually slipping
away from them. leaving the country
town and going to the great cities by
the channel Of the mail order trade.
There are many country editors who
see the prosperity Of their towns de-
rleted and circulation and advertising
Income reduced for the same reason.
There are very few. however, who
realize that their problem is 4 national
one and that it is wrapped up III ana
& part of the great fundamental ques-
tiou whether this nation shall be per-
petuated or shall be destroyed by the
physical degeneration of humanity. the
social unrest, industrial discomfort,
moral and political corruption and class
hatred bred in the city slumS and ten
euents and certain to culninate IN
aparchistic crimes. riotous mobS and
all destroying social upheavals as the
result Of some long continued period
Of industrial land commercial! depres-
sion.
The fact is that the upbuilding Of
the country town and suburban vii
lagei as un antidote and safeguard
against the poisonous social. moral,
physical and political consequences OF
herding millions of our working peo-
ple together in the unnatural congested
life of the tenelnents Is the one great
question that rises abo"e all others IN
importance as q problem that this ma
ton must solve. Unless it does solve
It it will suffer death from human de-
seneracy-the fate Of so many nations
and civilizations that have risen in the
past only to be destroyed. Ours will be
likewise destroyed unless we take heed
in time.
The danger arises from the conSes-
tion Of population in cities and from
nothing else.
The solution lies in checking the fur
5her growth of cities at the homes OF
industrial workers and scattering those
homes into and among suburban home
croft villages and in country towns
and rural settlements.
To do that trade and industry must
be decentralizcd Industries OF all
kinds must be established in the sub
urbs Of the cities or in the towns in-
stead of in the congested centers. That
IS something that requires ali organized
campaign, but first it requires 4 cur
rent Of right thought in the minds or
the people.
It 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 Qi-
verted to any of the huge central mail
order concerns in the big cities and
thereby taken away from the locality
where it originates and belongs is IN
influence that promotes just to that
extent the growth of the evil that is
eating at the heart of our national life.
Whatever is needed to supply the needs
of every household in every rural COM
1nunity should be sold over the counter
OF local store and not through the
postoffice and the mail trade.
Then comes the question Of the
growth Of towns and villages. There
is where the country editors ana mer-
chants can help themselves. Once get
il into the minds Of the whole Amer
ican people that the salvation OF the
nation depends on the upbuilding OF
the country towns and suburban VII
lageS-get the idea planted and deeply
rooted SO it will grow itsclf-and 4
thousand influences will enter. the field
and enlist for this great campaign Tor
rural and country town ami village
development to check the oN"r%roWth
Of cities, with all its resultant evils.
II canno, I'LL De done ut once. The
first thing is 10 get pub!i' ;tcuGli ac-
tiveiy aroused a!ld lurnC! inlo right
chanr'clS. There must be 4 complete
co:nmon conception III the minds OF
millions of people of this new natiuna!
5Gral. Then there must be united. con-
;crteG and vigorous action To realize
that IDEAL. The Facts and arguments
~ support it must be disseminated
through Il great educational campaign.
@ntire.y separate and apart from poll
tics.
The Card Advertisement.
conc rScnilnnt N:aN 10 keen 4 towns