Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-01-30

Inlng promises, TO pc wealth. pTOQuC-
Ing on an increasing scale. But how
about the distribution of this wealth?
Will the country receive it's due pro-
portion, or will the city get the major
part of it? 1t looks as If this increase
would largely go to the cities, for
when a man Is poor his wants are
imperative, but they are few and SIM
pie. He demands the food necessary
to sustain him and needs clothes suf-
f1cient to cover him. These are his
primitive wants. The greater part of
his necessities are the direct product
of the country, which grows the raw
material. Let us suppose man is
raising his family on $500 year. no
uncommon occurrence. Necessarily
the larger part of that income goes to
buy these necessities of life and he
gets the cheapest and we may say the
rawest sort, because he cannot afford
anything else. But suppose by some
fine turn of fortune his income should
be. increased one hundred fold and he
finds himself at liberty to spend $780,
900 a year, not an uncommon occur
renee with many families of the rich.
Does he eat one hundred times as
much raw material? Not he So with
his clothes. He does not buy hun
dred times as many suits OF clothes,
but he buys finer texture and has
them made with more costly care. All
of which stands for the city's contribu-
ton to his wardrobe. Now there Is a
natural limit to what the country can
contribute to this outlay. There is no
limit to what the city, the factory, the
skilled workman can contribute to it.
What he expends on automobiles,
dress, personal adornment, elaborate
furnishings all pertains to the pro-
duct of the city, and here say there
is no limit. The modern woman of
fashion could easily spend 100000 in
one outfit of dress and jewels II her
husbands purse was big enough and
her own taste was bad enough Does
1t not follow that as our scale Of living
rises, as civilization becomes nfsssfe lux
uriant the chief beneficiary Of all this
advance will be our cities?
Education is Right.
Another characteristic, of this COM
ing city is that its length and breadth
and height are to be equal. May we
not properly apply these three meas
urements to the three great interests
Of life, the material, the intellectual
and the moral. These are to be equal.
have already dwelt upon the mater
ial measurement. | wish time might
permit ME to do justice to the intel
lectual measurement, but 1t will not.
Suffice to sa~ that everything indi-
Gates that this Is destined to keep
pace with the other Our educational
standards are constantly increasing.
Though we may not make quite go
much Of education as a decorative fea-
ture of life, as the adornment of the
chosen few, as has been done In tho
past we are insisting on the rise of the
universal grade of intelligence. The
children of the poorest have opportun-
tiles today that the richest could not
command a few years ago. But it Is
the third standard that concerns u.s.
Is there prospect that the moral eleva-
ton of our cities will equal their ma
terial length and their intellectual
breadth? Here the outlook is not so
promising. Much as we may boast of
our commercial enterprise, the archi-
tectural grandeur, the material per
| lection Of our modern cities, much as
we may be delighted with the intellec-
tual and artistic progress we see we
are constrained to- be very modest
when we approach the moral issue.
Indeed many of us are frank to con.
fess that many Of our modern cities
much more resembles wicked Baby.
Ion than they do the new Jerusalem
from above. During the past few years
| MI !, 1o5
with exposures of the shame of our
modern cities, until we even cease tc
be startled at the most sensational
revelation. James Bryce, British Am
bassador at washington, who has writ
ten so approximately of many things
American frankly tells us that oul
cities are our one great failure in our
Amsican Democracy. Certain it is nc
greater challenge comes to our high
minded citizen than that the city to
day presents, and it Is by no means
clear how we are to overcome this
menace to our civilization. Hitherto
we have depended upon our country
districts to save us from the domin
ance of these baser elements of oul
great cities. We could not contem
plate with anything less than terror
the possibility of our country's falling
under such influences as control New
York, Chicago or San Francisco. Ya
we have not lost courage. These great
cities have sprung up with such mush
room growth that we have not learn
ed to adjust ourselves to their exist
ence. Let us not lose faith in ou
ideals Even great cities may be reg
ulated in accordance with what is best
So at least our visionary would hav,
us believe. Let us look at the case ;
little more in detail and observe wha
John saw He showed me river .
water of life bright as crystal, pro
ceeding out Of the throne of God ant
the lamb in the midst of the stree
thereof Has 1t ever occurred to yo1
how significant that sounds.
City Should be Morally Clean.
The streets Of the coming city ar
to be clean. What is the matter wit
our modern cities? Not the homes, j
is the streets. Often these are phys
cally foul. But that is not the worst
they are morally unclean Ever
mother insists in keeping her childre