Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-01-30
features which should characterize
the ideal city today
City is Lonely Place,


the ideal city today
City is Lonely Place.
First, would have you observe that
this ideal city was great in it's di-
mansions. The New Jerusalem was
more than thousand times as great
as the old Jerusalem about to fade
away. This suggests to us the i'm
portance the city is to assume in the
coming civilization. It is not neces-
sary that l should weary you with
statistics to prove that our cities are
growing at marvellous rate Suffice
to say at the beginning of the last
century we had three and fraction of
our population residing in cities, while
at the close we had thirty-three per
cent, and the rate is rapidly increas-
ing | know we hear good deal in
these more recent days Of the "back-
to-the-country movement" We are
told that it was the loneliness, the in
tellectual poverty, the social priva-
tons of the barren country life that
made it unbearable in the past, but
now that we are to have rural mail
delivery, rural telephones, interurban
electric roads running like net work
across our country districts that all
this Is to be changed and the country
districts are to be redeemed for pleas
ant residence once more. l do not be-
lieve it. In the first place these folks
have entirely mistaken the causes that
have impelled our enterprising coun-
try youths to seek their fortunes in
the city. 1t was not because there
was no fun on the farm, no society
in the country. Bless you, that is
just Where genuinely good times may
be had for the seeking. The loneliest
place | know anything about is great
city where you are lost in the crowd,
nobody knowing or caring about you
Why then this migration cityward?
Simply to find the main chance. The
application Of machinery to farm la
Dor, the absorption of the small vii
lage shop in the great factory has
simply blotted out the major portion
of our rural population. 1t is estimated
that four men can now do the work
on the farm that was formerly done
by fourteen before modern machinery
was introduced. So too the small
producer who lived in the rural vii
lage has been utterly replaced. A few
years ago took Mrs. Craig and the
children out to visit the old farm
where | first saw the light Of day. We
had occasion to pass through the coun-
try village, where as a boy was wont
to go to get the horses shod, bring
home the mail or buy such family
supplies as we did not grow in the
garden. How well l remember those
days when l used to mount the old bay
mare and trot off to the village. OF
course all its institutions were in
dellibly fixed in my boyish recollec-
ton. We had three or four stores ac-
cording to the tide of prosperity.
There were two blacksmith shops, two
taverns, two churches, one tailor shop
two shoeshops, one tinshop, one
wagonshop, one coopershop, and pos
sibly one or two other f1ourishing in.
dustries. Going back after a lapse OF
many years l found one store, one
blacksmith shop. Where were all
the rest? Wiped out by our new indus
trialism which centers in our cities. So
l might continue to argue how every.
thing points to the increase of our
great centers of population. At the
| present time this republic is governed
| by the ideals of the country because
| it is still true that the rural voter is
in the majority. This we regard as our
safeguard. What will it mean when
the majority of our voters live in the
city, which time is surely coming
Well that depends upon the character
of those cities. Let us see what is the
1 prospect In this respect.
Streets viii Be of Gold.
There is farther intimation that
this ideal city is to be very wealthy
It's gates are of pearl, it's walls of jas.
per and It's very streets paved with
gold. AS nation we are rapidly
growing rich. The application of skill
and science to our civilization has en-.
abled us to extract wealth out of the
earth, the water and the air. Every.