The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1909-11-14
CITY MEN LONGING
FOR The COUNTRY
Evidence that Population Is
Migrating Farmward.
CONDITIONS CHANGE QUICKLY
Statistics from Chicago show $4,000
Inquiries for Farms In One Year,
turns from Agriculture Turn the
Tide Toward Rural Districts.

Evidences multiply on every hand that
a distinct movement OF the population
from the city TO the country has set in IN
the United States
About thirty years ago census reports
and other statistical publications showed
that young men and women were fast
leaving the farms and seeking positions
OF one sort and another in the cities.
Conditions thirty years ago on the
American farm. while not oppressive,
were such as 10 make almost every
American boy and girl FESTIVE, especially
II they obtained an occasional glance at
the better social advantages which the
cities then offered No doubt many lived
20 regret the step when it was too late.
but it is probably true that the majority
of those who cut loose from the country
environment met success In larger meas
ure in the factory business Office. and
other avenues OF labor. At all events, a
great many positions Of trust In this
country are now filled by men who fol-
lowed the pillow in boyhood and earned
the FIRST money Of their fortunes at the
JArllfN> Gnu VI lllt llNN anu Allt IAtAllAoA n
Conditions Change Rapidly.
But within thirty years conditions IN
the cities have vastly changed. as they
have in the country. Factory life has be-
gun 20 take on the scmi-serfdom that has
characterized il for a hundred years I'm
the old countries. Il no longer holds any
glamour for the American boy. and he
A. -
euce that the trade is not always the
open sesame 20 competence and indie
pendence. In the last ten years II has
- been increasingly more difficult for the
country-bred boy 20 make his way IN the
cities
over against the grinding toll OF the
city and the poorly housed and fed fam
fly has grown up IN the country condi-
tions Of increasing plenty. II is probably
easier for the farmer with a few acres
to-day % make a living and save a little
than for any other unit OF American in
dustry The farm is no longer the isolat-
td place &c used to be. Steam transpor-
tation has increased. the trolley car has
come 20 supplement the railroad, the
farmer reads his daily paper now where
his father read the New York Tribune.
Times. or Post generation ago once a
week The telephone puts the farmer in
touch with the city az any hour OF the
day. Improved machinery has simplifled
farm work and raised the value of the
crop. The farm income Is more certain
and larger than was the case. Scientific
and intelligent culture Of the soil has
vastly enlarged the possibilities Of profit
from agriculture.
City Man Longs for Farm.
The city man striving 10 make both
erds meet on his meager salary some
times gets A glimpse of what he lost
when he abandoned the pillow for the
bookkeeper's stool, the hot berth in the
furnace room OF the nerve-racking hours
at the Changing machine. He now longs
for the farm, and is willing 10 make way
FOR the foreigner. or any other workman
who wants his job. II he can only get
back 10 the land and begin in middle life
where he left off as a boy Il is a fact
that the city Americans are barking
back 20 the farm in large numbers. and
SC viii not be surprising if the next CEN
sus report does not prove as assuring on
this score as the figures were alarming
thirty and twenty years ago.
To show that this is no fairy tale. The
Washington Herald is IN position 10 quote
from the letter Of a correspondent in
Chicago giving some data bearing upon
the land hunger which has made itself
manifest OF late In that city. J. c. Waite
"a I'm charge Of a work in that city which
brings to him many inquiries for lands
and opportunities 10 60 back TO the farms
from people living in Chicago and the
Middle West.
Some Facts from Chicago.
1.-THE entire country is seething with
land hunger" says Mr. Waite, "and Chi
cogo is the point where this interest is
focused. There are 5000 men living in
this city and the suburbs who are active
~ trying 20 get away and become farm
ers. make this statement rrom absolute
knowledge. for that number have called
upon me or written TO me IN the last
year.
Mn addition, ] receive requests for in
formation from every State in the Union.
Some come from as far west as Pasa-
dena, Cal. and as far east as Bar Har~
Dor. Ne. I have a permanent mailing list
OF 5000 persons scattered over the coun-
try TO whom 1 send Information regularly.
How many more thousands there are
striving TO get back 10 the soil through
other channels I have no way Of estimat-
ing, but 1 am positive the number is very
large.
THE increasing cost OF living in the
cities. the development Of the telephone
and the interurban railroads, and the es-
adjustment Of the rural mail delivery
routes are some Of the most active agents
in stimulating land hunger Of the Amer
lean people.
Four Thousand in One Month
zone month recently" continued Mr..
Waite. I had requests. in person and by
mail. TO the number of more than 1900
While the inquiries come from widely
separated localities. most Of them are
from the Central West and the larger
cities, Chicago in particular.
The demands for information have
grown so rapidly that it is not possible
to give the necessary attention 70 each
person who calls That IS the reason we
decided to install a permanent exhibit
We shall have colored transparencies.
maps, charts, photographs, and PAM
phlets TO show what is being done on the
various irrigation projects under govern
ment control, upon which nearly $4,000,
coo already has been spent.
Later we shall give lectures illustrat-
ed with stereopticon Views. In this man.
ner We shall be able to give all persons
more detailed information than II We at
tempted to see each individuals