The San Francisco call., 1910-06-09

nv fllH the cry Tor bread upon Lnelr
M lips and in their hearts the cry
~ for the independence of their
forefathers, the people of the cities trek
to the open places of the west and
south. and of this sudden and vast eco
nonnic upheaval. Herbert Kaufman. edi-
torial writer for The Sunday Call. treats
in an article, "Southwestward Ho.' in
the June number of Everybody's mag
azine.
Kaufman is an economist and views
the entire subject along the lines of
supply and demand; but being also a
writer who delights in the pure joy
of language he has nodded and fash
ioned his topic like unto a tale-the
tale of hungry people treking from
the poverty of the city streets to the
untouched riches of the country.
To him the movement is but the
back swing of the pendulum. The time
was when the city called and the farm
gave; now the farm calls and the city
gives. Summed up, his declaration is
that on the one hand is the over
crowded city and on the other the un-
touched soil, and the hungry people
go where they may get their daily
bread. OF the old cry of the city he
says:
The plowboy heard it and paused
midway in his furrow. And. as he
listened, plain and field and forest lost
their glory and grew gray and bare
mighty mental tapestries-mirages of
fame and power; and his young blood
leaped in answer to the summons"
Thus it was with the plowboy. and
so, also, of the girl: The girl pudding
at the churn." he writes. and bending
over her tub heard the song and felt
the gnawing ache for freedom from
her chores and bondage. She gazed
upon her red and swollen hands, and
al her soiled and faded print, and then
looked across the miles and visfoned
gay streets, theaters, promenades, lux
ury, color; and the mad phantasma goria
reused her to rebellion
These were the dreams. and continu-
ing, he tells of the result:
For so years the cities have beck
oned, have promised. and have lied.
The gilt O. dreams has tarnished. the
tapestry grown tawdry. The Circe
spell has held. The sacrifice has been
exacted. Fineness and innocence and
morality have been sold for husks
Virtue and honor have been laid upon
the affairs of hunger and greed.
succeeded where failure would have
been better. One has achieved where
losing would have been the greater
glory. They have merged into the
massed millions-year by year faded
into the average. Tenement and board
ing house have engulfed them. Poor
food, poor air and excitement have
crowd keeps growing greater and the
struggle harder, the contest longer, the
problem more and more one OF exist
ence--the scheme for riches cheaper
ing into a search for bread and meat
And now THE REVOLT.
THE reaction has begun, a mighty
leavsn is at work, new era is in the
dawn. new America is in the making;
the tide is on its ebb; the soil is remem-
bering it's absent sons and daughters
and is. lifting it's voice in a promise of
better things.
From cape to cape and coast to coast
the nation is restless. The people are
hungry, the millions are poor-worn
with the struggle against a lessening
wage and a rising cost OF sustenance.
The second great continental emigra-
tion has begun-to the open places Of
the west and southwest. The spirit of
the pioneer is once more stirring. Fam
fly ties are breaking; the old trails to
the west are crowding.
Before this flood of humanity. pour
ing outward to the open fields, the face
of the country changes. The west Of
fiction and fight disappears; the lifeless
plains take on life, the desert blooms.
Says Kaufman:
The killer has gone and the tiller
has come. The cattle baron is retreat
ing before the lettuce king. The 80 acre
vegetable patch is checkerbOarding the
million acre range. The irrigation
pump sings through nights that hith-
erto sobbed with the lowing of herds.
Where mesquite and prickly pear -four
ished. the plowshare is now demanding
the plow's share.
From out Of the east and the middle
west and the north-from city and from