Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1910-02-17
REMEDY FOR HIGH
COST OF LIVING
Go Back to the Farm, Advises
James J. Hill.
NEED OF MORE FOODSTUFFS,
Movement From City to Country Will
Start Before Long and Effect Will
Be Felt, Says Railroad Builder-Be-
Iieves Problem Would Soon Be
Solved if We Could Stop Our Rush.


Iieves Problem Would Soon Be
Solved if We Could Stop Our Rush.
Back to the soil!'
That is the slogan Of James j. Hill,
sage, philosopher and master railroad
builder, one which he would have en-
ployed as the rallying cry for all per
sons interested in the solution of the
problem Of the high cost of living.
THE problem is not local: neither is
1t national" said Mr.. Hill in a recent
interview. adding: at is international.
All Christendom is wrestling with it.
Obviously the world has reached an
economic crisis. We are not producing
foodstufIs enough. We must enlarge
the farming area of the earth; we
must apply scientific principles to
farming; we must adapt ourselves to
conditions as best we can while we are
going through the slow, tedious proc
ess Of making the soil yield more
abundantly."
THE Malthusian theory of the rapid
Increase Of population for subsistence
to have some. bearing on the present
worldwide situation" was suggested
to Mr.. Hill.
Plenty of Land Can Be Obtained.
Nonsense he exclaimed. "Agri
culturally speaking, the earth is not
overpopulated anywhere There is
congestion in the cities. The problem
is to relieve this congestion and scat
ter the unproductive population to the
farms. Then when we get them there
we must teach them how to farm bet
ter than ninetenths Of our farmers
now know"
But the people are intensely con-
cerned over how to bring quick relief
to the existing situation" Mr.. Hill was
reminded.
81 am aware of that" he said. "No-
body is more interested than | am.
frankly confess, however, that | don't
know what can be done to bring early
relief. | fear there is mighty little
that legislation can do. The statutes
are already crowded with laws in
tended TO avert just such a condition
as the country is now suffering from.
But they have done precious little good,
If any. Within the last ten years the
cost Of everything we have TO buy has
increased about 60 per cent. Popula-
ton has not increased in any such
ratio. So what's the matter? For one
thing, we live too high. When some
ladies down at Washington the other
day asked me to tell them how to
stop the high cost Of living l told them
that If they would tell me how to
stop the cost of high living / might
be able TO answer their question. The
one is as grave and pertinent as the
other.
Expensive and Wasteful Methodist
"Does your wife go herself TO the
butcher, the baker and the candlestick
maker and select what she wants after
pricing the articles, or does she send
the cook or the butler? Maybe she
gives her orders by telephone. Both
are expensive and wasteful But this
is the telephone age and the automo-
bile age. Each is a symbol of the
times Each denotes that we are liv-
ing high.
IF as a nation we could stop our
rush for a few days and give ourselves
over to solid thinking, to casting about
us to see what is going on, the prob
lem would soon solve itself. There is
extravaganza everywhere and in every
thing-eXtravagance in government, in
industry, in speech and in promise.
We are wasting our heritage more
shamelessly than any people in the
history Of the world. 1t has been
come easy and go easy with us for so
long time that we don't know how
else TO live.
cts Turn TO the Farm