The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1910-07-22


for the privilege of living in the city.
The setting of the tide of population
toward the city began when the city
possessed some real advantages that
were not found in the country. To-
day this condition is reversed. The
current still flows cityward only be-
cause of habit There is tremendous
amount of inertia to be overcome be-
fore the direction of the flow of hui
man beings will be reversed. but the
day of "about face" is coming.
You may travel for hundreds Of
miles through the west, where broad
arabic fields stretch out on every side,
with a population of not more than
four to the square mile. Even in the
fertile Mississippi valley there are but
twenty-five people located on each
square mile. In the east the country
population is more dense, but here
there are thousands of quarter Sec
tons and eighty acre tracts Of land so
fertile that ten acres properly titled
mean prosperity.
Contrast this with New York city,
with 12.57S people to the square mile,
or Chicago, with 11,44S. The cities
boast Of their size and greet each add
ed thousand enthusiastically. AS well
might sardine can ask to be packed
more tightly. The city is calling for
men that it does not need, for which
it has no work at living wages and no
room without crowding some one else
little closer.
The country is calling for men-call-
ing with the voice Of opportunity.
There is room for all and to spare.
There is a good living for all and a
surplus besides. The decentralization
Of the cities, the movement to the
country, means saner, cleaner living.
There is less of strife and sordid self
ishness out in the open country, where
the grass is green and the twitter OF
song birds replaces the city's din. Chill
dren raised in the hayfields make the
men of brains and Drawn for which
the world is calling. Out in the coun-
try it is possible for every man to
have a home. The humblest laborer
cottage roof The future Of the ma
ton depends upon the preservation of
a pure and healthy home life, and no
where can this be so surely attained
as in the country.
A higher standard Of living is posi-
BILE to the man in the country. He can
build house for the price Of two or
three years rent in the city. He can
have fresh vegetables and fresh meat
and fresh eggs on the farm that make
the canned and cold storage products
of the city a disagreeablel memory.
Forty cent eggs mean doing without
to the average city dweller. To the
countryman with a small flock Of poul-
try they mean prosperity. The man
with his own cow doesn't complain Of
the high cost Of milk and butter, for
grass is always cheap.
In the country the everlasting strug-
gle to keep up appearances Is not felt
so keenly as in the city. The useless
extravaganza that makes the bill for
clothes the heaviest drain on the city
mans pocketbook is lacking. Men and
women are taken more for what they
are worth and less for what they seem
to be. The man who lives beyond his
income in an effort to appear more
than he really is is looked upon with
disapproval. In the country the stand
ard of living as it applies to the real
things-food, clothing, shelter, books
and papers-can be maintained much
higher than 1t can on an equal sized
income in the city. The temptations
to reckless extravaganza are much
less. and the margin for saving is con-
sequently much greater. .
From the standpoint of the average
Individual and for great many who
are above the average country life at
present is much more desirable in al
most every way than city life. Some
Of the more specific advantages Will
be taken up In later articles. From
the standpoint of the nation an in
crease IN the number Of people who