The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1911-04-27

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 hu
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 people located on each
square mile. In the east the country
population is more dense. but here
there are thousands of quarter sec
tions and eighty acre tracts of land so
fertile that ten acres properly titled
mean prosperity.
Contrast this with New York city.
with 1858 people to the square mile.
or Chicago, with HAAS 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 te
have a home The humblest iaborel
can be covered at night by his owl
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 cal
build house for the price of two o.
| three years rent in the city. He cal
4 have fresh vegetables and fresh mea
i and fresh eggs on the farm that mak'
the canned and cold storage products
Of = the city a disagreeable memory
Forty cent eggs mean doing withou
TO the average city dweller. 70 th'
countryman with small flock of poul
try they mean prosperity. The. NAL
with his own COW doesn't complain o
i the high cost of milk and butter. TO
grass is always cheap.
4 In the country the everlasting strug
gle to keep up appearances Is not fel
SO keenly as in the city. The useles
extravaganza that makes the bill TO
clothes the heaviest drain on the cit
mans pocketbook is lacking. Men an
women are taken more for what the
are worth and less for what they seer
70 he. The man who lives beyond hl
income in an effort to appear NOR
than he really is is looked upon wit
disapproval In the country the stane
ard Of living as it applies to the res
J things-food. clothing. shelter. book
!, snd papers-can be maintained niue
higher than 1t can on an equal size
income in the city. The temptation
to reckless extravaganza are muc
less, and the margin for saving is col
| sequently much greater.
From the standpoint Of the averae
! individual and for great many WI
are above the average country life
! present is much more desirable In a
! most every way than city life Son
If the more specific advantages wi
! be taken up in later articles Fro
i; the standpoint of the nation an I
crease in the number of people wi