Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1911-07-12
THB COUNTRY SCHOOLS SHOULD
FIGHT THIS MOVEMENT.


are steadily deserving the country
and the farm for the turmoil and de-
lights of the city and town, accord
ling to statistics made public today by
the census bureau. During the past
ten years the percentage of people
living in cities of more than $500 in
habitants increased from 40.5 to ass.
Twenty years ago only 36.1 per cent
lived in such incorporated places. In
1910. AZ, 623, 1888, or 463 per cent Of
the total lived in urban territory and
I4934S,S83, or 53.7 per cent in rural
territory, according to the returns.
What a terrible blunder these mis-
guided thousands and tens of thou
sands are making. Go through the
sections where the poor live in the
large cities see the suffering they I'M
dergo in the frightful heat of the
summer and the equally frightful cold
of the winter billiards, study their
homes, their food, their pleasures,
| their prospects-and then imagine
how vastly better off they would be
in the country, on small farms, in
their own homes, breathing pure air,
drinking pure water, eating fresh
foods with ample space to develop
into fine manhood and lovely woman
! hood
Pouring into the cities, only to in
crease the vast army that are always
on the ragged edge of starvation, the
countless army that hardly knows
where the next meal is to come from,
the vast host that work and stint and
almost starve in the desperate effort
to make both ends meet
True, some few meet with brilliant
success. Some few make their way 10
the front and ride in automobiles and
own private yachts and eventually
live in palaces. But how few, in
= deed. Where one goes up a thousand
stay down. Where one wins a compe-
tency a thousand never know what
financial ease means. Where one
gets the bright sunshine of life q
thousand see the gloomy, cloudy side
of the daily existence And to offset
the daily toll, the daily hardships, the
daily struggles, the daily privations
there is merely the glamour of the
city streets, the vision of the joys OF
others, the few cheap pleasures that
allure and are open to the poor.
The enchantment of the city seems
to be falling more than ever upon the
youth of the country In vast stream
they flow to the towns, eagerly seek
ing fortune and pleasure, both at
} which are too often denied them il
the end The quiet joys of the coun-
Try seem to afford no offsetting at
fractions to the electric lights anC
5 moving picture shows and crowded
streets, and the bright hopes that the
city stretches out to them. Into the
maelstrom they go-and how many
times in after years there is doubt
less the unceasing and hopeless
yearning for the country life that was
cast aside as not worth the posses
} sing.
The country today offers opportun-
tiles for comfort in daily life, for the
requirement of competency, for gen.
u,ne healthful pleasures, that it new
er knew before. The stalwart. indus
trious, intelligent boy, possessed OF
grit and character, stands just as
good, if not far better, chance, Of
making himself financially indepen-
dent in the country than he does !,
the city. In the city the expenses OF
living fairly consume his life. There
IS little or no surplus to the average
family. In the country his social DO
= sition as man in average circum.
Stances is far better than in the city;
h can hope to raise his children bet
ter than in the city, with a view tc
their practical work in life, he can
enjoy needed rest and recreation
without feeling that he is denying
his family the daily wages that he
would earn in town; he can enjoy
the associations of his neighbors ana
OF nature: he is free from restraints
that bear upon the city dweIler, and
the strain upon his vitality is i'm
measurably less. The schools of the
country should bring these things
home to the boys and girls, their ed
uoatton from the very beginnins
should be a ceaseless protest against
the chase of an ignus fatuus that
draws so many away from the farms
to the tenements and workshops and
stores of the great centers of popula-
ton.
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