Norwich bulletin., 1911-10-14
THE REMEDY FOR THE RURAL TREND uTYwARD

(Written Specially for The Bulletin.)
 In the course of my agricultural reading during the past few weeks seem to have chanced upon a rather unusual amount of what is called 'ru- raj uplift' matter. Daily newspapers and weekly farm papers and monthly magazines are giving attention to the problems of rural depopulation- They have very little to say about the even more dangerous problem of city con Eestion But they surely are much worked uD over the trend of popu1a tion away from the farms. They all recognize that it's bad tendency. They all deplOre ii. They all wonder at the reason foB it. They all talk diff fusely and circularly about possible remedies
 That word "circularly" isn't a mis- print. It's exactly what I wrote. It means that they talk, as they seem to think. in q circle, going round and round again: always bringing up about where they started and never actually getting anywhere.
 I've read an awful lot of the stuff in the past fortnight. at first with keen interest and wakening hope; then with decreasing hope and dying interest; then with growing contempt At the end it got to that my chief feeling was one of disgust and shame.
 Practically all these talks and writ ings seem keyed on one note. The heading over one long article suggests what this is. Make Farm Life More Attractive is the display head This should be one of the schools is the running headline underneath. An other writer emphasizes the need of better rural roads. Another wants to have more farmers clubs and Soci- cites Another wants to see the price of automobiles reduced so every farm CT can have one. Another wants to see Us return to the village style of housing in barbarous Russia, where farmers shall live in a bunch so they csA have better chance to sit on each others front steps and gabble when they are not gobbling or grubbing. Another thinks the government ought to intervene and do the farmers think ing for him. Still another wants the government to do his selling and buy ing for him. Another thinks a lot of rich Deople-city men spending a few months in the country and playing at fsrr7 ing-should set to work to teach their practical farmer neighbors how to farm it.
 Practically all of these eloquent gentlemen and ladies agree in want ing 10 have somebody do something for the poor farmer to help him, and to make his lot more enticing They talk about the farmers of the country much as they talk about the tenement poor If the big cities-as if both must be ,reiped out of the mud and over the fence and all along the road.
 Oh. Pifnle, Likewise, also, Oh, Pop pycock,
 It's mighty poor therapeutics to pre- scribe medicines without first diagnos- ing the disease. A dose that would be quite helpful in a case of rheu- matism might not avail greatly against a rattlesnake bite. One that would cure malaria overnight might not prove effective against congenita1 idi- ocy- For which latter reason, I should not recommend the persons who make some of the suggestions l have spoken of to take their own prescrip- tions.
 The farmers of America are, as rdl 6 able to hoe their own rows without having some one else bring them the hoe. or hold 'em up by either arm Aaron and ITur fashion. to prevent their tumbling over sideways.
 They are not as d rule, proper sub- iects for charity. Indeed. it isn't gen orally discreet to offer them aims, openly and directly.
 They do nor, as rule. need nurses to accompany them with convenient bottles of soothing syrup and plates of taffy.
 They do not need help half so much