Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1911-01-27
LAND HUNGER

w ME III dtlonuduCS a. eAS AAOf-
able school at Meridian, Ida, Presi-
dent AIacLean, of the University OF
Idaho, delivered what is regarded by
farmers in that section as one of the
most interesting lectures ever given
there. Professor MacLean spoke In
part as follows.
1t goes without saying that in or
/ der to prosper in home building,
farming must be remuneratiye, and
the farm must be MADE to yield an
income. Every change and improve
ment; every discovery and invention
that promotes the prosperity and at
Effectiveness OF farming increases the
possibilities for successful home
building.
But the point which wish to en-
phasize tonight is that home build
ing is a business by itself, and that
the financial side, the material side.
is not at all the most important part
of it. Many a moderately success
(, farmer has been wonderful sue
cess as a home builder, and many
farmer who has achieved great sue
cess in farming has been only mod
erately successful in home building.
l need not tell you that it is not the
size of the income that the farm
yields that determines the kind of
home the farm supports.
Back to the farm seems to be the
slogan Of 1910. Before we can
judge let US see what it means. In
1900 only per cent of the popula-
ton of the United States lived in cit
les; in 1900 more than one-third of
the people lived IN cities of 5000 or
more. This redistribution OF our
population is permanent, l believe.
think there is no valid reason for
supposing that any large percentage
of the millions who left the farms
will ever return.
Neither do | believe that there is
any reason to suppose that people
born in the cities will be led to emil
CRATE to the country, and that the
tide of people which formerly swept
cityward will now be turned and flow
toward the country. All of us know
that unless person has grown up in
the country or has lived in the coun-
try in childhood or youth. the chan
ces are 10 to l that he will never
learn to live in the country, to love
the country life, and to succeed in
the country. Take one small item
the silences of the country. Unless
you have grown accustomed to the
long and health breaking silences of
the country life, as child, it is not
likely that you will ever be able to
accustom yourself to them after
reaching maturity.
''On the other hand, it is reasonable
to expect that the stream of popula-
ton flowing cityward has now reach
ed its full volume, and may be ex-
pected to diminish and decline.
Country boys went to the cities in
the last century chiefly because the
wages attracted them. The United
States was becoming a manufactur-
ing nation, labor engaged in Ameri-
can industries was productive and
wages were high.
THE period of transition is end
ed. The economic causes which drew
the boys from agriculture and trans
portation have ceased to operate, or
operate with diminished force. The
period of industrial change is now to
be followed by a period of industrial
stability. Country life will now re-
cruit itself from its own birth rate.
The abandoned farms of New Eng
land and the middle states will now
be relocated and reopened. The last
fertile acre of the western states will
man who builds home and rears a
family may now cherish a reasonable
hope of keeping them as neighbors
and companions, and reaching old
age with a family circle practically
unbroken. A stream of population
to the cities will always continue
city life always feeds itself from
country life.
IF cities were not continually re-
stored by large infusions of country
blood they would degenerate and per-
ish in a few generations, but the
stream will never again reach the
high water mark set by the last gen
Grafton The spring flood is over
and the normal relations of city and
country will be restored and become
permanent. The motto. Back tc
the farm is misleading, and those
who preach from the text are advo-