Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-04-04
Is Rural New England Decadent9

Is Rural New England Decadent9
HAVE CITIES AND THE WEST sKIMME
| ITS CREAM?
1t is said that men may so often repes
a falsehood as to become convinced Q
its truth. On the basis Of this psycholoe
ical fact rests in part the continuing e1
istence of superstitions, of moral falls
cies, of economic misconceptions. 7
me the truth of it has nowhere com
home more strongly than in my chang
ing view Of the status of our New Ems
land countryside and its people. Fo
some years, as a youthful summer res
dent only of New England's pleasan
places, | accepted with an entire belief
as automatic aud beyond dispute-th
complaining or complacent statement
of my fellow "birds- of passage" that ou
countryside is "decadent," our countr,
people are degenerate, ""the best bloc,
has been drained from our hills" Still
among the summer folk these ideas hol'
sway; from them have crept into tn
press frequent sayings OF the same sort
so that it is not at all uncommon &
come upon the off-hand assertion o.
some casual editor or writer that is fair
ly CALLING in it's matter-of-fact cocksure
ness. After ten years as countrymaI
in New England, have come, out OF IN!
experience, to question these sta ements
even in some measure to resent thei
iteration. For not only do / find ths
my personal observation does not bea
them out by any means in the premises
but that even from such partial truth as
may then be found the conclusion is moi
soundly reasoned.
Briefly, the premises, as l get then
from conversation and reading, srt
these: ID The state OF agriculture ID
in decay, hundreds of farms are aban
doned, thousands of acres OF once cult
waited fields are given over to the white
birch; (2) the state of religion, OF edu
cation, of morals has fallen away, the
churches are no longer filled, the ole
academies, one after another, have pass
cd to servile weakness or death; where
once We're thrifty houses, clean husban'
dry, neat housewifery, are crumbline
chimneys and crippled roof-trees, brier'
grown door. yards, bush-lined walls, bare
filthy rooms, filled, If filled at all, with
swarthy foreigners or mongrel weak
lings; (3)-and this is the favorite-
the explanation of this sad state of af'
fairs lies here: The superior oppor'
tunities of city life, the superior produc'
tiveness of the new lands of the West,
have skinned the cream of our rurality
the ambitious, the strong, the tit have
fled these barren hills as fast as matu
rity and sense have come TO them
leaving a thin-skimmed, not too clean
residue behind. This is the pessimistiC
view aud most extreme, yet one that is,
believe, more commonly held among
city folk of both education and intelli'
gence not a necessary coupling oi
terms, by the way-than most OF us
country folk understand.
Now in veuturing upon tentative
reputation am aware Of weakness.
realize that the observation of one man
OF of several men, cannot be a perfect
basis for generalization. realize, too,
that just comparison of past and pres
ent is impossible, IL for no other reason
than that the past is no longer with us
that no statistics are available, or ever
can be available, to show conclusively
the cause of the indisputably dispro'
portionate effiux of our youth, because
il is not in our emigreS to acknowledge
themselves other than the ambitious
the strong, and the fit. Yet will give
here my own firm conclusions, to wit;
(s) That our New England countryside
is not decadent; (b) that our New Eng
land country folk are not degenerate; (cl
and setting aside the fact that, by and
large, skimmilk is more worthy stuff
than cream-that il is not the effiux oi
the ambitions, the strong, and the dt
which has held back the rate Of our iu
crease in population, but rather the
effiux of the morally lazy, the weak, and
the unfit. Then, in 80 far as am able
briefly, | will show the reasonablenes'
Of this contradiction.
First, as to the state of agriculture
Census returns of the last two decades
so far as reading Of summaries ha:
given me knowledge of them, show
three things: In number OF acres under
the plow, and in number of farms in
state Of tillage, there has been steady
and sure falling of; in population OF The
rural districts and in number OF those
engaged in agriculture New England ha'
perhaps, kept TO the standard OF twent!
years ago, but in New Hampshire anc
Vermont the loss is actual, II not great
They show also, however, that in total o.
rural wealth there has been increase o.
no very mean degree-that New Hamp
shire, losing like Iowa in number o
farms and population at work upoI
them, has made an increase OF wealth
substantial, IL small as compared will
that of Iowa-which, let me say, l hav'
not yet heard called decadent state
that in staple and other crops the per
acre Weld is increased and increasing, a
against falling ratio in several OF tn
great farming states; 80 that New Eng
land as a whole, or state by state, lead
the Union in intensive farming. The re
cent corn show at Worcester has widel.
advertised this fact.
abandoned farms. We have them, 10
the most part wisely abandoned, ant
certainly less plentiful in fact than II
print. Thousands Of acres gicen orer &
the chite birch. True enough. Woul'
that IL were the white pine! Yet in thi
very surrender of sterile acres do 1 Be
the most hopeful sign of an intelligen
and lively agriculture. That the Ne1
England farmer is seeing wisdom in In
teusive cultivation of his few best acre
rather than in extensive scratching o
uneven fields, is TO me most complet
refutatiou of the doctrine that the cor
servative Yankee on his "worn-out'
lands cannot progress. Surely to
countrysi that can use at pron
millions of dollars worth of purchase
| fertilizer, that can feed at profit to il
livestock millions of dollars worth
western grain, and turn the residue I
enrichment of the soil-to countrysid
that shows highest acre production an
courage to undertake intensive tillag
as yet unchecked by the law of diminish
j ing returns, the term "decadent' Is mil
applied!
II is true, believe, that in our couI
try, IL in a less degree than In our citie'
the churches fail of their due patronag'
In itself the discussion Of this problem
beyond me. But, II We are fair, becaui
of his theaters, his sports, his magazine
and papers, TO excuse the city man Il
his neglect, what shall We say Of b
country fellow. with his phonograph, b
rod and gun, his magazines and paper
and, above all, his telephone, which
largely does away with the old incenti'
70 meet neighbors at the church? II th
is degsnsracy It IL wsll-nigh universal.
True, also, that mary OF the old acs'