St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-03-06
my Impressions from the more

My Impressions from the more
backward parts of Vermont and
New Hampshire all confirm and cor
roborate one another. For from so
to 20 years the energetic persons
who naturally are the generators
and up-holders of high standards
have been going out from these rur-
al communities and enriching other
communities in other parts of the
country. More and more the COM
munfty has come to be composed of
culls, and these lack the initiative
to improve their farming and intro
duce new industries which may be
we'll adapted to the locality. Each
generation of young people grows
up with the feeling that the town is
dead" and that anyone who has
ginger in him will get out. Thus
stagnation breeds more stagnation
and the exodus is accelerated. The
economic consequence of the COM
munity being continually "fished
out" is unthrift, persistence in
slack, antiquated methods, and
poor ways of living resulting in
poverty and helplessness. The
religious consequences are a failure
to support the church and deadness
consequences are low standards of
life and conduct, stinginess, furtive
ness, hypocrisy, lack of public spir-
it, precocious sexuality, unfaithful-
ness to the marriage vows, and
taste for crude pleasures.
Two Remedies.
There are two remedies, one SUI
perficial, the other fundamental.
The one perceives that the trouble
with these depleted communities is
lack of the leadership toward better
things enjoyed in all normal COM
and proposes to fill this
need in a measure by putting in a
qualified leader from outside and
setting him to discover and train up
such material for leadership as is |
found among the rising generation. |
This policy is rational and helpful, !
but it leaves the community de-
pendent for its higher life on tie
continual injection of stimuli from |
The more fundamental policy is
to keep the natural leaders OF each |
in the community by |
showing them how they can prosper
as well by staying as by departing. I
the community the path toward eco
noniic betterment, in making them
with new crops, or in
fostering the development of new
local industries. The resulting eco
nomic regeneration will automati-
ealIy cause the better element
among the young people to remain
N the community and they in time
will impose upon their fellows high
sr sanitary, moral, and religious
Should Try Both Methods.
Really both lines of endeavor
ought to be followed. The state
government ought to send into the
iecaying communities economic
Missionaries to demonstrate the
of scientific farming,
,r apple growing, or raising small
fruits, or cooperative marketing, or
scientific forestry. On the other
land, philanthropy ought to put in
men to discover and foster such
material as there is
Lmong the young and turn 1t toward
,etter things. The county work of
he Young Mems Christian Associa-
ion strikes me as wisely con-
olFcQ anu wei dOdPL6u " lie PuA-
,ose. Only the Y. NJ G. A. ought to
,ush hard to induce the state gov
.rnment, the colleges, the grange
n other agencies to back up and
Import its work by putting forth
.fforts to restore economic prospect
v to the stagnant rural towns.
"The tendencies here mentioned
oward the depletion of purely
arming districts have become no.
iceabIe in southern Michigan, In
lana, and Iowa. The outflow,
owever, has not been going on for
early so long and the depletion of
he natural community has never
ecome so serious as found it in
orthern New England"