The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-03-25
TUESDAY. MARCH %. 1918.
THE DANGEROUS PERIOD.

Tho MOS; DANGEROUS and critical pc
Rod in the history OF n ag1icuiio'a
community is that period when. steps
NOT having been taken 10 provide i'll
that community the convenlences anu
comforts of life. the inhabitants gem
orally have become too well-to-co mat
they need not remain on the farm un'
less they desire to Go so.
When tina, time there are
numerous influences working against
the well-beiug Of the community. II
seductive voice OF the south is hearc
with increasing insistency. The city
beckons more and more enticing!E.
The members of the family return
from occasional pleasure trips, full OF
recoilecttons Of pleasures that are to
he had elsewhere, OF warm winters in
the south, OF the comforts Of city life,
with its conveniently arranged dwell
ines, Its ease of getting about. its So
cial pleasures, and its other numerous
advantages. And there stand. in con-
tra.t. the plain. unadorned farm
dwelling. with Its utter absence Of con-
v%eniences. its bare setting on h
prairie. the surroundings of al! kinds
without any of the things that attract
IN the greater centers. During the
years Of comparative poverty these
things have been endured. and h
family has not become familiar With
other things tina it is now able to OBJ
49,. WI. .tz,,tl $rorc not ha "a
change? This question is asked over
and over again. And it is answered.
The daughter Of the family marries
the young banker. The son goes to
tow to practice law. The old folks.
wearying of the grind, and having no
reason for remaining, buy a five acre
tract Of lemons in California or a
house and lot in and the work
Of depopulating the agricultural dis
trict is on.
This is in part the history of the
beginning of the movement away from
the farm III thousands Of cases. The
movement is not the of
pove-ty-s;ricken people away from
homes which they have been obliged
to surrender, but of people who are
comfortably off from localities which
contain nothing to hold them, to
places which at least seem to offer
greater advantages.
The problem of stopping the drift
away from the farm is not one f
proving that the nation needs more
people on the farm, but of creating
a desire in the minds Of the people
who are already on the farm 10 stay
there, and, though this is really sec
ondary of creating the desire in the
minds OF others to, move onto the
farm.
We may talk political economy and
sociology and the dignity of labor
and SO forth until our tongues are
paralyzed, and We will not help the
situation a particle. No sensible man
will stay on the farm if he is con-
WINGED that he can do better finan-
cially. and live more comfortably and
p~leasantly somewhere else. lie may
agree that it would be a good thing if
there were more people on the farms,
but he does not intend to be one of
those people. He intends to be where
st will be best for him and his family.
And we cannot expect him to take any
other view.
The farm district will hold its pop
ulation when Its people are convinced
that it is the best place for them to be.
and no longer. And there is no in
huence at work today, especially in
this northwest, which is doing more
for the real and permanent interests
of the farming district than the i'm.
provement work which is being pro-
NOTED by such men as o. D. Center,
VIII is in charge of the Better Farm
Ing work Of this district. That work
is intended to prove that farming ma
be made more profitable, to prove
that 1t may be made more attractive,
and to show how these things ma be
done When this is accomplished the
problem of stopping the drift ava
from the farms will have been solved
THE NATIONS NnNEv