Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1913-11-28
TRY AND KEEP THEM UP TO THE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Ac-
TON ONLY REMEDY.
PATRONIzE OUR HOME BUSINESS MEN
Large Cities Sometimes Proves a
Regular HelI-HoIe for Young Folks
From the collntry-so Ponder
Well Before the Move.


towns and country districts, while one
third lived in the larger cities. Today
the situation is about reversed, only
one-third OF the population is rural,
while two-thirds is urban.
This tendency of population away
from the country into the big cities
is undesirable from many viewpoints.
Not only is 1t one of the chef causes
for the high cost of living, but city
life in general is neither so healthful
or moral as is country life and if the
movement continues it must ultimate
ly undermine the health and character
OF the American people.
is there anything we can do to check
and reverse this movement? There is.
The back to the farm" movement
will help some, but the real So
luton must come from the country
communities themselves. Improve the
roads, make the country more desir-
able place in which to live, make the
home town more attractive and in
crease it's entertainment features, so
the young people will be more content
to stay at home and we will be doing
much to change the tide, at least in
this community
Many go to the cities through ne
cessity. There is not sufficient en-
ployment for them all in their home
community. But If we will patronize
home industries and home merchants
and develop the agricultural and 9TH
er resources of the community there
will be sufficient employment for ev-
houses is one of the things that is
driving young people away.
One firm in Chicago employs some
thing like 600 girls, and IS per cent
of these girls come not from the city
itself but from the country districts
and one-third of the girls employed
by this firm have to be recruited each
year. Many of them never find in
Chicago the healthful. moral and So
cial Advantages that should exist in the
home town and community.
If the farmers son can not find en-
ployment at home, the situation may
be met, in many cases, by dividing the
farm into smaller units and adopting
more intensive farming methods.
Many young men are drawn, or bet
ter "lured". to the cities by the liter
ature of the day; by articles in the
magazines and newspapers exploiting
the successes of country boys in the
cities and exaggerating the attractions
of city life. Let US reverse this and
exploit the success of country boys
the home town.
In most cases of rural retrogression
the fault does not lie in natural OF
economic conditions, but with the PEG
pie themselves. One phase of the sit
uation is well put in the following ex
tract from recent periodical:
Every once in while, and some
times oftener, l find some farmer won
dering why the boy wants to leave the
farm. Why wonder? And especially
when you know that the boy knows
that you really want to do the same
thing as soon as you have saved III
enough money to do it in the way tina
you want to do it. Is 1t not fact
that too many of you, by your daily
lives and examples, are teaching hin
that the farm is only a place OF
which to work hard and to live hard
er? And for what? To make enough
money to move into town after yol
are too old to enjoy things, and wheI
your spending muscles have been par
alyzed by years of inaction and disuse
II your daily lives are along those
lines do not be surprised if your DO!
beats you into town by several years
and 1t may be that it will require year.
of tramping over the Gripping pave
ments of the city before he realizes
that after all the plowed ground il
easier for his corns and conscienc
and far better for his comfort 1t i
up to you to keep the boy on the farm
How? By teaching him by both pre-
cept and example that the farm i
not merely place to work and vii
health by the sacrifice of many pleas
ures, Dut tnat the farm is the Des
place ever invented to live broad, free
efficient, serviceable, healthful, humal
lives. Thousands and thousands O
such lives are being lived today upo
the farm, out in the open of the SUI
shine and 1t is because of this fac
in large degree. that this country
great and good-and growing better.
The rural community has many &C
vantages that the large city lacks
There is more home life. More OF
portunity for healthy enjoyment an
right relationship. The city has to
many ways of dissipating time an
money, too much of the wrong kind c
amusement and entertainment.
There are many things you may
to make your town more attractiv,