The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-07-05
MORALS AND THE. PRICE OF LAND
IHDW Do High Farm Values M-
 feet Rural Communities :?

 s-z Bureau-)
 The proposition is: If the price of land in any rural community be rais- Cd without a corresponding rise in the income derived from the land, the morals of the community suffer.
 - Let the year be 1900. Let the land -s. be any typical agricultural township - In the United States It is valued at .an average of $2O an acre. and the --lt typical farm including, of course, i'm l-provements. is worth about $5,0O0 and rrt-yields all told 10 per cent inter FrA est The population consists of about irl 200 families of strictly American stock, 90 per cent. of whom have re- { n sided in the community fifteen years ! -shor more There are five six one ts-croom schools in the township, and six -se or seven churches The average en- = fro1lrnent in the schools is thirty-five; lIfsfhe average membership Of the ea churches sixty.
 s5;- The social life of the community, % while crude. Is not sluggish Howev- -1Eer conservative in methods of farming 1irand of education, there is yet a spirit noof pride and Of friendly cooperation Hr Telephones have not yet been intro lsfduced. so there is still good Dit or twisting among families The road 1orand country, and the recreations of -Hdhe young people are confined to the 1neighborhood- These recreadons con E1tsist of the games at school, al1ttle -5hbaseba1I. occasional spelling bee and singing school. and frequent log -kro1iinEs, husking bees and square dances The old folks share in these sports and have a few of their own p-srbesides such as quilting bees and barn CIratsings. It is worth noting that nearly all these recreadons combine work with pleasure and represent form Of cooperation possible only in a stable population among families that have known each other for 8. con- siderable length of time.
 It is possible for young man in thts community to save enough mon ey to buy a small farm by the time he is twenty-three or twenty-four. or if he has not saved enough he can usu- ally borrow enough to make the pur- chase On such prospects a. young man can afford to marry. The av- erage age of marriage in this town ship ts nineteen for the woman and itwenty-three for the man.
 Now suppose the price of land be doubled without the1 farmer's income being doubled; that is, double his capttaI without increasing his inter lest Important results follow
 The age Of marriage is raised. A fyoung man who can afford to buy land at $2o an acre finds it more difficult to purchase at $40. He will have to save longer, and his girl will have to wait for him, if she marries him at Fan. Whereas when land was $40 an acre they might have "set z1p for ithsrasezves' when he was tw enty-three .and she was nineteen, now they must walt until he lis about twenty-five and she twenty-two. In other words, the period between the arrival of their so- cfaI instincts and their marriage the temptation period, is heightened. This condition results in lowering of the moral standards along sexual lines. The percentage Of young people who ctn keep themselves clean through a temptation period of five years Is nat urzny larger than the percentage who can keep themselves clean through a temptation period of eight years.
 stagnation follows in the whole so-I ciaI life of the comm unity, especially as expressed in its institutions. Ra1s-l ing the price of land without pro- port1onately raising the income de- rived from it increases the farmers capital and his taxes but decreases his interest A $5,oOO farm that yields a $500 income is a 10 per cent in vestnent. but a $1O,O6o farm that 5aelds n $500 income is only a per cent investment When this condi- ffou prevails the natural tendency of the farmer is to sell, to convert the capital into cash and put 1t where 1t will bring a larger Interest. When b7le sells he moves, and when he moves t51e and his family go out of the coun- try school, the country church and F4he community life altogether. It tmakes for a shifting and decreasing 4rural population which is poor soil for schools and churches and com rznunity institutions of any sort
 0OeS renroIlment or membership of these in sEtitutions drop, often to a fraction of f1heir former number, but there is less tnoney to support them Schools and schurches are supported on profits Frvher the farmers interest is decreas- led his profits are decreased. With 1khe decline of these institutions goes s4he decline of community spirit, wit nessed in the passing of community Fecreatfons, community gatherings and pride. %he singing schools, the husking and quitting bees, the square dances, the Bog roliings and the barn raisings be- srcome things of the past
 E1ose heaItt1fuI sports that graced the
 peaceful scene,
 dved in each look and frightened all
 the green,
 These far departing seek a kinder
 shore,
 5And rural mirth and manners are no
 Morals do not flourish in such a btagnant environment
 This very thing has taken place in fEhe United States in the last twelve Fears- and the condition described is 9he condition prevailing in the aver fage township today. Farm land has Pncreased 10S per cent. in price, and fthe farmers income has not increts- Ad In proportion The average age px marriage has risen throughout the great majority of our rural districts. Socia1 life is in a stagnant condition. #Over a third of our counties show a. aecrease in their rural population. The 9urolIment in the average one-roOm #rountry school is about half what it was ten years ago; the membership *of the country churches has been wteadily decreasing. The old forms of Recreation have passed away.
 aUfz are e.