The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1913-07-26
THE SMALL TOWN.

mike Kinney's Reflections in The Gimlet.)
In season and out of season, I have
argued that it is to the interest of the
people of this country for the small
towns to flourish and prosper. But some
of the farmers do not seem to realize
that when they send away to the large
cities for their goods, when they do not
give the merchants in their nearby
small town an opportunity to figure on
their wants, they are not only running
the small towns, but, as matter of
fact, that they are also injuring them
selves. Every town in this country is
center of social interest. In this
town men meet, discuss their common
interests and enlarge their views. Ev.
cry town is a moral and educational
center. Here there congregate pro-
fessional people, men and women of
education, ministers, doctors, lawyers,
and their influence unconsciously
spreads throughout the surrounding
country. Kill the small town, remove
these people, and the farmers and their
families will soon realize their loss in
a less interesting and more monoto-
nous social atmosphere. Once a man
was asked why he preferred the city
to the country and his answer was that
| in the city you could choose your
friends, while in the country you had
to be satisfied with your neighbors. If
the towns of this country are to de-
crease in Importance, by reason of di-
reet mail order buying from the large
cities, then the farmers will more and
more find that their choice of friends
will be lessened to their immediate
|neighbors.
All those who in broad way are in
terested in the welfare of this coun-
try, are in favor of encouraging the
back-to-the-farm movement. am only
an humble teamster, but in my opinion,
the best way to encourage the move
ment to the farm is by encouraging
the development of the small cities
and the merchants who are doing bust
ness in these cities.
Then there is another thought in this
connection 1t is only natural devel-
opment for the farmer to put his sur
plus sons in business in the towns, and
we all know that the great cities draw
their best blood from the towns and
villages. Suppose there were no towns.
Then there would actually be no means
OF communication between the inhabi-
tants of the big cities and those who
lived on the farms. The small town
! is the stepping-stone from the city to
the farm and from the farm back to
the city.
The just complaint of the retail mer-
chants in the smaller places is in the
fact, not that they cannot compete
with the mail order houses in large
cities, but that they frequently are not
given an opportunity to compete. The
doctor, the lawyer, the minister and
the farmer, impressed by glowing de-
scriptions of bargains in the mail or
der house catalogues, send away their
orders without ever figuring with the
local merchant. | am quite sure that
often this is done thoughtlessly. The
doctor does not stop to think that it is
hardly fair for him to be supported by
community, and then when he wishes
to buy goods to send the money his
community has paid him to some far
away city. This is equally true of the
lawyer, the school teacher and the min
lister. They do not realize that they
are not giving the local merchant d
square deal when they send their
money away without even asking his
prices.
Then, it does seem surprising, par
tieularly in the cases of those farmers
whose land is more valuable, because
1t is near town, for these farmers to
send their orders away, when by doing
so they are undermining the prosperi-
ty of the very town that gives their
property its value.
Rev. Mr.. Carson's search for his son,