The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1913-08-14
Selected.
THE SMALL TOWN

Mike Linney's Reflections in The Gimlet)
In season and out of season, 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 their nearby small town an opport-
unity to figure on their wants, they are not
only running the small towns, but, as mat
ter Of fact, that they are also injuring them
Selves. Every town in this countryis a CEN
ter OF social interest. In this town men
meet, discuss their common interests and en-
large their views. Every town is moral
and educational center. Here there congre-
gate professional people, men and women of
education, ministers, doctors, lawyers, and
their influence unconsciously spreads through
out the surrounding country. Kill the small
town, remove these people, and the farmers
and their families will soon realize their loss
in less interesting and more menetonous
social atmosphere. Once 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 decrease in
Importance, by reason of direct 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 a broad way are interest
ed in the welfare of this country, are in favor
of encouraging the back-to-the-farm move
nlent. am only an humble teamster, but in
my opinion, the best way to encourage the
movement to the farm is by encouraging the
development of the small cities and the mer-
chants who are doing business in these cities
Then there is another thought in this con-
nection. 1t is OILY a natural development
for the farmer to put his surplus sons in bust.
ness 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 step
ping stone from the city to the farm and from
the farm back to the city
The just complaint of the retail merchants
in the smaller places is in the fact, not that
they can not 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 descriptions of
bargains IN the mail order house catalogues,
send away their orders without ever figuring
with the local merchant. i 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 a community,
and then when he wishes to buy goods to
send the money his commu ity has paid him
to some far-away city. This is equally true
OF the lawyer, the school teacher and the
minister hat %ho1yo
not giving the local merchant square deal
when they send their money away without
even asking his prices. = =. 49,
Then, it does seem surprising, particularly
in the cases of those farmers whose land is
more valuable, because it is near town, for
these farmers to send their orders away, g.
when by doing so they are undermining the
prosperity of the very town that gives their
property it's value.