The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1915-05-31

more aIluring than the city life Of to-
day.
Life in the country is the normal
/ life, anyway. The glories Of country
i life have hitherto existed only in song
and story; but at present there are
movements in various parts OF the
world to make country life more at
tractive. There are numerous maya
zines and newspapers devoted TO ru-
raj life, not only papers that teach
practical agriculture, but newspapers
that are devoted TO the pleasures of
the country and the inspiration OF
country life.
One OF the drawbacks of country
life is muddy and impossible roads.
Good roads are now being built
through the land, and these will do
much toward making rural life more
pleasant, because they mean ease of
access and more intimate association
as well as economic advantages.
The electric trolly and the automo-
4 bile are carrying the city into the
country, and making it possible for
those who have business in the city
to live in the country and have little
farm or garden of their own. Subur-
ban homes are becoming stylish. The
wise managers of great factories are
now going into the country and build
ing their factories on large estates,
giving each employer a strip of land
on which to grow his own vegetables.
The city is not a place of production
but only place of exchange, and the
wise city of the future will not invite
factories of productive nature, but
/. will exclude them.
/, Unfortunately the great rivalry be-
tween cities today is not so much for
. the welfare of their individual citizens,
the education of their people, wise
and economic nutrition, Libraries and
museums, but simply for population.
The home of the farmer is now be-
ing improved in such a way as to
make him as comfortable as il he
: lived in the city. The convenience of
water and lights, the disposal of sew
age, and such scientific methods i'm
, prove the sanitary conditions and
make life more comfortable and dis
ease less imminent.
All this, however, is not sufficient
to keep the people in the country.
: The pursuit of agriculture must be.
come more profitable if the country
! is to become more inviting. Scientific
, agriculture will help. but to bring the
consumer and the farmer into more
q intimate contract is most important
+ of all. This will surely be accomplish
: ed by establishing factories in rural
. districts where farmers can sell direct
+ to the employers of the work.
At the present high prices for com
} modities which the farmer must buy
and low prices received for what he
: produces. he cannot expect to be fl
3 nancially successful. The problem tt
!. be solved is the regulation of the aven
: ues of transportation and methods o
: distribution-not their suppression.
1t might be well, though, to ask i
. there are not too many railways, too
!. many brokers and wholesale and re
= tail merchants. In other words on
: of the principal problems relating t.
y country life is undoubtedly that which
= is connected with the transportation
: and distribution of agricultural pre-
o ducts.
d It is a spirit of selfish commercial
h ism which seems to stand in the wa,
= of a betterment of conditions. 1t
II not claimed that the farmer is no
actuated by just as selfish motives
,r AS a rule, the farmer would not hes
a tate to get a higher price. even if tn
,e ultimate consumer had to pay more
But the problem is not of this charaC
Is ter; it is predicated on two indisput;
v BILE facts: First, that the farmer
n at present getting too little for wha
h sumner is paying too much for whs
IT he consumes. Somebody or somethin
n in between must be eliminated; nC
IS the system, but some of its member
V. or practices.
to If we could provide the labor of tn
d. country with the same social and ed
N cational life which we provide the Il
III borer in the city, at the end Of tn
VS. year the country man would be di
ly tinctly ahead. If the movement
,h bring the city back to the countH
q, succeeds, an opening would be mad
ne for the employment of those WI
nd might be left without an occupation
When people come back to the far
", in the future, it will not be to lead
We life Of dreary labor, but rather to e
Sc gage in an occupation which viii col
". mand intelligence and the best bus
re ness capacity.