The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-12-18

so desires, fix absolutely the charge that shall be made, ~and if this were done the charge should be so low as
 to make the added. burden. upon the consumer, if any, an inf1nitesfmaI one;
 perhaps first a free period when no charge would be made, and then one tenth of a mill per kiIowatt hour for
 period and two-tenths of a mill la ter.
 As already said, with the passage of these two measures there will be
 no land or resource that will not be at the full service of the people. And
 yet the romantic enterprise of reveal ing America will not be done. To
 get from our resources their fullest
 use-this is our goal And this is
 nothing less than a challenge to the
 capacity of a democracy.
 The Test of Democracy.
 There is an evolution in a new na- t1on's life quite as interesting as that in the life of man. We pass through stages of development from the simple and earlier period when food is the one thing desired into the
 more elaborated and complex stages
 where first we begin to deal with the easily handled things and later reach the point where mind has control ling part in all that is done. The pioneer builds his cabin and turns his cattle to graze upon the unfenced will derness He takes his water from the stream and makes his gun serve him a. food and give him protection. It Is not many years, however, before he has passed from herdsnan to far mer, when soil must be pIowed and seeded down. At first the one-horSe blow will do, and any seed. But life grows more intense-society has gath cred around, new demands are created l-machinery must be used, seed must
 be selected, soil fertiIized, credit ob-' tained. markets sought, and the life of the simple herdsman has become complicated and broad. The gay reck1essness of other days gives way
 to constant thought. So has it been with this country. For a. long time we lived off the countrys obvious sup plies. Later we were producers of
 ray materials and minerals, lumber and cotton. When manufac- turing began, it was of the larger coar- ser things, which perhaps in their | turn went abroad for higher. fabri-
 eating. Now, however, we have come into the full Hde@of modern life when we seeke for greater and more varied industries. wider markets, more eco tnomica1 methods of production and exchange. And in such new time direction is needed, mutual and CO., ordinated-effort must be set up and the more elaborate machinery of or ganization put into service. Thought becomes the basis of the new life | Ithought, illuminated by knowledge
 and made practical by imagination.
 have reviewed some of the activi-.
 ties of this department that they may suggest how adequate to the task of efficient national development a dem
 made to be. It has a foundation in
 the spirit and self-conf1dence Nof it's
 people which no other government
 can have. There is. needed but the
 1Ys.-s. %oI
 ton to make it's success complete. To
 develop methods by which the ener-
 gies of many individuals shall be
 brought to work together is the need And as the method of doing this polit-s ically has been found in this Republic so we may feel assured that economi- cally and socially we shall not fail.
 An intense standardization has been the marking note of the past year. Each American has realized with
 keener consciousness the meaning of this land to him. and his sought for a larger view of it in it's many aspects and, if possible, to gain glimpse at its future. To each has come, his dream. We know now that there is more to national feeling than pride in the pos session of a land that is rare and val uabIe or the splendid memory of history of struggle for those things of the spirit which men call principles The highest sense of nationality comes with a sense of purpose-a sense Of common purpose In what direction are we consciously going? What are we determined that this land shall be?
 This, take it, is the accepted test of a real national sense; and if It IS, the obligations we must carry are cer- tainly serious. For the United States is not yet ours in the proudest sense, and can not be until we are doing all. that can be done to give to all it's people and to the world the full ex- Iression of its highest intelligence ap- l.Jied alike to its resources and to the
 life of the people.