The sun., 1916-12-17
The military academy of Brazil. longest continuous house yet known.

difficult to plan cities in advance, for
men have rarely foresight enough to
see the need of a city until the city
is forced upon them. And as for the
rules that every man must plant n
garden. they too are quite dreamlike
unless there be some new mysterious
sower who will plant the desire for
gardens within the hearts Of men.
But the greatest weakness Of the
garden city dream IL that its idealism
Is lost with further growth. Three
men may sit around a committee table
and plan a city OF 10000 inhabitants
h teing a creature OF their minds
yet to be realized they gain therefrom
the JOY OF anticipation, the delight Of
creation and the pleasure of growth.
But the 10000 inhabitants OF this
garden city have been doomed by the
three men at the committee table to
look forward only to an uneventful
career Of stagnation and eternal uni-
formity. BY what rules will the plan
ners Of these ideal towns keep the
town booming spirit out OF the minds
Of their carefully planned for resi-
dents? The planncr of ideal cities too
ottNu u III Noiiiitipu Win olltT IIltIl
! the desire to dictate to the future. lie
would finish the world, call 1t good and
inveigh against the oncoming genera
| tons who will not be satisfied with
his planning.
OF all the innocent misconception Of
the realities Of our present industrial
life most childlike M impotent Is the
almost universal dogma that exists in
the minds Of nine-tenths of city dwell
ers who regard tho back to the land
movement as the ideal solution for the
distress OF city life. Flat dwelling
| rebels cite endless statistics to prove
that our nations crop Of farmers is
decreasing. and Herewith entangled
Is the inevitable talk OF the high cost
Of living. The entire misconception
Is founded upon the failure to recog-
| nize that the products Of the farm do
and should form a decreasing fraction
OF our portion of our consumable
goods.
Despite some recent drops In meat
production the total food output per
capita has seen a steady rise. Though
the proportion Of farmers Is decreasing
this food increase has been possible
| BECAUSE OF liz IdCt VI lIllDIoNcu iIitdilS
Of production and labor saving farm
machinery.
But the manufacturing. commercial
and professional pursuits that centre
IN cities have shown as great or n
greater increase in efficiency. These
industries now rightly and properly
require the attention of n constantly
increasing percentage OF the total
population. They are constantly add
ing both in variety and quantity to
the lists OF goods consumed, whereas
| the farm. with food as Its primary
product. does not need to go on in
| definitely increasing its output per
capita. for the simple reason that the
human appetite for food Is a fairly
constant quantity.
There Is no more eason In social
philosophy that we should urge a pack
20 the land movement than there IL
that we should urge a rush into the
manufacture OF pianos or clothing, or
the fishing of pearls or the mining OF
gold. Human desires and the diff
guilty Of supplying them are still meas
ured by the standard of price, and II
foods cost more to-day than at some
former time 1t is because the changing
relative standards OF comfort have
made men less willing to go through
the necessary toll and privatlon of
producing such foods for others.
The back to the land movement finds
its followers among those who are city
tired. Preached to a city congregation
youth, freshly arrived from the farm,
It would he smiled away into the
mental Earret where toys OF children
are stored. At best the back to the
land movement a only find justifca-
ton on tho grounds that every child,
no matter where born, should have as
wide an opportunity as possible to Sc
iect his occupation and that tho city
child should have An opportunity to