The twice-a-week Twin Falls times. (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1916-1918, 1918-01-29
THE RELATION OF THE COM
MTNITY TO THE MARKET

ton of soil and its relation to the
making of a good community. This
week we want TO see the relation OF
the market to the making of a good
community. Does the nearness to or
distance from market seriously at
feet for good or for evil a rural com
munity? There may be those who
think it makes little difference how
far a community is located from
great trade center, but if any one
thinks it doesn't it must be because
he has never thought the issue
through There is hardly a side 70
community welfare which is not af-
fected by it.
We shall speak first of the economic
effect The farmer is a producer. To-
gether with his labor and land and
capital he is able to produce the food
stuffs of the world, and much Of the
raw material out of which is created
much more of the wealth of the
world The farmer is the greatest
creator of wealth in the world But
there is more necessary than the mere
production of the fOOdstuffs of the
world. The fifteen hundred millions
Of the earth's inhabitants are not scat
tered evenly over the surface of the
earth There are comparatively very
small areas upon each of which is
concentrated several million people.
And there are other comparatively
very small areas upon which no one
lives or upon which very few live.
Again there are certain sections in
which, because of soil and climate.
certain crops can be grown album
dainty: in other sections these par
ticular crops cannot be grown at all.
Now, these facts make necessary
transportation TO and FROM the
products of the different sections,
distributing in the great centers of
population the products of the more
sparsely settled regions. And trans
portation is expensive. So we find
that the greater the distance of
farm or of a community of farmers
from a center of population where
their products would normally be
consumed, the less they will receive
for their products This has always
been so, theoretically, and upon the
whole, actually. But the American
farmer has been able to recognize it
more distinctly within the last few
months. When the price of wheat
was fixed by our government at Two
Dollars a bushel, with Chicago as the
point from which to reckon, it meant
that every farmer who lived near
enough Chicago to deliver in person
his own wheat would get Two Dollars
a bushel for it. But the farmer in
Idaho who could not deliver his own
wheat in person gets only about One
Dollar eighty cents per bushel The
difference between the two prices
represents the economic difference
between Idaho grown wheat and IL
linois wheat. There may be certain
other compromising advantages in
owning a farm and in producing
wheat in Idaho over those in Illinois,
but they do not make the wheat itself
bring the same price per bushel
which it would bring in Chicago.
MI
of a community from a town or city
where marketing facilities are super
Tor reflects itself nowhere more than
in the values of land. In fact, much
more inferior piece of land will bring
a larger price if it is near city than
much better piece would bring far
removed.
But the economic effect is not the
only thing to be considered There
are other goods than the merely eco
nomic. Usually those communities
which are farthest removed from the
centers of population are the most
poorly equipped with schools and
churches and those other social agen-
cies for making life most worth
while. If a rural community is sit
uated near a great city it unquestion-
ably has certain cultural advantages
| because of it's location which the
one does not have which is far re-
! moved. Inc writer once lived IN q
rural community between a great city
on one side and a smaller city on the
other. All those cultural advantages
so necessary in giving one a we'll
rounded life were easily accessible at
the minimum cost. And at the same
time was enjoyed all those other ad-
vantages which are peculiar to arural
community.
Now, in all that have been saying
there is one inference which is in
evitably to be drawn: The city is in
, debted to the country, and the coun-
, try is indebted to the city AS we
have pointed out, the city and the
country are dependent the one upor
the other. The country has certain
} exists at all. The city has certain
things which the country must hav,
or make use of if it is to fully realiz,
! the best of which it is capable Boil
should be willing to recognize this
: fundamental social fact and act ac
} cOrdingly.
But some one asks how this mutua
= dependence is to be recognized Meth
er must try to live unto itself No
must the country be recognized as
3 place from which to draw the neces
stiles of life and to which the cit
owes no obligation. The city doe
} owe the country something and ough
to stand ready always to render tn
country whatever service it may b
B able to give. And the country owe
2 the city something, and in like man
y ner ought to stand ready to co-operat
B with the city whenever and whereve
q DOssible For instance the farm I'M