New Britain herald., 1920-03-13


 dweHers have filed applications for small farms within trolley distance of business districts and consequently a big boom in the sale of agricultural plots is anticipated.
 Most of those who have registered their preference for life in the country are of foreign birth and arc we'll provided with United States money. They are men of brawn and have com manded high wages since the world war began. As a result being thrifty by nature, they have seen their bank accounts grow. Now that they have longing to return to the development of the sofia practice followed by their forefathers-they have decided to invest their war earnings in land that sells by the acre in preference to that selling by the front foot.
 It is not believed that industry as represented by manufacturing plants will suffer as result of this back to- the-land movement. The majority of new farmers will continue to earn their daily wages in factories and al- low other and younger members of the family to develop the farms, as well as working on them themselves during the summer evenings when the sun stays high in the west
 The decadence of New England as an agricultural section of the nation has been d matter of sincere regret. With the lure of cities ringing in their ears the youth of the backwoods packed his kit bag and hiked forth his fortune to seek. Long hours on the farm with little compen- sation pleased him not when he heard of life as it is lived in cities. Watching the lic'. along Main street. was a muC't more fascinating diversion than slc-pily regarding the fickering firefies Hitting over fathers ancestral acres. So youth deserted the farm and the farm ceased to pro- duce.
 Now we have other races coming in to fill the gap, races who are farmers by instinct and who may perhaps give native Americans lessons in making the farm efficient. Certainly those who have gone in for this sort of thing have secured maXimu um results, surprising the wasteful Americans by their power to make two strawberries or two onions grow where only one strawberry or onion grew before.
 If the renaissance of farming is upon us it will be beneficial for this great manufacturing district. Fires will glow once more in the cold and desolate freplaceS which have been used in the endless game of hide-and- go-seek of New England breezes; the now-empty meadows will echo the contralto moo of the bucolic kline; the babbIing brooks will have some one to tell their stories to; and the earth will again give forth its har- vests. New England may yet "come back and win a place as 8 food producer.
 Men whose business or work brings them in intimate relations with the railroads already experience relief in shipping or receiving freights. Not that freight is moving faster since Uncle Sam handed the lines back to those who own them, but the railroad work CTS seem under less strain and more responsive to the requests made upon their services.
 Traffic men have often wondered during the war who was running the railroads and whether there was any one at the throttle of the transporta- tion system. The lines were all bound round with woolen string, only the Woolen string happened to pc red tape On some questions It was almost impossible to get acton at Washington it is said and the traffic managers were often in despair
 With railroad employees in charge Of the railroads a difference IS sure to follow. The eternal and endless red tape to winch railway employees were forced to submit while under govern ment control has been cut, and al tboueh parts of the system introduced bv the government will be retained the workers will feel freer to use thelr own initiative and judgment on mat ters in which they are eApeflenceu- Uncle Sam was not a harsh boss, put he was rather particular m haV1nS things done just as he Sald they should be done, and sometimes, rall- road and traffic men say, Uncle Sam didn't act as if he had a very exten- sive knowledge of railroading as it affected certain sections of the cOun- trN
 Further patience must be exercised by the American public with reference to the railroads. It should not be eX- pected that a miracle was worked overnight when the properties were returned to their owners. They must spend many months staggering pack to their feet before they again become the marvel of world transportation, as they were in the halcyon days,
 Stanley Frost, a correspondent of the New York Tribune, is writing ll- Iun,inatine articles on the railroad situation for that paper.
 out of the 6J principal roads in the country. 101 are in d state of Nlr- tual bankruptcy. That is they are un- able to meet their fixed charges. ln- terest on their bonds and notes, The situation is described as being worst in the east The Tribune man says that in this section Out of 65 roads only earned minim