The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-09-17

4 Di6sssnt Ce,,nsry.

Di6ess1
wsshinstoa. b. c., Sept IA
picture Of . nati6a rapidly chang
ins. sad3callk 1ikstent from what
n vss i LII : S@etary asA and
sved ! qxaftsfs Of seentury ago. =
drawn By the cehSns bureau asstt1
puts fofth the results Of the recent
deceanial count -
/ The most striking thing in this
picture, Of courseS IL the growing
prepooderance Of the city popula-
ton over that in the country; and
the second most striking p the
growth Of the large cities which
have alone swallowed up . fourth
Of the population. :.
There will presently be . Hood
of comment ON the falts revealed.
and al sorts Of interests andfper-
ties will find proof Of their contep-
lions in them, and glibly explain
them to the last detail. Az mat
ter Of fact, NO one knows Just what
the changing character OF qur
population means.
And 1t il changing not only IN
the way ofits LIE but In its hamdp
makeup. More and more the Unit
ed States Is becoming q country
whose people are Of Semitic, Med-
tefrapean and African origin, while
the OLD NUrdic strains. from Eng
land. Germany and Scandinavia
are steadily declining. These facts
are well-known to anthropologists.
The America OF our grandfather
was q land Of blond men q Nordic
or sc-called Anglo-Saxpn blood.
who lived outdoors, titled the soil.
herded cattle, hunted, ished and
sailed the seas from Arctic to Ant
arctic. The America Of our grand
sons will be . heavily populated
country of short dark-skinned men,
living for the most part in the most
crowded. complicated and enormous
cities the world has ever seen, de-
pending Oh manufacture, trade and
commerce for their livings.
\ Headed, Who Knows, Wherei
America is in the midst Of transit
ton which is rapid, probably in
evitable, and the final results oil
which no man can foresee. That
our institutions will have to under
60 great changes to meet these
great changes in our needs almost
any fair-minded man could guess
1t seems probable that our leading
radicals will soon be behind the
times, just as the radicals. of q
years ago are being thrown Into the
discard now.
But when the prophets and sooth:
sayers try to 60 beyond such gen.
Civilizations az these, and tell III
just where the country is heading
and 1T needs, it is time to add
q little salt to the discourse.
Take for example, this amazing
growth Of the city population. II
is predicted that the proportion Of
Americans who live, in cities will
this census pass the so per cen,
mark. This is, heretofore more
than half the population has always
been what the cenSls bureau class.
es as rural-living>on farms and IL
villages. Not more than half Of
it is classed as urban. and lives in
the larger towns and cities. And
this change is still going on, anC
has been rapid and steady. In 1915
only ass per cent Of the population
lived in cities and in 1900 only 40.t
per cent.
| The common wall raised over thi.
state Of affairs in editorial ant
cartoon is that the people are al
leaving the country for the city
that no one wants to stay on tn,
farm any more. that the food sup
ply is declining and that the cos
Of living is rising for this reason
The average citizen has come t,
picture this movement as an hegir,
Of country boys, leaving the ploy
in the furrow and the old folk
weeping on the front porch, hiein,
him T. the city with it's flesh-p pot
and high wages, leaving the natiol
to starve.
Farmers Like the Country.
The reactionaries and mossback
generally treat this movement as
PROOF Of the declining moral STAN
ina Of the nation. Nobody want