The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1920-10-28

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University Of Kentucky. He told us
that in the old days II had been his
ambition to drive a railroad through
his valley. The men who are now
working on that railroad are men who
used to play and fish with him when
he was a boy. Into one valley after
another the railway presses.
And with the coming Of the rail-
way our mountains have been de-
nuded of their forests; at times the
soil has been ruined for agricultural
purposes.
But with the Impeachment Of
some Of our mountain areas have
come, as well, the discovery and ex-
ploitation of the coal and oil fields
of our region. During last May, in
the single State Of Kentucky, oil runs
totalled nearly $4,000 barrels. Lee
County led with a daily average Of
more than $4,000 barrels. Estill
County was second with more than
100000 barrels for the month.
Within the past fifteen or sixteen
years there have been introduced
about Pineville alone between 165 and
IFS coal mining operations. In one
camp you will see four thousand peo-
pie, in another six thousand, in an
other seven thousand. In one camp
there will be but one foreigner, all
the rest being people of the noun
tains. In another camp, fifty percent
will be foreigners, thirty percent ne
groes, twenty percent mountain peo-
pie. In one camp, section will be
given to the foreigners, another TO
the negroes, another to the mountain
men. In other camps the houses Of
the three types of settlers will be
within stones throw of each other.
Along with the exploitation Of the
coal mines and the oil wells, we are
seeing the increased utilization of
water-power. I stood upon a cow
pasture, a hill rising out of a steep
valley between the mountains. NV
host explained that he had been asked
by a Power Company to buy up oil
the little farms throughout the great
valley, that the Power Company
might impound a vast water-suppiy
and then send through the mountains
at high velocity water to furnish
power to cities a hundred miles
away.
And with these changes is rapidly
proceeding the invasion of the noun
tains by the so-called goods Of civil
lization." On the fourth Of July, I
had my share of the first ten gallons
of ice-cream ever brought over the
mountain into little valley, but who
can doubt that that ice-cream was
the first rivulet Of frozen Niagara
pouring down into that valley?
A village at the four corners plans
its own electric light plant. One sees
the Ford ascending hills which would
seem perilous for an ox-cart.
Interestingly enough, while certain
lands have been impoverished, the
better agricultural land of the noun
tains has greatly increased in value
in the past few years. There is un-
doubtedly a growing tendency to ten
ant farming. A fine gentleman of
the hills, who could not read or write,
but could think, spoke to us Of his
hatred of the system which prevented
his purchasing any good land, and
made him practically a serf for life.
What will be the effect Of these
momentous changes? For example,
what will the mines do for the noun
tains? The desolate rows of little
houses, the dull-eyed people sitting
of Sabbath along the railroad track
or crowding the train for the nearest
town; the frequent absolute depend
ence of the worker upon the will or
the within Of the corporation: one sees
these things with foreboding. Will
the higher prices of labor and Of land
mean simply the introduction Of the
moving picture show, the automobile,
the over-dressing and der-dressing
which are supposed to connote sophis-
tication, advancement, civilization?
And, with these swift and momen-
tous economic changes are coming le-
gal and educational changes Of revo-
lutionary Importance. National pro-
doubtless has meant, so
far, a great increase in lawlessness,
but when enforced will ultimately
mean an enormous saving of money
TO the mountains and new sobriety
The introduction Of Women's Suf-
frage may well mean a distinct
strengthening and elevation Of the
position Of the women of the noun
tains who, not seldom. have borne the