Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-09-16
A DIFFERENT
COUNTRY
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN
WI AsHINGTON, D. c., Sept II.
wv A picture of a nation rap
w idly changing, radically diff

preponderance of the city popula-
ton over that in the country; and
the second most striking is the
growth of the large cities which
nave alone swallowed up a fourth
of the population.
There will presently be a flood
OF comment on the facts revealed,
and all sorts of interests and par
ties will find proof of their conten-
t Hons III in tn tne N and Glibiy explain
of fact, no one knows just what the
changing character of our popula-
| ton means.
. And it is changing not only in
the way of its lie, but. in it's hu-
man makeup. More and mHe the
United States is becoming a coun-
try whose people are of Semitic,
Mediterranean and African origin,
while the old Nordic strains from
and Sand4 fact
are well-known to anthropologists.
The America of our grandfathers
| was a land of blond men of Nor
die or so-called Anglo-Saxon blood,
who lived outdoors, titled the soil,
herded cattle, hunted, tished and
arctic. The America of our grand
sons will be a heavily populated
country of short dark-skinned men,
living for the most part in the most
|
cities the world has ever seen, de-
| pending on manufacture, trade and
commerce for their livings.
Headed, Who Knows where2
America is in the midst of transit
ton which is rapid, probably inevi-
| table, and the final results of which
no man can foresee. That our insti-
| tutions will have to undergo great
| changes to meet these great changes
in our needs almost any fair-mind-
ed man could guess. 1t seems prob
able that our leading radicals will
soon be behind the times, just as the
radicals of % years ago are being
thrown into the discard now.
But when the prophets and sooth-
sayers try to go, beyond such, gen
just where the country is heading
and what it needs. it is time to add
little salt to the discourse.
Take for +6 example nit n6 5ni5 imoz1f Il
is predicted that the proportion OF
Americans who live in cities will
this census pass the 80 per cent
mark That is, heretofore more than
half the population has always oeen
what the. census bureau ciassed as
rural-living on farms and in vii
lagos Now more than half of it is
classed as urban. and lives IN TIE
larger towns and cities. And this
change is still going on, and has
been rapid and steady. In 1910 only
46.3 per cent of the population
lived in cities and in 1900 only 4O.5
per cent.
state of affairs in editorial and
cartoon is that the people are all
leaving the country for the city
| that no one wants to stay on the
farm any more, that the food sup.
of living is rising for this reason.
| The average citizen has come to
| picture this movement as an
hegira of country boys, leaving the
folks weeping on the front porch,
! hieing him to the city with its
feshpots and high wages, leaving
the nation to starve.
Farmers Like the Country
The reactionaries and mossbacks
generally treat this movement as
proof of the declining moral stamina
on the farm and do a hard days
work. They all think they, have to
go to the movies every night and
wear stiff collar and work only six
hours day. It's disgusting! (The
author of this outburst often works
one hour a week clipping coupons
off bonds.)
The farmers, on the other hand,
while they, paint an equally alarming
picture of this national migration.
say it is all the fault of our economic
system, and that these young fell
lows are leaving the farms because
they can't make living, there.
The farmers are right in their last
that for yourself by going into the
country districts anywhere and talk
ing to the people. 1t is very doubt
full whether any more boys leave the
| farms nowadays for the cities, out
of a deliberate preference for urban
life, than have always done so. Here
and there is a boy born in the coun-
try whose greatest usefulness and
| happiness is naturally found in the
city, and he usually gets there. But
if there is one thing certain about
country people, especially men, it is
that they like the country. They like
the freedom, the old clothes the out
door. life, the animals. They do
not have to work as hard as city
| folk, despite the popular belief to
the contrary. They work hard in
harvest time, but in January they go
| coon-hunting.
why They Leave
Why, then, do so many country
cause there is no other place for
them to go. Go into any old, set
tied farming district, such as eastern
Maryland. Talk to a farmer who
has four boys. Three of them, he
will tell you, are. going away. The
old homestead. Why don't the others
buy farms? For several reasons. In
the first place, the good farms are
not for sale, and they don't want
to buy unimproved land and put it
under cultivation takes more cap
ital than they can command.
So the, boys go to New York or
bile mechanics or electricians or, else
they go west in search of land.
But going. west is getting to be a
poor expedient. The greater part of
those of the east. Of its public
lands little is left but desert. Just
as the east has it's sWamps and cut
overs which might be made into
farms, so the west has it's irrigable
deserts. But in both cases it will
take the strong hand of government
to make these lands available.
There is no mystery in this So
called movement of the country pop
ulation to the cities, nor does it rep
ing or viewpoint of the people, or
any new restlessness. The simple
fact is that there are just so many
farms in the United States. Every
one of them that will yield a living
for hard work is being titled, and
good many that will not yield liv-
| ing in the long run are being titled.
The area of cultivation is being ex
tended slowly, which is the only way
| it can be extended by men working
singly, with little capital and upon
the least desirable land in the coun-
try.
| increasing faster than the food sup
| ply Nevertheless. the food supply
is still adequate. It's high price is
due almost wholly to the way it is
| distributed.
The movement from the country
to the cities will go on steadily and
for a long time. 1t is inevitable i'll
| a nation which is changing from an
agricultural basis to a commercial
farms will always be titled, and as
soon as the government gets down
to the necessary work Of creating