Norwich bulletin., 1921-02-19

While the state Of Iowa has other
resources, farming is its chief and i'm
mediate resource and employment Also,
Iowa Is mainly a rolling prairie of uni
form ana extraordinarily fertility,
writes Archer w. Douglass. If to this
be added unusually sufficient rainfall,
it will be seen that farming comes easy
as a fairly dependable livelihood, free
largely from the plague of drought and
hot winds which are often the portion OF
the argricusnral world in the Great
Plains states to the west.
Iowa usually raises more corn than
any other state in the Union, and
therefore has more hogs than any OF
its sister states. It long ago learned
the lesson, neglected until lately by
the south, that the most profitable
farming lay in selling its products in
the shape of four-footed livestock.
So Iowa is the home of many rich
and prosperous farmers, too rich and
prosperous sometimes for the good OF
the state. Driven at times by desire
for leisure or by the social ambition
Of their wives and daughters, Who very
naturally have grown weary of the toll
and drildgery of farm life, they retire to
some pleasant country town, and that
town Immediately goes dead as every
travelling man knows If it has suf-
| They display little interest in the
growth and prosperity of the town.
Meanwhile they rent their farms, and
| there snsues all the evils of tenantry
| and absentee landlords.
Among the productive factors of Iowa
| is the State Agricultural college, at
Anaes. It is among the oldest and best
known of these Institutions in the
country and a pioneer in real achieve
. off fa
| largely those of efficient production but
of late it realizes that there are two
vital factors in farm life: that Of
making at least fair living and or rem
| dering life on the farm worth while;
| While it always will pursue the first
! endeavor, it is giving more and more
attention to the second proposition.
! Recently the college made social
survey, OF the little township of Lone
Iowa. There are tVp railroads run
| ming through the township. Clay
county is among the leaders in the state
in mileage of travel roads. There are
eighty-five farnhouses and 4S2 persons
| in Lone Tree township, exclusive of the
little viflege of EVERY.
The results of the survey are the
story in little not only of this. minute
fragment of humanity but of the whole
|
country of ours and of the drift of al
| our civilization. If country life decay:
there is scant hope for the rest of tbs
| nation.
There is increase in tenantry in Lon;
Tree township, yet the majority of thu
tenants expect to become landowners
Many farms are mortgaged, not becaus
of the poverty of the farmers, but TO
the same reasons that commercial con
Germs borrow money - to expand thei
business.
Some of the rich farmers are heav.
buyers of livestock, and also of lam
in the Dakotas. An idea of the rich
ness Of the surrounding country ma
be gathered from the statement tina
EVERY, with only 472 inhabitants, i
! one way or another does an annua
, business Of more than a half millio
dollars. In addition to that. Everly
} one Of the largest shippers of livestoc
, in the state.
/ There exists fine spirit of bushes
honesty and morality in the Lone Ire
community. Much business is done o
? credit, but losses are very small.
[. educational advantages and in the
, results the township measures up yer
well with the rest of the state, both a
: to being a reading. population and a
? to the percentage VINO attended hig
3 schools and colleges and universities
1 In fact. they are above the gener:
t average.
: The religious Nfe Of the communit
| is at a low ebo considering the pro'
| perity Of its people. large pc
centage Of church membership is irrel
! | ular in attendance. The people al
= hungering and thirsting for the thing
: religion can furnish, but the burdens
!. tradition seems to hang heavily uDc
:, the churches which apparently are mo
concerned with the tithes of mint, ami!
. and eummin than with the wants
modern humanity.
In this as in all other matters, LoI
, Tree township is merely microcos
{ of the rest of the country. Modern thinl
: in the way Of utilities outnumber tho!
e Of conveniences in the home. AS OF
i farmers wife expressed it, I'VE have e
cry convenience outside the house, b
' few in the house" Farm machinery
=, more in evidence than home comforts, b
u the situation is steadily changing for Il
! better.
l. As to the real problem, the social Ii
e Of the community, there is the usu
a story; picnics, especially at the rur
y schools, to which the people are much a
u tached the township band to which it
d a distinction to belong; the town hall
e EVERY where social gatherings, and {
Il manner of meetings are held; the inev
a able movie and endless visiting, especis
NJ ly on Sunday afternoons.
One Of the human (and business) sid
is lights is the rest room prepared by
e, bank that has vision. 1t is a room
lg the bank building where farmers a