Great Falls tribune., 1921-12-07

larger share Of the consumers pay
for his product, no one can dispute
that we cannot live without the farm
er. He is Justified in rebelling against
the transportation cost. Given fair
return for his labor, he will have less
accession to appeal for financial aid,
and given assurance that his labors
shall not be in vain, we reassure all
the people of a production sufficient
to meet our national requirement and
guard against disaster.
Drifting to Cities.
The base of the pyramid of civiliza-
tion which rests upon soil is shrinking
through the drift of population from
farm to city. For a generation we
have been expressing more or less
concern about this tendency. Econ
omists have warned and statesmen
have deplored. We thought for q time
that modern lcOnveniences and the
more intimate contact would halt the
movement, but it has gone steadily on.
Perhaps only grim necessity will cor
rect it, but we are out to find less
drastic remedy.
The existing scheme OF adjusting
freight rates has been favorlng the
basing points, until industries are at
tracted to some centers and repelled
from others. The grain milling and
meat packing industries afford ample
illustration and the attending concen-
tration is readily apparent. The men
aces in concentration are not limited
to the retarding influence an agricul-
ture.
Violation of the conditions and terms
of economic transportation ought not
to be permitted to increase the unde-
sirabIe tendency We have just pride
in our great cities, but we shall find
greater pride in the nation which has
larger distribution Of its population
into the country. where smaller COM
munities may blend agricultural and
manufacturing interests in harmonious
helpfulness and enhanced good for
tune Such a movement contemplates
no destruction of things wrought. of
investments made, or wealth involved:
It only looks to a general policy of
transportation, of distributed industry,
and Of highway construction to encour-
age the spread of our population and
restore the proper balance between
city and country. The problem may
well have your earnest attention.
Eradication Of Illiteracy.
1t has been perhaps the proudest
claim of our American civilization that
in dealing with human relationships
it has constantly moved toward such
justice in distributing the product Of
human energy that it has improved
continuously the economical status of
the myss Of people. Ours has been a
highly productive social Organization.
On the way up from the elemental
stages of society we have eliminated
slavery and serfdom and are now far
on the way to the elimination of pow
erty.
Through the eradication Of illiteracy,
and the diffusion Of education, man
kind has reached stage where we may
fairly say that in the United States
equality of opportunity has been at
tanned. though all are not prepared
to embrace it. There is, indeed, too
great divergence between the economic
conditions of the most and the least
favored classes in the community. But
even that divergence has now come to
the point where we bracket the very
poor and the very rich together as
the least fortunate classes. Our ef-
forts may well be directed to improv-
ing the status Of both.
While this set of problems is COM
monty comprehended under the general
phrase capital and labor" it is really
vastly broader. It is a question of
social and economic organization.