The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-03-16

~ ate committee on reconstruction es-
Inmates that five billion dollars are needed to build
homes. liz ~ ~...~ III
The abandonment of farms, an old story in New
England, is also becoming an old story in the Mid
die West-one of the garden spots Of the WORLD.
In Michigan in two years the vacant places have
grown from 1881 to 1922 and $4,000 men have
left it's farms. s. =
In such conditions any man who has q helpful
or suggestive message should have an attentive
audience. William e. Smythe, author of '.The Con-
quest of Arid America" " Constructive Democracy"
etc., has written a book with the title, "City Homes
on Country Lanes: Philosophy and Practice Of
the Home-in-a-Garden" THE Macmillan company,
New York, 1920. He believes in 1.-THE Garden
City"-in suburban communities with a small gar
den for every home. Following are some of the
points he makes, without regard to the context:
l am an optimist. / believe the world is going
to be a better world for our common humanity
IN the next uecade-the next generation-the next
century--than ever before in the long history of
the race. And ! believe the next passion Of man.
Kind will be for the soil-that there we shall take
Occasion by the hand and make the bounds Of free
dom wider vet" But, If there is to be a transition
in the life of the land-if new forms of Industry
and society are to emerge-then this will be due
to the fact that the old life on the land has failed,
Is breaking down, and is doomed to pass away.
That Is what / believe to be true. In saying so,
l sound no note Of pessimisn, but rather the note
of hope, Of confidence, of boundless faith in what
~ - ohhS oAtu l. y" IHC II -
to be the healing and the saving of the people
OF our people aandsof all the peoples. There Is no
other refuge.
But before we can build the new life we must
clearly understand that the old life has failed, and
why IT has failed. Then we must proceed to dis
cover the principles upon which the new and better
life Is to be founded. In doing so, must we not
inevitably draw nearer to the Divine Purpose in
making the goodly earth and setting man in the
midst of it? And shall we not thereby evolve the
Spipf5 ,rnl Nf-- ~ kL4 Ctr a -
partnership with God, enters at last into his true
dominion? <%-.. -. MI. H. a,. ~ r."
A majority Of our hundred million people now
dwell in town. ~,
Why? Because =. So.
A man can make more of himself in the city
than In the country can earn more money; do bet
ter for his, children !; live in better surroundings:
drink deeper from the cup Of human happiness.
The city draws into its Unsuitable nav the best Of
all the country produces-men and food alike.
But let 1t be understood that In all I have said
I am speaking Of rural life as it is, not as 1t
might be-not, please God, as 1t shall be.
The conclusion reached by the highest govern
.ment authority is that, allowing for all the ma
chinery and improved methods we have or are like
~ to have, another Is years will see America abb
solutely dependent upon the outside world for
food. To quote Mr.. Cline - 49, ," +
Fifteen years is the period Of grace given us,
unless conditions change materially, before we will
become dependent upon overseas imports Of bread
and meat and other staple foOdstuffs.
Fifteen years before the peril Of famine may
hang like a black shadow over the land!
Fifteen years before keeping the getaways
open to our food ships may be vital to our nation
al life, calling for ornaments which would be an
ever-increasing burden
And It is fifteen years We have Ia which to
evolve and put in operation an agricultural policy
which shall save us from the fate OF Europe
Fifteen momentous years. big with the fate Of
American civilization!
True, we must be fed but man does not live nv
bread alone. 1t Is neither wise nor necessary that
we should be fed under a system Of agriculture
that destroys the home on the land, abolishes Dop-
ular proprfetorship, creates q nation OF tenants
eripples individual initiative, shackles the spirft
OF family Independence. and degrades the charac-
ter OF our citizenship. These are the swift and
sure consequences of rural depopulation on one
hand. and the growth OF congested cities Oh the
other.
As In the past half-century the country has been
the nursery Of the city, so In the next half-century.
the city Will be the nursery or the country. The
movement Will not be Back I'd the Land. but
Forward to better things than men have ever
known in the past Production, Important as II
e. will be merely incidental to the evolution OF
higher forms OF social and economic life, with d
great deal OF emphasis ON family Hfe--Its hearth
stone restored; its affairs relighted.
These things will come to- pass, because they
are essential to the preservation and continued
development Of democracy IN America.