The Holly chieftain., 1922-03-09
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NW dwellers
nv The home shortage reaches the es
- tmated total of 100000. Tie
ate committee reconstruction es
Inmates that five billion dollars are needed to build
homes.
The abandonment Of farms. an old story in New
England. is also becoming hn 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 10000 men have
left It's farms
In such conditions any man who has a helpful
suggestive message should have an attentive
audience. William b. Smythe. author of 1.-THE Con-
quest Of Arid America" Constructive Democracy"
etc, has written book with the title, "City Homes
on Country Lanes: Philosophy and Practice Of
the Home-in-a-Gnrden" (The Macmillan company.
New York. 1920. He believes in "rhe Garden
City"--in suburban communities with small gar
den for every home. Following are some of the
points he makes, without regard to the context:
am optimist. believe the world is going
to be n better world for our common humanity
In the next decade-the next generaton-the next
cehtury--than ever before in the long history Of
the ruce. And believe the next passion 0f man
kind Will be for the soil-that there we shall take
occasion by the hand and make the bounds Of free
dom wider yet" But II there Is to be transition
In the life of the land--if forms Of Industry
ana society are to emerge-then this will be due
to the fact thnt the old life on the land has failed
Is breaking down. and Is doomed to pass away.
sound no note of pessimsm but rather the note
Of hope, of confidence, of boundess faith In what
the future Is to bring forth. know the lnnd Is
to be the healing and the saving OF the people
OF QUE people and of 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 1t 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 goOdy earth and setting man In the
midst of 1t? And shall we not thereby evolve the
Spiritual Man of the Soil, who. conscious of his
partnership with God. enters at last into his true
dominion?
A majority of our hundred million people now
dwell In town.
Why? Because
man cnn 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 hest Of
MI the country produces-men and food alike
But let 1t be understood that in all have said
! am speaking Of rural life us 1t is, not us II
might be-not. please God. us 1t shall be.
The conclusion reached by the highest govern.
ment authority is that, allowing for all the ma.
cliinery and improved methods have or are like
~ to have, another Is years Will see America alb
soutely dependent upon the outside world for
food. To quote Mr.. Cline:
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 fDodstufrs
Fifteen years before the peril of famine may
hang like black shadow over the land!
H. Fifteen years before keeping the ocean-ways
open to our food ships may be vital to our milton
al life, calling for armaments which would be an
ever-incrensing burden
And 1t is fifteen years we have in which to
evolve and put In operation an agricultural policy
which shall save 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 by
bread alone. 1t is neither wise nor necessary that
TINT destroys the home the lund, abolishes pop
ular proprietorship. creates nation of tenants
cripples individual initiative, shackles the spirit
Of family Independence. and degrades the charac-
ter of our citizenship. These are the swift and
sure consequences Of rural depopulatlon on one
hnnd and the growth Of congested cities on the
other.
AS In the past half-century the country has been
the nursery OF the city, In the next halfcentury
the city will be the nursery of the country The
movement will not be Back to the Land" but
Forward to better things than men have ever
known In the past. Production, Important as II
Is. will be merely incidental to the evolution OF
higher forms of social and economic life, with a
great deal of emphasis family life--its hearth
stone restored; It's affairs relighted.
These things will to pass. because they
essential to the preservation and continued
development of democracy in America.