Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-27
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

red schoolhouSe' and the country
church" In the very heart of America
along the Wabash River and the rest
of the boundary line between Indiana
and Illinois. and in eight States sur
rounding that center, 90 out of 161
small towns counted showed a reduc-
ton of population. In Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa,
Missouri. Ohio, the decline in the popu-
lation of small towns ran from about
80 to about 80 per cent-although the
total population of each State had in
creased greatly. The increases had
taken place in the big cities and in
the larger towns-at the expense of the
villages and farms.
This inference from early tentative
census figures led in turn to wide
spread comment, most of it regretful.
"TheSe microcosms of America" said
the New York Herald Tribune, "ba-
sically typical of her civilization for
more than a century, are fading from
the scene, are being sucked out of
existence by the machine" And Will
Rogers was so stirred as to be serious:
1--WE not only ought to regret it," he
said. I'VE ought to do something to
remedy it,
Leave 1t to Statesmen.
Yes, Will. but just what is that
something" which you would do?
The world is full of folks who think
that something ought to be done"
about one matter or another, but most
of them leave it to the statesmen and
other leaders to write a concrete law
or other form of cure in the place OF
the vaguely recommended something -
Will Rogers should really qualify as a
leader, capable of recommending a
specific corrective, in the place of the
generalized remedy" he yearns for.
Rogers is humorist but like every
really good humorist, he is more than
that; he Is philosopher and lover
of the America that he has known dur
ing the 81 years since he was born In
the village Of Oolagah, then Indian
Territory, and the 40 years or so since
he was lad at school at Neosho, Mo-,
and Boonville, Mo.
Suppose Will Rogers were in the po-
sition of that character played by
Sothern, who was vastly interested in the
America of generation ago, in a drama
entitled "If Were King" What would
he do to restore the villages of yester-
year?
echo, calling afar, in vain
Over the rivers and marshes wan.
But where are the SHOWS of last year
gomez"
The thing could be done-tllat Is, the
concentration of American life in cities
could be arrested. Population could be
dlffused into smaller towns and villages.
Even so, of course, the villages would
not be quite the same that America
knew 20 to 40 years ago. To measure
BILE degree we could bring about an
America Of villages-but they would be
modern villages. Inevitably they would
have garages instead of blacksmith
shops, filling stations instead Of livery
stables, electric lights instead of coal
oil street lamps, parking places instead
of hitching posts. buses instead Of
stage coaches or the bonneville troll
ley soda fountains-and, possibly,
peakeasies-instead of taverns.
OId-Time Village No More.
The old-time American village in the
literal sense is no more to be recreated
than the SHOWS of yesteryear Whoever
in future years wishes to look upon one
will need to travel to Dearborn, Mich,
and will have to thank Henry Ford,
who has had the happy inspiration to
set up, in a museum sense, a genuine
old-time village in the form that was
familiar at the time Of Ford's boyhood.
From various parts of America, wher-
ever he could find well preserved speci-
mems, Mr.. Ford has assembled an old
time country store, an old-time cobbler
shop, an old-time grtst mill, old-time
hitching racks. the old-time wooden
Indian that stood in front of the cigar
store, the barber pole, the pyramid of
glass globes filled with colored liquids
that was the sign Of the drug store,
and all the other features Of an Ameri-
can village of the 80S.
For a comparatively few years, for
about as long as Henry Ford Is likely
to live, Americans will visit his old
time village to enjoy memories Of the
America that once they knew. Pres
emily, all who ever knew an old Ameri-
can village as a personal experience
will have gone. Thereafter, for genera
tons TO come, the visitors to Mr.. Ford's
museum village will be conspicuously
the future novelists and painters and
writers Of plays and historians who
wish to achieve accurate background
for books and pictures dealing with the
America Of 1890 or whereabouts.
America could be rediffused to a
measurable degree. But the process
would be so drastic, would work such
havoc with property values IN cities,
that We are unlikely ever to take the
step. During the Great War, when
William G. McAdoo was Secretary OF
the Treasury and had czarlike control
over the railroads. there came one day
to the Office of the writer of this ar
ticle one Of those characters whom the
world labels as a crank--,,nd passes by
This particular odd genius wanted a
letter OF introduction TO Mr.. McAdoo
The business he wished to propose 10
the director general Of railroads was a
matter Of reducing the size of New
York and Of other cities. He had the
notion that Thomas Jefferson had about
cities, which was, in effect that cities
are to the body polite about what
cancers are 10 the body human.
His Method Intelligent.
This crank was crank only in the
sense that his convictions were unusual
In the method he had for making cite;
smaller he was perfectly intelligent
indeed, terrifyingly intelligent. He woulC
simply make the freight rate on al
goods shipped to or from cities highel
than the rate on the same goods shipped
TO or from smaller towns or villages
That would have done it, and in TIT
wartime power over all freight rate
that Mr.. McAdoo had he could havt
put 1t in effect with a Comparatively
few strokes of his pen. Property own
erS in New York and other large citie
would have concluded that war REALLY
is he'll. Mr.. McAdoo had the courag,
to do revolutionary thing--if 1t ap
pealed TO hin-but so far as the write
of this article is concerned the cranl
who wanted 10 redistribute the popula
ton OF the United States never got hi
letter of introduction TO the directo
general Of railroads.
The thing could be done without to-
great a detriment to the owners of cit
property. 1t could be accomplished
gradually in an orderly way. If Con
gress should really resolve TO check tn
decline of villages and give authorit
TO President Hoover to do 1t, the latter
in his Characteristic way. could call
conference of so or 100 of the country