Evening star., 1933-10-01
BY REXFORD GUY TUGWELL.

T N New England and In the Tide
water it is not surprising to dis
cover evidences Of the abandon
i ment and decay Of what were once
prosperous communities. In spite
of its newness there are also COM
On the shores of Puget Sound there
Is q ghost city. A great public build
ing OF gray stone. rows Of four and
five story brick buildings. the outlay Of
streets and boulevards testify to its once
having been q city of some importance
with the expectation Of further growth.
Today the brick houses are nearly de-
serted, the rows Of business buildings
look forlornly down upon dead har-
Dor to which come only ferry or two
from across the sound.
In the eighties and nineties, this
town had sprung up as the region had
developed. It handled the increased
ocean-borne commerce which was COM
Seattle, Everett and Tacoma were Diff
flcult to reach by sailing ships and 80
the shippers used the flne anchorage
of this town by the straits In order to
load and unload their wares. But rail-
roads came into Seattle and the fast
clipper ships were made obsolescent by
steamers. The city lost its Inhabitants
as quickly and almost as completely as
did the town Of Hamelin its children
when the Pied Piper piped his fatal
tune.
Another dead city lies in the middle
of what was once the heart Of Northern
California's gold mining district. Sur
viving burrows roundabout indicate the
former uses Of the fields. The present
highway follows the main street Of the
town. There is no one In sight! Rows
of brick houses, hotels and warehouses
stand, roofs caved in, sides crumbltng,
along Main street" Over the en-
trance Of the principal building there
is still the inscription from the time
when 1t was the court house Of the
county; today it Is almost completely
ruined. One ramshackle building In
this ghostly community announces by
sign for tourists: Museum, relics
of 49,"
Individualism Was Rugged.
In all these there is silent reminder
Of broken hopes, lost money, wasted
effort and human suffering. These
hardships necessarily result whenever
changed conditions make 1t undesirable
to pursue the course Of action which
had formerly seemed desirable-wheth-
er the altered conditions were the su-
premacy OF steam-drtven boats, the
exhaustion Of gold or the final removal
of an entire timber stand. As In the
East so, too, In the West, they have
been approved as incident to economic
! advance and adaptation; they have
often been eulogized as the most out
standing achievement Of the old-style
individualism which realistically ac-
/ knowledged the inevitable and quickly
F, adapted itself to it.
| The rigor Of thinking which apollo
gists exhibited might have been over
done for the sake Of emphasis, but
am inclined to believe, fundamentally,
they were right.
What must be remembered, however,
is that If change has always been nee
essary. it is still 50 today. A con-
trolled society must prepare for change,
not just allow 1t to happen regardless
nomic cards we shall have to recognize,
when they are met. forms Of economic
life which no longer pay" or are not
worth while" These must be aban-
doned as they always have been even
tually abandoned. We must foresee this
and. in order to minimize the abso-
lutely necessary hardships Of the inev-
| liable, try to plan for the future, to
build bridges long before the rivers
have to be crossed. This. as I have
maintained before. implies the constant
guidance Of research in social life.
The ghost towns Of the West are
striking reminders that our develop
ment up to now has had a certain
ruthless quality 50 far as the individ-
ual Is concerned, which IS becoming
more and more difficult to defend.
These towns were populated by people
who expected to proceed from their
own motives and on their own re-
sources-a kind Of gamble with fate.
They were depopulated in the same
way and the disappointed members of
these communities had no place to 20
except Of their own choosing and Of
their own provision.
We no longer consider this an ade-
quate method Of social change. We
no longer expect every individual to
| conceive his own enterprise and to
carry all the risks. We expect him to
accept direction and we expect to pro-
tect his dependents from the worst
results of change.
Hope Of Future Control.
The striking illustration which is
furnished by completely abandoned
community is only more exaggerated
form OF something which is constant
1AAA "AASa VIC !1oPS W CouLIOl OeLtST
| In the future than it was controlled
in the past. Our methods up to now
have been purely negative and hap
hazard ones. It is hoped to make them
more positive and less haphazard. An
illustration Of this Is furnished by the
provision In the recovery act Of an
initial fund Of $25.000, 900 for what
were called there subsistence home
steads."
There seems to me great hope IN
this particular enterprise because it
represents a positive rather than a
negative attempt to locate populations
where they have the best chance for
useful, happy lives. It is subStitu-
ton Of research and planning for the
crudest Kind Of trial and error in q
field where the stakes are the highest
for which mankind can play.
My hopes for the success Of this
project were easily doubled when Sec
| retary 1ckes appointed Prof. M. L.
Wilson to administer the fund. His
deep sympathy with the aspirations Of
common men and women, his vivid
apprehension Of the trend of indus
trial technique seem to me to At him
perfectly for this task.
The Government may at last be ex-
pected to take hand In the relocation
Va PoP04oI1ol III q way WHICH, WILL At
once be intelligent and sympathetic. It
begins to seem possible that we may
within the next few years see new kinds
| OF communities growing up which will
| gradually replace the old ones which
have become obsolescent Mr.. Wilson
| sees all the dangers and knows all the
| possibilities. He knows that this scheme
must not be used to furnish Industrial
lists with reservoirs of workers who, be-
cause they are firmly rooted In the soil,
will be less determined to better their
conditions. He knows that 1t can fail
II it Is used to furnish speculative
profits for any one.
His idea is that these communities
ought to be within modern transporta-
tion distance Of industrial centers where
the opportunities for supplementary
employment are fairly wide; and that