Show tURRENT COMMENT THE CITYWARD DRIFT Aniline the socialand Industrial rtiovermuLKof the time tIle drlfl of population toward tho cities Is rrk > uiid a great evil Then Is Itte doubt that it IB Perhaps UH miKiiltudo Is 1 oven prraor titan m commonly Imau liud Tho filnrtllnji satetnent is I made on good authorIty that In tbu four great agricultural Statts of Ohio Indiana Illinois and Iowa half flirt townships wera less poDiihrni in 1860 than In 1880 while the largo cities had vastly increased in size There wa a corresponding dimlnuAtlon of the nnmber of productive enterprises oar lIed on in rural districts In Now York Slate twothird of the town ship became less populous and more than onethird of this counties while the I population of the cities Incn > i ctl onurmoiuly Iii jtsiilt I Is abandoned InrniH on tile one hand and overcrowded over-crowded trades lu tbe cities on the other and also un Increase In the on = tot t-ot tooth through diminished production produc-tion and a lowering of wages thriugh overcompetltlon The causes of this state of things are varied Seme lwJple blame the railroads and their discriminating freight ratesperhaps with some jus rico Sjnie say It Is because farming means harder work and pourer Pf than cUr businesses Some think It I Is tcfuusft of the tuperlor sonlul and educational advantage nf the cities Some Biy and mOlt truly of nil that the American hsisto to get rich U I rc Bponslble Tire young man Is not content I con-tent with tho modest eompuiencc or his fathers farm lie wants to make his pita ind to make it quickly Sn he 4um the raim for the city Tul lastnamed cause H Inherent in human nature as that nature has been devl oped in our present civilization It muse be overcome If at all by truer I culture and higher Meals of life The Qrsinarnccl ylso Is ditllcul < o deal with But perhap1 both can he in a largo mcjsure offeotcd J through removal remov-al of tie other two and that I these dan he removed neirly If not ultogcthci seems a rctsouutilc belief The social advantages of the city are superior to those of the country and ivlll probably always remain so The disparity between them should not and need not howcvrr he sit grout a5 it Is Village imp ovcmunt socle ice have already in many places niide rural life more attractive The extension exten-sion jf their won the multiplication oflllnarlos lecture cour pi etc rlu > Improvement of schools the cheapen iiiir In pdel and the diffusion of good littriUiiro in periodical and other rmui4 HII maku towurd the elevation and liiiroa cd attractiveness of tin country I ins a place of residence Each I iiage should be madu a toclnl and Intellectual ientre and each county I town a ninall edition of thu metro pulls whle all by virtue of the lulegraph I and telephone should bo and may be closely In tunih 1 with llio I whole world Neither 13 thojo any gtod reason why farm work should In so laborious ann brutalizing as to repel 1 nitn trorn engaging III it To say that Micro isIs is-Is to impugn this t Inveiilive I i nun pro grtsiive genius tff the age Aready gr3u t allvllllces hit Vu been made I in I thy application of Inluir tavlng niachin crv and still 0 hers HId freitor arc yet to bit mads In none is tile t work done uioro Indepuurlontiy of xaciing circumstances or Is tho margin of IcNuro greater And yet we have scarcely b gun to leari how to farm Far moro labor is peiform than should bo necebsary the results a care c-are too meaure and enough matter lh I wa tel every ytnr to fertilize the whole country Ono of these days we shah have good roads cycry will rc uiachliy I 10 ito < all I the hard work rclentUlu iiethods of furl IJlztttllJn cul lure and inflation and not 015 two i hut two score blades of grisi growing wnoro only one hat grown bcfoe Then thin farmers llfo will lie nttnuts t Ivu his work easy his niollis great and tie oher two I camos of tle laJ ward drift which we have mentioned will be so far overcome that a who c suni balaiao will be secured and preserved pre-served between the city and the country New York Tribune |