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Show Rural Areas Showing New Growth Signs, According fo Reporf by Agriculture Depf. The move from farm to city may be coming to a halt, a new era of economic and social so-cial growth for rura lAnurica may already be launched. These are two conclusions to be drawn from various reports on the progress of rural Ameica, from the arid stretches of the Southwest to the green fields of the Southeast. They also are indications in-dications that the. much talked about goals of rural development are beginning to emerge as realized accomplishments ac-complishments for an increasing in-creasing number of communities. commun-ities. Some signs of the recharged recharg-ed energies within rural areas ar-eas are: More jobs: During the 19C0's nonfarm jobs increased increas-ed by 39 per cent in the countryside, coun-tryside, a slightly better rate than the 34 per cent increase in metropolitan areas. This growth rate has been high in completely rural counties as well as in those with cities ci-ties of up to 50,000 population. popula-tion. Farm exodus ending: The farm population has dropped to fewer than 9Vi million" persons. With so few people remaining on the Nation's farms, little further decline in the population is possible. As the farm-to-city migration migra-tion dwindles to a negligible level, continued gains in non-agricultural non-agricultural jobs will have a more visible impact on the overall c-conomy and population popula-tion of rural areas. Greater Federal commitment commit-ment to rural areas: The government go-vernment is stepping up its investment in rural America manyfold. For example, funds earmarked for housing in rural ru-ral areas amount to $2.2 billion bil-lion this year, four times the 19(19 level; sewer and water programs are allocated $342 million this year, nearly two times the 19G9 level. Total funds devoted to rural development de-velopment efforts by the Department De-partment of Agriculture will amount to $3.5 billion this year four times the level in 19G1 and twice as much as in 1969. More important than the statistics or the governmental governmen-tal expenditures, however, is the determined individual in community after rural community com-munity who resolves to solve the problem on his own, who takes action to set his own neighborhood on the road to progress. In'Tulia,' Texas, for example, exam-ple, local leaders set out to combat decaying businesses, blighted housing. As a result of their efforts, the community commun-ity has 386 new low-cost homes and jobs and incomes are up because of the construction con-struction work. In North Carolina, citizens mounted a driver education campaign as a small but vital part of their Statewide effort to connect con-nect more rural workers with more better paying jobs. Rural development is an ide-a whose time has come nioslly because increasing numbers of local groups are-taking are-taking it upon themselves to make sure that it does. |