31 THE LETTER THAT 



PROMPTED THIS BOOK 



"THREE ACRES" WOULD MEAN "LIBERTY." 



Just why all these people should not live on 

 your " three-acre " farm, even in a large dry 

 goods box rather than increase the value of real 

 estate in Manhattan or Philadelphia or the great 

 city on Lake Michigan, or than swell the ranks 

 of the objects of charity, I cannot see. Why 

 should not these people live upon a farm near 

 the city, to come daily to their business, what- 

 ever it be, and occasionally for amusement, and 

 to spend their spare time in the profitable and 

 healthy occupation farming? At this time 

 when the news of the day gives us startling in- 

 stances of top-heaviness in population in reports 

 of the destitution almost everywhere, the benefits 

 of the " back to the farm " movement are appar- 

 ent on its face. If these people for whom the 

 land is crying could be induced to locate in the 

 rural districts, the cause and results of much of 

 this suffering would be done away with. Not 

 only would the country districts be benefited by 

 such a change, but the cities as well. Much of 

 the distress which now prevails in the cities is a 



