A LITTLE LAND 63 



AND A LIVING 



and burden of establishing the enterprises rest 

 unmistakably upon the State and municipal 

 governments. The great manufacturing cen- 

 tres, like New York, Chicago and St. Louis, 

 have had the advantage of large populations in 

 time of industrial prosperity. They have 

 drained the country district of a large propor- 

 tion of the wealth-producers, and it is only fair 

 that, having had the advantages, they should 

 shoulder some of the disadvantages. They must 

 not expect to eat their cake and have it, too. 



<f The idea is a good one, and the distance be- 

 tween a closed-down factory and a newly- 

 plowed farm should be made as short as pos- 

 sible. Let the great municipalities, and the 

 smaller ones also, for that matter, provide land 

 within a five-cent fare from town; let the unem- 

 ployed have access to it, and we will send them 

 experts, without charge, from the Department 

 of Agriculture to show them how to do it, and 

 we will furnish the seeds also. It would solve 

 the problem of unemployment as quickly as 

 anything else would, and the worst that could 

 happen, in case of a return of prosperity in the 

 factories, would be the possession of valuable 



