I/O FLIGHT FROM THE CITY 



A "CITY" OF REFUGE 



(From the editorial in The Dayton News, by Walter Locke, 

 vice President of the Unit Committee.) 



"There are few cities where the independence of a certain 

 sort of citizen has not been brought into relief by the gen- 

 eral difficulties of the depression. In the environs of all cities 

 there is the soil-loving suburbanite. In some cases these are 

 small farmers, market gardeners and poultry raisers who 

 try to make their entire living from their little acres. More 

 often and more successful there is a combination of rural 

 and city industry. Some member of the family, while the 

 others grow their crops, will have a job in town. A little 

 money, where wages are joined to the produce of the soil, 

 goes a long way. Here the whole family has work. The 

 children, almost as soon as they are on their feet, can do 

 productive chores. Incidentally they gain in that process 

 a training and an essential education which city schools 

 with difficulty and only at considerable expense can sup- 

 ply. Here, too, when men grow too old to keep the pace of 

 the shops, there is work to do according to their speed and 

 strength. 



"When the depression came most of these members of 

 these suburban families who held jobs in town were cut 

 in wages and hours. In many cases they entirely lost their 

 jobs. What, then, did they do? Did they have to resort to 

 charity? The soil and the industries of their home provided 

 them a job; not a well paying job, of course, but work and 

 a living, however scant. Except for the comparatively few 

 dollars required for taxes and a few other items they were 

 able, under their own sail, to ride out the storm. The sailing 

 was rough, perhaps; but not to be compared with that in 

 the wreck-strewn town. 



