Digging to the Roots of a Dying Tree 13 



close upon the cessation of the Civil War, when the 

 citizenship of whole States, like Kansas, Nebraska, and 

 the Dakotas, largely consisted of men who had worn 

 the blue. He realized, however, that conditions had 

 changed in 50 years ; that there was no longer a patri- 

 mony of fertile public lands available to homestead 

 entry, and requiring no preparation beyond the means 

 of the individual settler. Nevertheless, the problem 

 of the returning soldier remained to be dealt with. It 

 was not an easy problem, but Secretary Lane possessed 

 both the vision and the power to tackle its solution. 



He summoned to Washington men whom he thought 

 especially equipped for the task by their knowledge, 

 their experience, and their sympathies. He was think- 

 ing primarily of the returning soldier, but soon dis- 

 covered that the problem was much broader; that it 

 concerned directly or indirectly, the country's entire 

 citizenship — indeed, the fate of our American civiliza- 

 tion — for it was found that America was dying on the 

 land ! It would be but a poor service to the returning 

 hero to invite him to take a share in a failing enter- 

 prise, and it would amount to just that to offer nothing 

 better than the old conditions of rural life. 



Secretary Lane's counselors decided to dig down to 

 the roots of the subject, as one would dig down to the 

 roots of a dying tree, and find out what had happened 

 to the fabled "cornerstone of American democracy" — 

 the farm home. There was plenty of evidence that 

 something was wrong. Without harping upon the 

 dreary statistics regarding the marked tendency from 

 rural to urban life; — a tendency that dates back to the 

 first national Census of 1830, and has been increasing 



