56 City Homes on Country Lanes 



them proprietors of the ground on which they dwell, 

 instead of mere tenants at will — and thus the benefi- 

 ciaries, rather than the victim of land values created 

 by the presence, the labors and the investment of 

 society as a whole; to do all this, while enabling them 

 still to retain the unquestioned advantage of city life, 

 including their hold on the payroll — this is the inspir- 

 ing task that awaits the genius of American citizenship. 

 This, too, is the logical beginning of a process which, 

 before the present century shall have passed into his- 

 tory, will effect a far-reaching transformation in the 

 whole rural life of the nation. For man's passion for 

 the soil is to be born again. He is to revive his primary 

 love of nature and all its works ; to renew his com- 

 panionship with Mother Earth, and thereby to renew, 

 to broaden, and to sweeten his own existence. 



As in the past half-century the country has been the 

 nursery of the city, so in the next half-century, the 

 city will be the nursery of the country. The movement 

 will not be "Back to the Land," but Forward to better 

 things than men have ever known in the past. Pro- 

 duction, important as it is, will be merely incidental to 

 the evolution of higher forms of social and economic life, 

 with a great deal of emphasis on family life — its hearth- 

 stone restored; its altars relighted. 



These things will come to pass, because they are 

 essential to the preservation and continued development 

 of democracy in America. 



