FIFTY MILLION STRONG 



According to The Banker-Farmer, " The city man gets only 

 about thirty-five cents in value for every dollar he spends for 

 food, and it takes the rest of that dollar to get the food to 

 him." 



(3) Dearth of Rural Patriotism. " Truly the creation of 

 a rural civilization is the greatest need of our time." x But 

 before a rural civilization can be created there must be more 

 rural patriotism. Let a rural patriotism be developed and 

 then many of the wonderful things which the country needs 

 so much that it may enjoy greater progress and realize the 

 infinite possibilities that it covets, will come. The greatest 

 hindrance to the development of a rural patriotism is that 

 very prevalent and quite contagious disease, urbanitis. It is 

 an insidious disease and has become so widespread that one 

 is often tempted to despair of its elimination. It especially 

 affects country boys and girls, who, awed by the brilliant, the 

 ephemeral, the attractive, the dazzling of city life, are weaned 

 away from the country in large numbers every year and cast 

 their lot in the cities. Pride in one's residence in Rural 

 America must become general and all inclination to emphasize 

 the city to the detriment of the country must disappear before 

 a new day can dawn in Rural America. When the average 

 resident of Rural America says, " I am a citizen of Rural 

 America/' with the earnestness and fervor which the average 

 Englishman or German shows when he announces his citi- 

 zenship to the world, then will there have developed a rural 

 patriotism which will revolutionize Rural America. 



(4) Growth of Urban Ownership. It is remembered that 

 the Roman Empire was a coalition of cities. There was no 

 rural life. The land was owned by those living in the cities 

 and tilled by the slaves. This was a chief cause of Rome's 

 fall. The first leader of Europe who recognized the fact that 

 the strength of a nation depended on its rural health was 

 Charlemagne, the greatest ruler of the Middle Ages. Fred- 

 erick the Great, who reconstructed Prussia on the solid basis 



1 See G. W. Russell article, Rural Manhood, New York, April, 1914, 

 P. 143- 



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