CHAPTER ONE 



INTRODUCTION 



1 HiRTY years ago the great economic problem 

 of the world was how to check the drift of popu- 

 lation into congested city life. The English and 

 German governments employed commissions to 

 investigate the problem, while in this country the 

 labor department of the government was working, 

 both directly and indirectly, on the same prob- 

 lem. It has happened that while experts investi- 

 gated, Providence gave the solution. Electricity 

 as a motive power began to displace steam early in 

 the nineties. Rural telephone service, which had 

 been refused to the country by the Bell companies, 

 as an unprofitable investment, began to spread 

 like spider webs all over the valleys and hillsides — 

 absolutely abolishing farm isolation. Free rural 

 mail delivery followed, extending to the outlanders 

 privileges which had been exclusively urban. Trol- 

 ley roads, a little later, began to creep around the 



FmPERTY usMor 

 H. C. State CW^ 



