RURAL DEPLETION 47 



whose life he was unfitted ; and the father, to bring him 

 back from the city, made over to him the homestead, and 

 purchasing elsewhere for himself that he might begin 

 anew, had broken down under the strain. 



For an illustration from another field of moral evil 

 we shall go beyond our own borders. Mr. P. V. Collins, 

 editor of the Northwestern Agriculturalist, of Minne- 

 apolis, advertised for a stenographer of the highest 

 ability. From among the applications received he 

 selected one from a young woman apparently of such 

 qualifications as he desired. But when she came to his 

 office he discovered that she had only a public school 

 education and a rudimentary knowledge of short- 

 hand. When asked why she had copied out the- 

 application she replied, " I did not write that ; the 

 principal of the academy which gave me my diploma 

 sent it." Investigation brought out the facts that 

 there was a bogus college selling diplomas through- 

 out the country to anyone who had been for a term at a 

 business school ; and then sending country girls to posi- 

 tions which they could not possibly fill, notifying those 

 in charge of the traffic in immorality of the stranding 

 of the girls in the city. This particular one met with a 

 philanthropist and friend, but there are other cases. 

 The longing to escape from country to town is being 

 taken advantage of by designing men to lure girls to 

 their ruin. 



But the chief factor in the moral strain is not found 

 in the direct evil results or the moral pitfalls incident to 

 the situation, but in the fact that moral enthusiasms are 

 lacking in the country owing to the present trend. No 

 high incentive takes men away ; no lofty passion abides 

 with those who remain. Where people are discontent 



