172 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



limitations as a private scheme may have can be removed in public 

 schemes without lessening the economic soundness of the method. 



It is by having a more definite link between manufacture and 

 agriculture that we may expect to achieve the best results in the way of 

 stimulating production in Canada As Prince Kropotkin has said, 

 "both these industries are inseparable and the combination and 

 integration of both brings about the best results." It is by this means 

 that the welfare of rural and urban industries can be promoted and 

 that the economic distribution of the people can be secured, instead 

 of having them crowded in large cities on the one hand or doomed to 

 unhealthy isolation on the other hand. 



INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL AND Civic WELFARE 



It is a mistake to assume that it is only in the rural districts 

 that there is need for means of social intercourse for the great body 

 of industrial workers. Social life is best stimulated and social inter- 

 course is most easy in the comparatively small town. Most of 

 our small towns, however, are deplorably backward in regard to 

 the planning and development of their streets and public spaces, 

 and the control of building construction. Towns and villages should 

 be more than a collection of houses, stores and factories; they should 

 be places in which the residents can take a pride, where the beauties 

 of nature are protected and unsightly billboards are prohibited. 

 One of the reasons why factories are being moved out from large cities 

 into country districts is due to the desire on the part of the manu- 

 facturers to obtain better recreation facilities for those whom they 

 employ. In this matter they are not entirely selfish; but, however 

 much they may be actuated by altruistic motives, their main object 

 arises from enlightened self-interest. They know that it pays to 

 have good environment for their work people, and that they cannot 

 acquire good sites for the dwellings and plenty of recreation space 

 in the crowded cities. If these things pay the manufacturer, 

 how much more will they pay the communities which are desirous of 

 attracting manufacturers or of keeping existing factories in their 

 localities? Manufacturers would rather have good facilities and 

 pleasant surroundings provided for their work-people than have to 

 take the trouble and invest the capital necessary to obtain these 

 things for themselves. It is only because they are dissatisfied with 

 existing methods of development by urban and rural councils that 

 they enter into the business of town development themselves, 

 although they would prefer to confine their attention to their own 

 particular business. 



