RURAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 127 



are no better off than their own, but whose home comforts are superior. 

 Can it be wondered at that the children of the farmer are ambitious to 

 enjoy these comforts and do not realize that they are available on the 

 farm. Whereas the tradesman and professional man in the city 

 use their best rooms, have a bath-room and other conveniences, the 

 farmer lives too frequently in the kitchen, and regards a bath-room as 

 a luxury — even when he has had the ambition to build a good house 

 or run a motor car. Motor cars and telephones will help to 

 revolutionize rural conditions for the better, but they will do 

 so more effectively and rapidly if good roads are made, good sani- 

 tary conditions are provided in the home, and some facilities for 

 social intercourse and educational development are provided in 

 the country districts. Failing these requisites, the motor car and 

 telephone may only help to make it easier for the young people 

 to drift to the city, and increase their appetite for the comforts of the 

 city home, and for the social and educational facilities they cannot 

 secure within easy access of the farm. 



Sanitary Problems in Fishing and Mining Villages 



Special sanitary problems arise in connection with fishing vil- 

 lages, where the absence of drainage and the presence of decomposed 

 offal cause most unhealthy conditions. The material which is the 

 chief cause of trouble might be put to economic use and converted 

 into animal food or fertilizer; thus a valuable element in production 

 would be obtained and an evil remedied, with little cost, if not with 

 actual gain, to the community. A fishing community is not usually 

 alive to its opportunities in this respect, partly because it does not 

 contain a sufficient number of residents to appreciate the importance 

 of good sanitation. It is also at a disadvantage for want of ability to 

 promote the union of forces, or co-operation, necessary to create a 

 paying fertilizer plant. In such a case provincial initiative and help 

 would be most valuable. 



No more effective educational campaign can be conducted than 

 one which carries with it an object lesson in showing how the material 

 prosperity of a community will be increased by the means which are 

 necessary to improve its health and moral conditions. 



Reference has been made in a previous chapter to the importance 

 of co-operation between the mine operators and their employees, 

 in regard to improving the environment in mining districts. One 

 important and specific direction in which this co-operation is most 

 needed is in improving housing and sanitary conditions in mining 

 villages. We are familiar with the records of the deplorable conse- 



