802 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 804 



North Atlantic 



Fig. a. Diagrams showing tlie increase in the per cent, of urban population and the 

 decrease in the per cent, of rural population in the five census divisions of the country from 

 the census of 1880 to that of 1900. The portion in outline represents the urban population 

 and that in black the rural population in each case. 



the elaboration of this raw material. This 

 means cooperation, and cooperation means 

 in the main community life. 



Second, social. We are primarily social 

 in our interests, and in the main like to 

 live near enough together to enjoy each 

 other's society. The chief rewards and 

 the chief penalties of society are social in 

 their nature. The severest penalty is that 

 of solitary confinement, and the greatest 

 joys are those which are associated with 

 friendship. 



Third, cooperation. By means of co- 

 operation we can secure for ourselves com- 

 forts and pleasures of many kinds which 

 it is quite impossible for the individual 

 family to secure for itself. 



The fact of this progressive urbanization 

 would justify a most dismal outlook for 

 the future of the world, did the prevailing 

 opinions regarding the nature of city and 

 country life represent the actual facts in 

 the case. I can not better indicate the 

 present status of public opinion, and even 

 of expert scientific opinion, than by quot- 

 ing Theodore Roosevelt and the eminent 

 Dr. Ogle. Theodore Roosevelt in The Out- 

 look under date of April 19 says: 



The men and women on the farms stand for 

 what is fundamentally best and most needed in 

 our American life. Upon the development of 



country life rests ultimately our ability ... to 

 supply the city with fresh blood, clean bodies and 

 clear brains that can endure the terrible strains 

 of modern life; we need the development of men 

 in the open country, who will be in the future, 

 as in the past, the stay and strength of the nation 

 in time of war, and its guiding and controlling 

 spirit in time of peace. 



Dr. Ogle characterizes the city as "a 

 mighty vampire, continually sucking the 

 strongest blood of the county to keep up the 

 abnormal supply of energy it has to give 

 out in the excitement of a too fast and un- 

 wholesome life." 



There is, however, another point of 

 view, another set of facts, which I believe 

 warrants a readjustment of opinion. Let 

 us look at the death rate, that measure of 

 vitality in which is summed up all of the 

 influences that bear upon human life. 

 Here is a diagram (D) which shows 

 clearly the changing character of the death 

 rate in the city and in the country. 



An analysis of this set of figures is 

 quite beyond the possibility of presenta- 

 tion in a brief argument ; but although the 

 problem is complex, there seem to be clear 

 indications that the death rates in cities 

 are lowering; that infant mortality, par- 

 ticularly in cities, is becoming less serious ; 

 and that in many cases [city] death rates 

 and infant mortality are lowering at a 



