ONE] INTRODUCTION 
hausted by 1930, and that we must react to a more 
quiet mode of life, and a larger use of wood as a fuel. 
Electricity was already working out the solution of 
the problem of congested population — as well as 
the isolation of scattered population. 
It is not true that the people deserted the country 
for town life because of any lack of appreciation of 
country comforts, and of the desirability of free and 
independent methods of living. Farm machinery 
had lessened the number of men required to do 
farm work; while manufacturing machinery gave 
employment to larger numbers in the city. In 1790 
the percentage of the population in the cities of the 
United States was only three and one-third per cent; 
in 1890 it was about thirty per cent; and in 1900 
fully one-third of all our population was resident in 
" the cities which contained more than eight thousand 
people. In New York State seventy per cent of the 
population was urban; in other States it graded 
from seventy-six per cent down to fifteen per cent. 
Conditions which thus drew the people into masses 
reached their maximum influence about 1894. 
From that date the reaction has been steady. Those 
industries which were taken away from homes by 
steam power are returning, to be done by electric 
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