Rural Roads to Security: America's Third Struggle for Freedom.

Abstract

existence. We do not wish to decline and disappear under the attack of some virile race of savages. But unless our families and our homes work for the strong and numerous youthful generation of tomorrow, this is not a remote conjecture. A steady decline in birth means, first of all, that we become a nation of old people. Since 1921 there have been 60,000 less babies born every year. The business of producing baby shoes is on the downward trend. The buying group in our nation dwindles. The demand for our industrial and agricultural products shrinks. There comes a smaller demand for housing, clothing, and even for what is called the luxuries of life. The attendance at football games will drop. Old folks do not go to these pageants of youth. Perhaps, the best business to enter will be the production of false teeth.Cities: The Graveyards of the Family The gradual disappearance of the normal family may be traced to the decline of births which follows immigration to the cities. Dr. O. E. Baker gives the record of this decline in population in the Catholic Rural Life Objectives:With urbanization the nation is becoming middle-aged, and the prospect is that old age will creep upon it prematurely only twenty five to fifty years hence. During the next quarter of a century there should be the strength of middle age, and then, unless the birth rate rises, or there is heavy immigration from abroad, a decline will set in.No nation can suffer such a decrease over twenty per cent and not suffer the decline in strength that accompanies a rapid aging of the population.