THE AMERICAN
JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
THE SMOKY PILGRIMS.
It is a popular belief that large cities are the great centers of social corruption and the special causes of social degeneration, while rural districts and country towns are quite free from immoral influences. It is held that the tendency of social life in a large city is downward, and that of country life is upward. No doubt that the congregation of a large population in a city has a tendency to develop in a geometrical ratio certain criminal and pauper conditions which are in marked contrast to those of sparsely settled districts, where life moves less rapidly and overcrowding is less apparent. Yet the country has its own social evils and social residuum; for while an abundance of fresh air and sunshine may be in themselves redeeming features of social improvement, it takes something more than these to make a healthy social atmosphere. The limits of industry are as certain in the country as in the city, and if more seek labor than are able to find it there is a clear case of economic over-crowding. While this over-crowding is less marked, a man without a place in the world is as much crowded out when tin broad fields are before him as in tin large city, amidst the rush of hurrying industry. While the country has some advantages over the city in respect to the condition of the poor and unfortunate, it may appear after all that social degeneration in the country, if not quite in proportion to the decline in large cities. according to the population, moves with accelerating ratio.
