HON. GUY W. BAILEY, LL.D., PRESIDENT UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT, BURLINGTON, VERMONT PROF. A. R. GIFFORD, UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT, PRESIDENT VERMONT CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY, BURLINGTON DR. C. F. DALTON, SECRETARY STATE BOARD) OF HEALTH PROF. K. R. B. FLINT, NORWICH UNIVERSITY, DIRECTOR BUREAU OF MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS, NORTHFIELD HOWARD HANSON, SUPERINTENDENT VERMONT INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, VERGENNES DR. E. A. STANLEY, SUPERINTENDENT STATE HOSPITAL FOR INSANE, WATERBURY DR. TRUMAN J. ALLEN, SUPERINTENDENT VERMONT STATE SCHOOL FOR FEEBLEMINDED, BRANDON Miss LENA C. ROSS, SUPERINTENDENT RIVERSIDE REFORMATORY, RUTLAND DR. HORACE G. RIPLEY, SUPERINTENDENT BRATTLEBORO RETREAT, BRATTLEBORO WILLIAM H. DYER, COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC WELFARE, MONTPELIER Miss SHIRLEY FARR, BRANDON, VERMONT Miss L. JOSEPHINE WEBSTER, GENERAL SECRETARY VERMONT CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY, BURLINGTON PROF. HENRY F. PERKINS, UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT, BURLINGTON (Chairman)

MEMBERS OF OFFICE STAFF EUGENICS SURVEY OF VERMONT

HENRY F. PERKINS, DIRECTOR ELIN L. ANDERSON, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR MARJORIE CHOATE, ASSISTANT (From May, 1930, to June, 1931.) ANNA R. ROME, SECRETARY

The Eugenics Survey of Vermont was established in 1925 in affiliation with the Department of Zoology of the University of Vermont. The funds for its work have been donated by Vermonters who believe in the people of Vermont and in the possibility of their maintaining or even bettering the high standards of the past, an important contribution to that end being the discovery by research and the promulgation by education of salient facts concerning family inheritance and trends of breeding in our communities.

The Advisory Committee, which has sponsored each of the various projects undertaken during these six years, is made up of men and women who are by occupation and personal devotion largely concerning themselves with the ways and means of human betterment.

The following pages tell the story of the effort of the past year and a half. They relate with a little background and in a fuller form the findings of the Eugenics Survey functioning as a division of the Committee on the Human Factor of the Vermont Commission on Country Life and included in condensed form as part of the first chapter of its book. This volume, "Rural Vermont," by Two Hundred Vermonters, has for the title of its first chapter "The People of Vermont." For this chapter the Subcommittee on Population Changes supplied a part, and the Eugenics Survey the rest. The whole chapter was woven together through the assistance of John Holden of Bennington. The eugenic importance of the chapter as a whole, its significance for Coming Vermonters, is, I emphatically predict, to prove considerable.

The Survey was fortunate in being able to place the responsibility of the work for this piece of investigation upon three very able staff members‐‐Miss Elin Anderson, M.A., who under the supervision of the director, was in charge of the study and wrote the report; Miss Marjorie Choate, A.B., who assisted with the field work and the compilation of the statistical data, and Miss Anna Rome, secretary for five years and field assistant.

This pamphlet, the fifth of the series of annual reports, deliberately braves the criticism invariably and often liberally accorded to any publication that ventures to straddle the chasm between the popular treatment of a theme and the accurate analysis of a piece of scientific research. It attempts to reach, if not to convince, two audiences‐‐one "scientific," the other "laymen." Its writers have essayed the difficult and rather thankless task of giving a readable and interesting account of a painstaking investigation with definitely scientific aspirations and technique. They have made this attempt because they are deeply in earnest in their conviction that the matters herein discussed are of the utmost importance, that there is ample scientific fortifying of the statements to qualify them for general consideration, and that the people who must carry out the measures recommended are not the scientists chiefly but The People of Vermont.

H.F. PERKINS, Director.Burlington, August 19, 1931.

The migration of people within the United States has been on so vast a scale and of such a peculiar character that it threatens the older sections of the country with deterioration in the quality of the stock of future citizens. Vermont, more than any state in the Union, has had to bear the drain of emigration of energetic and enterprising young people from the time of the earliest pioneer movement westward to the more recent migration cityward. It is of prime importance, therefore, in planning any constructive program for the state, to understand the extent to which this movement affects the quality of the stock of those upon whose shoulders rests the future welfare of the State. To ascertain the eugenical significance of the movement, an intimate study of three towns typical of the rural communities of the State was 'made. The purpose of the study is to determine the extent of the loss due to recent emigration and in particular its bearing upon the heritage, both social and biological, of future generations bred in these communities.

The small size of Vermont, its essentially rural character and the homogeneity of its people, makes an intensive study of a few towns preferable to an extensive study of many, in giving a picture of conditions prevailing throughout the rural sections of the State. The three towns selected for study were chosen by a most careful sampling method, being representatives of good, high average and poor rural areas respectively, and being typical of the greater number of Vermont towns in that they are rural communities of less than one thousand inhabitants, composed mostly of old Vermont stock.

Three field investigators spent eight weeks or more in each town, participating in the social life of the community and visiting every family. To ascertain the extent and nature of recent migration, information concerning every member of each family, whether living at home or having left within the last two decades, was recorded on a prepared schedule. In addition, information was obtained wherever possible about former neighbors as well as relatives, ex‐employees and previous occupants. Where an emigrant had moved to a nearby town he was called upon personally to furnish information about himself. Then in order to secure fuller information concerning the extent of migration within the last twenty years, the "Grand Lists," recording all taxpayers of the town, were consulted. From them was obtained a list of all the people over the age of twenty‐one who had paid taxes to the town within the last twenty years but who were no longer resident, and concerning whom no information had been obtained by the house to house canvass. This list of names was then taken to the best informed citizens in the town who furnished more detailed information when they could.

Many obstacles stood in the way of securing as complete and accurate information as was desired concerning the nature and extent of recent migration. The Grand Lists, though a reliable source, do not record the name of any person under 21 years of age, nor of women of any age prior to the year 1921, unless they were property owners. Moreover, a large number of people who have moved in and out of town during the last 20 years have not been recorded, because they did not happen to be resident at the time that the list of taxpayers is annually made out. Although it was ascertained how many people each name on the Grand Lists represented, the total number of emigrants derived in this way falls below the entire number for the above reasons.

It was originally intended that the Grand Lists would be used for detailed statistical tables setting forth the characteristics o{ the emigrants as well as for ascertaining the total number who had gone away. But when scrutinized, it was found that unavoidable gaps in the information rendered it suitable only for the latter use and for supplying some kinds of information, such as that concerning the occupations followed by the emigrants in town and after leaving, and the locations chosen by them. Although this is not tabulated, it bears out the findings which are presented and therefore strengthens the conclusions.

The cases used are those concerning whom information was obtained by the house to house canvass. Although representative of the whole, they are somewhat selective in that the proportionate number of transients is much less than for the entire group and also in that the emigrants used are more closely connected by blood with the residents than would be true in a purely chance selection. This, however, is not amiss in a study primarily concerned with the quality of the stock of potentially permanent residents.

It was considered that sufficient material was gathered to make possible a fair estimate of the extent of recent emigration from each of the illustrative towns, and of the selective processes at work. The study is but an attempt to show the eugenical importance of migration within the country.

We have been a migratory people always. From the time of the earliest settlements, the vast extent of our country and its unknown opportunities have enticed men to migrate to whatever fields have looked most green. In pioneer days it was the new lands of the frontier that drew men‐‐first along Massachusetts Bay, then beyond the Allegheny Mountains into the Ohio Valley, later still into the fertile plains along the Mississippi, then up the river courses further westward, until finally surmounting the Rockies they reached the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The great westward movement has long since passed, yet migration continues on as vast a scale as ever. Only the direction has changed.

Recent Rural‐Urban Migration. No longer a movement from the older settled sections of the East to the new lands of the West, it is a migration from the rural communities of the entire country to the new jobs of the cities. With the same promise of great opportunity, vast wealth and strange adventure that the frontier once gave, the cities now beckon thousands of country folk annually. In one year, 1928, when the migration from farms to cities was at the lowest level in twenty years, it consisted of 1,960,000 persons. And though this was offset by the movement of 1,362,000 persons from the cities to the farms, it left a net migration from farms to cities of 598,000 persons 1 Were the entire population of Vermont to migrate beyond the borders of the State, it would not equal this migrating army. In the last decade the net movement from the farms has numbered almost four million persons.

A migratory movement of these proportions does not persist in a given direction over a period of several decades unless real differences of opportunity exist. In pioneer days these differences lay in the opportunities‐‐real and imagined‐‐that the new lands of the West offered over the old lands of the East.

Today the differences lie in the opportunities‐‐real and imagined‐‐at centralized Industry offers over Agriculture. To the frontier went people who were either drawn to it by its promise of freedom from restraint, its possibilities for gaining wealth and its opportunity to begin anew, or were pushed by the religious intolerance, the political oppression and other restraints put upon the individual in the older settled communities of the East. To urbanized Industry in turn are drawn both those who are pulled to it by the economic advantages it presents and those who are pushed by unfavorable conditions in Agriculture.

The present situation is due to the urbanization of rural industries, to the change in place of importance of Industry and Agriculture, and to the revolution within Agriculture itself. Industry , has not only become centralized in cities but it has wrested from Agriculture its place of first importance, and continues to have seemingly unlimited possibilities for expansion as it meets the elastic demand for manufactured products. Meanwhile, Agriculture has not only lost its place, but it is compelled to contract still further to meet the more limited and relatively inelastic demand for farm products. It is this difference in opportunity that acts as a magnet in drawing to the city thousands of country folk annually.

At the same time, the application of scientific methods to Agriculture, as it emerges from being "a way of living" to being a specialized mechanized industry, has so increased production per farm unit that fewer farmers are needed to supply the country's demands for farm products. It is estimated that one farmer today can do as much farm work as eight farmers could do eighty years ago. 2 It is further estimated that since 1910 the efficiency of production per farm unit has increased 30 percent. The far‐reaching consequences of these changes are soon felt. During the five years from 1920 to 1925, in spite of a decrease in the crop land of 13,000,000 acres and a decline in the farm population of 10 percent, there was an increase in farm production of approximately 5 per cent. 3 Under conditions such as these, there is little choice for people but to leave the farms.

Just as in earlier times the migration westward continued on a vast scale until the advantages of the old lands more nearly balanced those of the new, so today the migration cityward will continue on a vast scale until the opportunities of Agriculture and Industry are more nearly equalized. When farmers are able to enjoy some of the more important social advantages of the city and are assured of a fair share of the national income, farm to city migration will be but a normal incident in the life of the nation, consisting of that number which, because of the difference in birthrate between rural and urban areas, is always a surplus in farming communities.

Meanwhile, like every great migratory movement, its favorable aspects are counterbalanced, partially at least, by serious consequences. The pioneer movement made possible the rapid expansion and development of our country. The present migration is not only an invaluable though slow cure for existing agricultural conditions, but also is necessary to the progress of industry, as long as it remains harmonious to industrial expansion. Both migrations have made possible a sorting of men according to their interests and abilities. But it is this very sorting of men that may have harmful and irremediable effects upon the older communities whence persistent emigration has continued since the earliest pioneer days.

Into the westward migration went people from these communities who were characterized by energy, initiative, resourcefulness, adventuresomeness and democracy. Among them, it is true, were lawless, shiftless social parasites of whom any community is well rid. But it is also true that many were marked by that high energy which when directed into social channels means lite to a community and vitality to a people. 4 If in the more recent cityward migration from these communities a selective process of a similar nature is taking place, then the question arises whether these communities have not been drained of people of high energy to such an extent that the quality of the stock of their future members is threatened.

As It Affects Vermont.Of particular interest to Vermont. are the consequences of this migratory movement, not only because emigration has been more persistent from this State than from any other in the Union, but also because Vermont once was the distant frontier of the Massachusetts settlements, and its people were noted for the characteristics that mark the early pioneer. Of considerable importance to the future welfare of the State is the extent to which these sterling qualities of the pioneer have persisted in the people.

It was back in Revolutionary War days that the inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants first won recognition for their daring, courage and resourcefulness in bearing the brunt of many of the northern battles. Somewhat later when they stood out against their two powerful neighboring states, New Hampshire and New York, in their determination to make of the New Hampshire land grants a separate state, they proved their love of independence and freedom. 5 Nor were they daunted by the refusal of Congress to recognize their independence. Fourteen years of being a separate sovereignty only made them greater individualists. Their struggle for independence, the isolation they have had to know, cut off as the State is from main routes of trade and commerce, the hardships they have had to endure in wresting from the unyielding soil a meager living have only intensified the loyalty that Vermonters feel toward their little Green Mountain State whose entire population today is little more than that of the City of Rochester, N. Y.

In the Constitution of the State is crystalized the spirit of its people. The power of the people recognized by the dictum that "All Civil Power under God is in the People" is practiced in holding in check ambitious public officials today as rigorously as when into the Constitution was inserted the clause, "Whenever an office becomes so profitable as to occasion many to apply for it, the profit ought to be lessened by the Legislature." "Freedom and Unity," chosen as the watchword, is expressed in the form of government. Each town (township) has its own local government, and to the State Legislature according to the Constitution each town "may forever hereafter choose one Representative." And so to this day, Glastenbury with its seven souls has one member, and Burlington, the largest city in the State, with its 25,000 souls has one member.

A fine simplicity and dislike of pretense among the people is illustrated by their choice of the cow as the emblem on the State seal. But it is merely giving credit ‐where it is due. Actually there are more cows than people in the State; the dairy cow provides employment for more people than does the famous marble industry of the State, and its products are greater than those of the maple tree.

The qualities of vigor and independence, democracy and simplicity have always characterized Vermonters. And yet, tested by the challenging issues of today, one wonders whether all the old time vigor is still there, and whether pioneer independence and democracy have not tended to become self‐sufficiency and non‐cooperation. At any rate, the State has shown great resistance to change. While all the other New England States have been revolutionized by industrial changes, Vermont has remained primarily agricultural. While the whole of the United States is becoming urbanized, Vermont clings to its small rural towns. While other states have tried new forms of government, Vermont retains its town system. It has been said that "Vermont is static; the state seems to be inoculated against all the bugs of social, political and commercial madness that have bitten the modern world." 6

Coupled with this resistance to change is the outstanding social phenomenon of emigration from the State. At every census since 1850, approximately 40 percent of native born Vermonters have been living in other than their native State. There would seem to be wide acceptance of the statement attributed to one of Vermont's illustrious sons: "Vermont is a good state to be born in, but it is a better state to leave."

Nor has this emigration been counterbalanced by any great immigration into the State. Fewer immigrants have come to Vermont than to any of the other New England States or into the country as a whole. As a matter' of fact, the proportion of immigrants to natives in the State has scarcely changed in one hundred years. In 1920 28.1 percent of the population consisted of immigrants. But 15.5 percent of these immigrants were natives of other states of the Union. Only 12.6 percent were foreign born. The State is unique in the fact that 71 percent of the entire population is native to the State. No other state is as homogeneous as this. No other state, therefore, is challenged to the same extent to prove the quality of its native stock.

But emigration from the State is not the only aspect of the movement with which Vermont is concerned. Though the trend has been much less marked in Vermont than in other states, there has been a steady emigration from rural to urban areas within the State for the last one hundred years. The only increase in the State since 1830, except for one decade, has been due to the increase in the ten towns of the State whose population today exceeds 5,000. In 1850 only 2 percent of the population lived in towns of more than 4,000 inhabitants.7 Today 39 percent of the population lives in towns of this size. This gain to the larger towns has been at the expense of the smaller ones. More and . more towns are reduced to the class of less than 1,000 inhabitants. Whereas in 1850 only 40 percent of the towns of the State had less than 1,000 inhabitants, today 62 percent have less than that number.

It is this drain from the rural communities that is fraught with danger to a state that is primarily agricultural. Not that the good effects are not obvious. Emigration has made possible more prosperity for those remaining. Today, though the number engaged in agriculture in the State has slightly diminished and the number of farms and of cultivated acres decreased, farm production has not diminished, and the value of farm products has increased. But if the countryside is being drained of its leaders who are needed today more than ever to cope with the ever increasing complexity of agricultural problems, the gain derived from emigration cannot compensate for this loss.

Marks of Emigration in Three Rural Towns‐‐the Three Towns. In order to estimate the loss due to emigration, three rural towns representative of the greater number of rural towns ill the State were selected for study. Each is marked by its individual character. Pomona, 8 situated in an unusually fertile valley in the heart of the Green Mountains, is a prosperous, self‐sufficient, urbanized little farming community which proudly serves the needs of less prosperous neighboring towns.

Beaufield, situated in the famous Champlain Valley in the western part of the State, has remained a purely farming town of a high average type with no real village but looking rather to Norton, a populous neighboring town, for all but its primary needs.

Sylvania, on the eastern side of that mountain ridge which politically as well as geographically divides the State, belongs to another Vermont. Its stony hill farms are slowly being reclaimed by the forest. Long stretches of rugged mountains, rushing streams and narrow valleys separate its people into isolated little communities whose only bond is the common payment of taxes to the town. Walled in as it is from the western part of the State, its interests are turned down the West River Valley beyond the Connecticut River to New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Changes have left their mark upon the three towns. As the entire country has developed and industries have become urbanized, these towns, like most of the old rural communities of the East, have had to make constant adjustments in the type of farming done and in the kind of industries carried on. Every change has been accompanied by an emigration which in turn has affected the social and economic life of these towns so that it has caused further emigration. Nor has this constant interplay between emigration and social and economic change ceased to the present time.

The population in the three towns has declined steadily though gradually since the peak of population growth was reached between 1830 and 1850. Pomona has suffered least. Its population of 1,048 in 1840 has diminished to 725 in 1930, but its population at present is still more than two‐thirds of that attained at the peak of development. Beau field has declined from a population of 1,264 in 1830 to a population of 629 in 1930, leaving the town in 100 years little more than half its former size. Sylvania has suffered most of all. Once the third largest town in its county, with a population of 1,606 in 1850, it has declined to a population of 563 in 1930, only a little more than one‐third of its former size. Loss of population such as this speaks of changes that have taken place.

Obvious marks of emigration are farms that have grown up into weeds and homes that have tumbled into ruin. Vacant habitable houses show that the process continues.

In the three towns one‐fifth of the habitable dwellings are unoccupied, the greatest number of vacant houses being found in Sylvania, the fewest in Pomona. An encouraging note for Sylvania, however, suggesting greater possibilities in the future, is that a number of houses are being taken over by summer residents. The deserted farms and the vacant houses may be depressing reminders of the changes that have taken place, but nevertheless they stand as proof of man's good judgment in leaving marginal land for better economic opportunity. The changes have affected each town to a different degree and in a somewhat different way, according to its own individual character. This is shown by the differences in the history of each town and in their appearance at the present time.

Pomona. Pomona has achieved a fortunate balance of a prosperous urban community and a good farming section in which little marginal land is kept up. The town, situated in the widest and most fertile part of the Mad River Valley, is almost surrounded by heavily woofled mountains. On the right of the present main road, the land slopes up at only a short distance from the fertile valley farms. On the left, the Mad River twists and turns. Occasional side roads crossing the river through covered bridges lead to the older Pomona on the other side of the valley. There in the hills are to be seen marks of emigration. Old Pomona Commons lies there‐‐now an irregular plot of land bounded by a deserted cemetery and a few small farms. Roads still radiate from it in all directions. But many of these, now difficult to follow, lead only to timber tracts where crews of lumbermen are at work, or past homes that are tumbling into ruin among high weeds and apple trees run wild, or by schoolhouses fallen into disuse since the erection of the consolidated school in the village. But one back road in particular is as prosperous as ever. It is known throughout the State because its farms have remained in the same families for generations and the college trained sons have returned even to this day to carry on their fathers' farms. Otherwise this Pomona in the hills belongs to the past, and proves the successful adjustment that the town has made in giving up marginal land to cultivate its more fertile sections.

Back on the other side of the valley the present village hums with life. For a short distance the main road is flanked by fine old houses and freshly painted cottages shaded by a high archway of interlocking elms, above which only the glistening white spire of the Congregational Church reaches. An Odd Fellows hall, a Masonic lodge, and a yellow brick Memorial library bearing tribute to an emigrant son are outstanding public buildings. Where the silent policeman stands to denote an intersection, the less charming and more business‐like section of the village begins. Three general stores, a grist mill, an old hotel, two tearooms, poolrooms and barber shops present quite a business front. People driving up in cars and buggies from outlying farms and neighboring towns to trade create a hum and stir. But the business section soon dwindles, a few shabby tenement houses follow, and then houses at more distant intervals until the quiet little "suburb" of Insville is reached. Beyond this point, the farm houses become more scattered until a few miles down the road the State marker announces the boundary of another township.

The setting of this town is unusually beautiful. To stand on top of one of the highest elevations on a summer morning 'and look across at the circle of mountains still wreathed in mist and down at the winding roads, the bright patches of color of outlying farms, the snug little village with its gleaming church spire in the valley below, is to believe that one is looking down upon some independent little duchy of medieval times, lying serene and prosperous ill its well chosen shelter of the mountains.

Beaufield. Beaufield, situated three miles across "the Marsh" from the college town of Norton, is open rolling land with soil of loam and clay which has grown many crops and some fine apple orchards. This town has lived through the whole history of agriculture ill the State.

In spite of these many changes, life in the town seems little altered. Were a long departed son to return he would find many homes in which descendants of the early settlers still live. Over to the East he could once again lift up his eyes to the wooded hills of the Green Mountain range, and to the West beyond Lake Champlain watch the ever‐changing blue of the distant Adirondacks. At short intervals along the gravelled main road are the same old homes‐‐some with fresh white fronts and bright green trimmings, others looking somewhat shabby. At the church and cemetery is the only semblance of a village. Directly across is the town hall and a general store‐‐now owned by a French Canadian who can boast of being the second generation in town. Diagonally across is the new red brick library and chapter house dedicated to the D. A. R.'s of the town by a prosperous emigrant son. Here one branch of the road angles westward across country to a height of land where a cluster of buildings topped by a church spire denotes West Beaufield. This again is only a semblance of a village‐‐a general store and a short street of houses now occupied chiefly by hired men employed at the nearby estate of another of Beaufield's emigrant sons. Farther on, one turns north up the "back street," where a few well preserved homes mark some of the oldest homesteads in town, while others stand as grey old sentinels of long deserted farms. After encircling the town, one comes back to a vantage point on the main road. Looking from it over the fertile rolling fields and the enduring homes, it is impossible to believe, especially on a spring day with the fragrance of apple blossoms in the air, that the prevailing peace and tranquillity of this farming community call be disturbed by any social unrest.

Sylvania. Sylvania is another world. One of the first outposts of the town as one coasts eastward down the mountain ridge silently speaks for it. It is a home‐‐bleak and weather‐beaten. In the dooryard are strewn parts of implements and sticks of wood. Near the road a few chickens roam and a cow grazes. In the rear is a small garden, the only bit of cultivated land. At one side is an old Ford car, the one hint of farm machinery. Beyond this home are miles of wilderness, then another solitary human habitation, and then more wilderness before the first little community of Ralsville is reached.

Yet at one time this town was a prosperous farming and industrial community. In Sylvania village were two large tanneries employing many men, while several smaller tanneries were located in other parts of the town. A large boot factory, and more recently, a glove factory were located in the main village. With the coming of the railroad in 1880, lumbering became the chief industry. Lumber mills were situated in every section of the town. Toward Grand Falls were two large mills and a most successful mop‐wringer factory.' In West Sylvania were three big sawmills and in Ralsville, two. But of these former industries only two or three small lumber mills and one wood‐turning factory remain today. The others have either died down or have moved away to larger centers, and with them have gone many people.

A lonely reminder of populous days that have been is the deserted village of West Sylvania. Once one of the best farming and lumbering sections of town, it now has been entirely bought over by lumber companies. Not a single one of the grey weather‐beaten houses is occupied. Old timers recall earlier days in this village when at a moment's notice fifty couples could be gathered together for a barn dance; others speak of it as "the dark corner of Sylvania." Only a short distance away a tablet stands to commemorate the spot where Daniel Webster addressed six thousand people who had gathered together from the surrounding hills. Now the entire area is a wilderness, the most bleak part of which, especially on an autumn day when the wind is stripping the trees of their last leaves, is this tomb of a village slowly falling into ruins. But bleak though it is, it is a hopeful reminder of the good judgment shown by the people of the town to move when they have learned of more favorable opportunities elsewhere.

Sylvania village, almost surrounded by mountains and woods, is itself a more stirring center of life. Several short streets are lined with houses. Along the main road are two churches, a bank, a red frame town hall, as well as many private residences. At the busiest corner a small hotel and a busy general store face the Masonic lodge, a private residence, and another general store. But at only a short distance from this corner, homes again are located at distant intervals along the main road. When autumn leaves are swirling down from the nearby mountains into the main street, one tends to speculate on the effect upon the town of having one‐half of its entire property value in the hands of lumber companies and other disinterested non‐residents.

Marks of change such as these lead one to ask: "Who are the people who have gone away from these towns and where have they gone ? What has their going away really meant to the social life of the towns and to the heritage of future generations to be born in these communities? Has their loss been compensated for by the kind of immigrants who have come into these towns and by the preservation of vigorous residual stock?" In an attempt to throw some light on these questions the character of the emigration within the last two decades, 1910 to 1930, has been studied.

Summary. 1. Internal migration has become a vast movement from the farms to the cities, due to the urbanization of industry and to the changing conditions in agriculture. The movement will continue on a large scale until farmers enjoy some of the more important social advantages of the city and have a fair share of the national income.

2. Internal migration is of particular concern to Vermont for it has meant an exodus from this State of practically 40 percent of native born Vermonters at every census since 1850. It has also meant a migration from the small rural communities to the larger centers of population in the State. Though this has been valuable in improving farming conditions for those remaining in the rural areas, it has threatened to drain the countryside of much needed leaders.

3. Three towns representative of the small rural communities of the State were selected for study in an attempt to ascertain what the loss due to emigration has meant to the social life of the towns and to the heritage of the future generations born and raised in them. Changes brought about by emigration are marked in each town, though to a different degree and in a different way in each. These marks of change have encouraged a detailed study of emigration from the three towns during the last two decades 1910 to 1930.

The eugenical importance of emigration to the rural towns lies in the bearing that the movement has upon the quality of the stock of future generations born in these communities and upon the social environment in which they are reared. Changes in either are apparent only over a long period of time. A cross‐section of emigration in the last two decades cannot tell the whole story. But by throwing light on the selective factors at work at present, it shows trends that have persisted over a long period of time. It is these that leave the deepest marks upon the life of a community.

The Three Towns. In the three towns the most marked consequences of emigration are two, one more directly the result of emigration than the other. The one is the consequence in these rural towns of the persistent loss of young people; the other is the effect of tile substitution of immigrants of greater age, lower education and less diversity of occupation than is characteristic of the emigrants.

The importance of the latter problem is twofold. The nature of the immigration has encouraged very little intermingling of old timers and newcomers, so that considerable intermarriage and inbreeding takes place in the towns. Each town is closely bound together by ties of kinship, and though this has not necessarily had unfavorable results, it is a common situation that must be faced in all three towns. Another factor of significance is the difference in the character of the immigrants and emigrants. These differences, even when very slight, tend toward changing the quality, of the stock and the social traditions of the people of the towns.

Of more immediate eugenical significance is the loss of young people in the prime of life from these rural communities. One consequence is the tendency to lack of vitality in the social life of the towns; the other is the effect that this drain has on the fecundity rate in the towns.

It is only when one compares the composition of the population in these rural towns with that of the State as a whole, or with tile United States, that one realizes something of the effect that emigration has had upon the population of these towns.

TABLE XXIX.‐‐‐COMPARISON OF THE PROPORTION OF THE POPULATION IN SIMILAR AGE PERIODS IN THE THREE RURAL TOWNS, 1930, AND IN VERMONT AND IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1920

The proportion of older people in the population of the three rural towns is greater than it is in Vermont as a whole, and considerably greater than it is for the United States.

One condition that is closely related to this large percentage of older people in each town is the low differential birth rate. Whereas for the United States the excess of births over deaths is ten per thousand of the population, and for Vermont as a whole it is six per thousand, the excess of births over deaths in the three rural towns is only three per thousand.

At the same time the size of families is small, smaller than is usual for rural communities.

TABLE XXX.‐‐AVERAGE NUMBER OF CHILDREN PER RESIDENT MARRIED COUPLE CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO WHETHER PARENTS ARE "NEW BLOOD" OR OTHERWISE, THREE RURAL TOWNS, 1910‐1930

In the three towns the average number of living children is 2.5. The average for the older residents is only 2.2, while for newcomers it is 2.7. The older residents of Pomona only are raising families of similar size to those of the newer people.

It is generally agreed that for the preservation of a family 3.6 children per couple is necessary. According to this, it would appear doubtful whether the family strain ill these old towns can continue for very long. From all appearances it would seem that, though the quality of the stock may not be lessened in these towns, the quantity is diminishing.

The loss of young people has affected not only the fecundity rate ill the towns but also the social life and institutions. A theoretical classification of types of population according to progressive, stationary or regressive has been based on the proportion of persons under 15 years of age to those more than 50 years of age. When the percentage of persons between 15 and 50 years of age is nmch less than 50 it indicates that the population has lost by emigration; if it is much greater than 50 it indicates that there have been accessions to the population by immigration.

TABLE XXXI.‐‐THEORETICAL TYPES OF POPULATION BASED ON AGE DISTRIBUTION*

*G. C. Whipple, "Vital Statistics" (2nd ed.), pp. 189‐190.

When the population in each of the three rural towns is compared with this theoretical scale the results are as shown in Table XXXII.

TABLE XXXII.‐‐AGE DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION OF THE THREE RURAL TOWNS ACCORDING TO THEORETICAL TYPES

When rated according to this scale all the towns are regressive; even Pomona is, though it ranks highest of the three. Even though this is a theoretical scale by which to measure the character of the composition of the population in a community, it shows up the seriousness of the drain due to emigration.

To test the character of the people themselves demands another scale of values. Nothing is more important than that, in spite of emigration, there remain in the towns people of vigorous stock, for the future of any community depends upon the ability, energy and initiative of its members. The extent to which such characteristics exist among the residents can best be tested by their ability to earn their living and provide for their families, to furnish a social environment for the best development of their children, and to participate in the affairs of the community and meet the main problems that confront its members. "By their works ye shall know them" seems a fair criterion by which to test the vigor and ability of the citizens of the rural towns. In order to show this best, each town is dealt with separately.

Pomona. Of first importance to a community is that its members are able to earn a living and provide for their dependents. In Pomona there is little question about this ability among the majority of the people. The average income of its farmers leaves little net profit but is sufficient to provide a comfortable living. Business men and wage earners ill the village also earn a fair living, wage earners being considerably better off than they are in Beaufield and Sylvania. Nobody is "on the town." Considering the resources of the valley and the economic conditions in agricultural areas, the people of this town show good ability to earn as much as they do.

The homes that Pomona residents provide for their families are, with but few exceptions, very comfortable. Electricity, running water, and modem plumbing are in nearly every home. Up‐to‐date books and magazines that are not in the homes are to be had at the fine town library. Some of the old retired farmers are a little concerned about the way in which their sons run the old family farm. In their day it was a matter of work from sunrise to sunset with little thought for anything beyond the immediate problem of earning a living for their families. But their sons do not believe in working such long hours, insist on modern conveniences and comforts, and even take a day off occasionally to motor with their family on a holiday, reflecting in this way the improvement of the farmer's lot and the change ill his attitude toward life.

The people of Pomona have undertaken a big task in order to give their children the best advantages of education. The town was one of the first to organize a consolidated school in the village where the children could be sure of good instruction. Even 30 years ago it was possible to obtain two years high school in town. Now a four year course is available. The maintenance of such a school has not been without difficulties. The cost and upkeep is greater than anticipated and the taxes, therefore, are high. The difficulty of bringing the children in from remote farms and the effect that a centralization of education has had upon the remote districts which have become depleted since the closing down of the district schools, has aroused criticism among some people. But in spite of difficulties the fine consolidated school continues.

The townspeople seem to feel, however, that they have done all that is necessary when they have provided a good school for their children. In contrast to the many organizations in town for adults, there is only one organization for young people, and that is the 4‐H Club. Even this club, which after all meets the needs of the farm children more than it serves the young people of the village, is maintained with difficulty, due partly to the lack of clubrooms. These could easily be provided would the townspeople agree to permit one of the two churches to be used for such purposes. But rather than let either church meet such a need, the people prefer to hold services for six months in the Congregational Church and six months in the Baptist Church, letting each stand vacant for six months of each year. The town‐fathers will not permit movies to be shown in the town but they do not provide facilities for organized recreation such as tennis courts or a swimming float in a safe part of the river, to direct the interests of the young people from such recreation as the movies provide. This lack of facilities for recreation, however, is little different from that in the majority of small towns in the State. The people of Pomona do provide many advantages for their children. But it was interesting that in this town which does more for its children than do the other two towns, there was heard expressed more discontent and a desire to "get out" among its young people than among those of the other two towns.

The social mindedness of the adult members of the community is expressed by their participation in the many social organizations of the town and by the interest shown in problems concerning their own welfare. The representatives of old families who keep up the old farms on the famous "back road" have a good understanding of the fundamental problems that confront the farmer. They are also keenly interested in the affairs of their town and often discuss the issues at hand before coming down to town meetings. To care for the social life of the adults in the community are such organizations as the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Rebekahs, Eastern Star, Parent‐Teacher Association, the Farm Bureau, the Red Cross, the Relief Corps and a few other organizations, besides such church organizations as the Ladies' Aid and the Missionary Society. There is no Grange in Pomona but farmers attend the meetings of the Grange in the neighboring town. Judged by the number of clubs it is evident that the town is overfilled with organizations, and to all of them most of the same people belong. The number of organizations does not reflect their vitality, however, and the impression is unavoidably conveyed that some of these organizations are maintained through force of old habit rather than for any other reason. People's time is so taken up by them that, for instance, an attempt made to organize a club with cultural interests had to be dropped because there was no evening or afternoon free for meetings of such a club. There is, however, a desire for a leader within the community expressed by many. One or two people are named as having all the potentialities but not the willingness to lead, due to their vested interests. The felt need for a leader was expressed only in this town which came the nearest of all to having one.

There is only one problem that may threaten in any way the preservation of an unusually fine class of people and of a high code of living, and that is the character of some of the immigrants of late years. The problem is not one of the incoming of a foreign stock but what is more serious, it is the problem of the incoming of native Americans who appear to be of less high quality of stock than are the older residents of the town. Not that this is true of all the immigrants but it is true of a number, a few of whom have come in first as lumberjacks, and many of whom have come in as hired men and tenants for the one farmer in the town who does large scale farming. Some of these have taken up more or less permanent residence in the shabbiest homes in the town and neither in their honesty nor morality measure up to the high standards prevailing in the community.

Except for a few families such as these there can be little question but that people of the finest yeoman stock live in Pomona today. There are few brilliant men and there are few dullards among them. Judged by the interests and activities of the people and by their ability to make of their farms and businesses going concerns, there is little reason to believe that the stock has deteriorated or that descendants of these people for a long time to come, though perhaps diminished in number, will not show as fine capacities as the people of the past and of the present have shown.

Beaufield. The ability of the people of Beaufield to provide a living for themselves and their dependents is on a level practically parallel with that of Pomona. For farmers, incomes range even higher in Beaufield than in Pomona, but the average income in Beaufield is a little lower. The wage earners and business men earn somewhat less than do those in Pomona. But this is due largely to the purely farming aspect of Beaufield compared to the urban aspect of Pomona. Homes are maintained on as high a level as those in Pomona except for the fact that fewer homes in Beaufield are equipped with electricity and modern conveniences. The children of the town receive their education in the eight district schools of the town which provide the elementary school courses. To obtain high school training it is necessary to go to Norton. Outside of the schools, however, the only organization that cares for the interests of the children of the town has been, until very recently, the C. A. R.‐‐Children of the American Revolution. Such an organization, fine as it is, can serve the needs of only a small group in the community and is not particularly suited to bringing together children of old residents and those of foreign‐born immigrants. The 4‐H Club, the one club which does serve the need of all children of the farming community, has only very recently been organized because of the difficulty of finding a leader willing to carry oil the work. There is no organized recreation.

For the adults of the community the social activities are few. One‐time active organizations such as the debating society have died down. Concerts and entertainments at the town hall are only poorly attended, the prevailing opinion being that good entertainments can be found only away from town. But there are here, as in most towns, such organizations as the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Grange. the Parent‐Teacher Association, the Ladies' Aid, and, most active of all, the D.A.R. Annual town meetings which afford the best opportunities for all the townspeople to get together have dwindled in importance to perfunctory affairs, even though discussions become heated about high taxes, the upkeep of back roads and the maintenance of schools. This lack of interest in town meetings, according to some of the citizens, is caused by the town governments having given over much of their power and privileges to the State Legislature.

The lack of vitality of local organizations is due in part to the loss of young people by emigration, but it is also due to the changed outlook of farmers. No longer concerned with only local issues, the farmer's interests radiate far beyond the bounds of his small community, and he is challenged to organize on a large scale.

Some of the changes that have taken place are due to the character of the immigration into town. It is not that the immigrants are of inferior stock, but that they are mostly of foreign stock, with different social customs than those of the old residents. Assimilation is not all easy matter. The church, once the greatest agency for bringing together all the people of the town, is no longer able to do this. While the old residents meet as before in the one remaining church in town, the French Canadians, who now compose a considerable part of the population of the town, go to the Roman Catholic Church in Norton. The French Canadians do, however, take an active part in the Grange in town, but since they have done so, the older residents for one reason and another have dropped out. It would seem that there is much to be learned about cooperation on both sides. A certain amount of working together has come about, however, and is due, in part at least, to the fact that the immigration of French Canadians has been gradual. Many who are now second and third generation in town are thoroughly American and are as concerned about the coming in of new French Canadians as are the older residents of Vermont stock. As a rule, the old residents speak well of the French Canadians, though they explain that the town is no longer "one big family" as it once was.

The townspeople, both old and new, take unusual care to keep out of their town persons of questionable character, or people who may become dependent on the town. The elimination of such people does much to maintain a fine class of people in the town. Nor does there seem to be any danger that the quality of the stock of future citizens will decline. The quantity may diminish, but as long as representatives of present residents remain in town, there is little question but that they will be able to produce as fine future citizens as ever have come from this fine agricultural town.

Sylvania. Sylvania is different. Its people are not driven by the will "to get on," as are the people on the other side of the mountain. For them "to be content" means much more than "to get on." Earning a living is something of a haphazard affair for most people in the town. Few work at steady jobs or own private businesses such as store, garage or woodturning factory. Few too persist at farming. Most of the townspeople have long since decided that to work as hard as the farmers of the town do to earn so little, isn't worth the effort. They prefer rather to raise "just enough for ourselves" and earn their living by other means than farming.

The ways in which these citizens earn their living illustrate the ingenuity of man in competing with nature. In the spring they usually tap maple trees on their "farms" and boil down maple sugar to sell. During the summer and fall many go ferning. This has been quite an industry for many years. Sometimes a "boss" rents a whole side of a mountain and hires men and women to pick a special variety of fern which he ships to florists in Boston, or else people do this "on their own." For every neat bunch of twenty‐four fresh, perfect ferns twelve inches long, the pickers earn one cent. On an especially good day fast pickers occasionally earn as much as six dollars but the average daily earning is nearer three dollars. In the winter there is little work to be had except occasionally to cut some timber and sell a few loads of wood.

There are other ways of earning a living. People on remote farms beyond the area served by a school district sometimes have as their chief source of income the money paid them by the town for driving the children back and forth to school. It is said that some people even choose to live at a considerable distance from school so that they may be assured of this steady income. Then there is always work at repairing and maintaining the roads. This is a highly desired job because it means more or less steady employment during the summer and a steady wage of $2.75 to $3.00 per day. Fortunately the flood of 1927 did considerable damage in the town, and the repairing of roads, the building of bridges and the rebuilding of the West River railroad that runs through the town have provided employment for many people ever since. Now that this work is nearly completed it seems uncertain what the people will do next unless lumbering booms again.

None of these ways of earning a living is particularly lucrative, though a few men have made small fortunes in Sylvania. The great majority of its townspeople earn little more than five or six hundred dollars a year, and some earn less. This has been estimated as a good earning average for isolated sections of the country as a whole, but it seems very little on which to raise a family. Yet citizens of Sylvania generally pay their debts, are seldom in arrears with their taxes, and usually manage to save a little nest egg for later years.

But there are many poor, though only three are dependent on the town for reasons of poverty only. One of the many instances of poverty is the circumstance in which an old couple in a remote community find themselves. They never managed to save any money and now they are too old to work. Their tiny home is mortgaged and unless they make the yearly payment of $180 they are in clanger of losing it. By gathering faggots and doing a few odd chores the old man has managed so far to earn each year just the sum necessary to meet the payment on the mortgage. But what this old couple may be suffering at present or what may be their worry over the future is apparently no one's concern until they become so destitute that they have to appeal to the town for aid. The town is not always careful to keep out families who may become dependent on the town. Among several such families is a young couple and their nine children who have left debts behind them in a distant town to come and "squat" in a remote vacant house in Sylvania. Here without money and without work they plan to stay. Giving the best of care to nine children is too much work for a nervous mother, 26 years of age and so a five‐year‐old son who has had infantile paralysis does not get the attention needed to restore atrophied muscles. He hops and crawls around on his one good leg while his braces go unrepaired until some time when his father will remember to take them to town to be mended. Small incomes limit the comforts of home and the advantages that can be provided for the children. A great responsibility is put upon the schools of such a town, and mature experienced teachers are needed. But here, as in other rural communities, such teachers are seldom found. Ill one isolated school in town, a young inexperienced teacher does her best to instruct nearly fifty children in all the elementary school grades. In another remote school is a young teacher concerned with the responsibility of providing for her home and caring for her twill babies while she teaches school. None of the schools are equipped well enough to measure up to standard.

But in spite of handicaps, the people of the town do what they can for their children. The most active organization in three communities of the town is the Parent‐Teacher Association. In each section it has worked hard to raise the standard of the schools. Many parents deprive themselves ill order to send their children to high school in neighboring towns. But they are often discouraged at the lack of ambition shown by their children. Among even those who finish high school there are some who have little desire to do anything other than work at whatever chance jobs may arise in the town. When some young people were asked what they would like to do more than anything else if they were perfectly free to choose, they replied, "Oh, I like logging and any work around here as well as anything." To find a fine‐looking young girl who says she wants to go to high school but is staying at home because she cannot afford to go, is very disturbing until one discovers that the real reason for her not going is that she cannot face being away from her mother the five school days out of each week. As a rule parents are proud that their sons remain "home boys" and are little concerned with the criticism sometimes made that "It would be hard to tell what the married sons in town would do if it weren't for their fathers." The initiative and healthy discontent that is found among the young people of Pomona scarcely exists here, and its lack strikes a discouraging note in the life of the town.

The immigration into Sylvania appears to be of a different character from that into Pomona and Beaufield. It is not an immigration of people of somewhat inferior stock as is the tendency in Pomona, or of foreign stock as in Beaufield, but rather it tends to be an immigration of able but maladjusted people. The impression that newcomers give is that they are running away from life and that Sylvania has provided them with the means for escape. Some of these are people who have "come in the night" to Sylvania, to find there freedom from interference. Many who come are well‐educated people, a few even talented. Of two brothers who have come in with their families, one is an accomplished violinist, the other a clever cartoonist. After wide traveling, they have chosen to make their homes on worthless back farms of Sylvania. Religious extremists find a haven here. Near Grand Falls two families still remain of a former colony of Seventh Day Adventists. These two families maintain a church in which room is made for a school. Here five children are instructed without supervision by an Adventist mother who teaches geography according to the location of Missions of Adventists throughout the world. Nearby on a lonely farm lives a Finnish woman of rare character who after years of hard work in New York and other cities has bought herself this piece of land which nothing could induce her to leave. Numerous examples such as these cannot fail to convey the impression that these people have found a means of escape in Sylvania.

Some of the older residents too have found life difficult to face. One unusually able and gifted mother having had to bear the brunt of all the shiftlessness and the failure of her family has chosen to see only the beautiful in her drab surrounding. Even her dull 15‐year‐old son who stands about, tall and lank and homely, is to her "like Abe Lincoln must have been."

Another instance is that of a young man of 21 years who has come back with his wife and child to the old home farm long since vacated by his father, after having worked around in fifteen different places and finding it impossible ever to get along with his employers. The old farm is long since worn out, the outbuildings are fallen down, and the house is badly in need of repair. But there in one tiny room furnished with a few pieces of furniture he and his family live. When in the middle of the night in late fall his wife gave birth to a child, it was with difficulty that the doctor could persuade one woman in the village to venture with him on the dangerous journey over miles of impassable road to the wilderness where this lonely farmhouse stands.

Some people are "queer," with peculiarities hardly necessary to describe. Some people chafe against their fate. One cultured woman explained that it wouldn't be bad if one hadn't known anything different but as it is, "One might as well dig one's grave and lie in it as continue living in Sylvania."

But these are instances of maladjusted people, who after all are not many in the entire population of the town. The average citizen of Sylvania is a fine type and a choice character that is all too fast disappearing. Among representatives of well‐known families in town are direct descendants of Vermont's hero, Ethan Allen, and representatives of the families who in the past have given to the country Presidents Pierce and Taft. The descendants of these and other illustrious families are still among the outstanding people in town. Only a detailed study of each of these families might tell the extent to which the members who have remained in Sylvania stand above or below the average for all the members of each family, in ability and energy.

The social activities of the town are cared for by the Masons and the Eastern Star, the Dramatic Club, and by the church organizations such as the Benefit Society, the Ladies' Aid and the Missionary Society. Some of these organizations have been particularly concerned with improvements in the town such as the building of sidewalks and providing equipment in the schools. But the organizations of each community seldom work together. The people of Ralsville and East Sylvania do not even attend church in Sylvania village. On the occasions that they do go to church it is usually to one in an adjoining town. And yet, proof of the fine ability and the capacity for cooperation that does exist among the people, was their production of a pageant for "Home Day" last year. Practically all the residents in town participated in the scenes of a pageant which told the history of Sylvania from the days of the Indians to the present time. The entire program was planned and conducted by the people of the town and was one of the most outstanding performances given in years in the entire southeastern part of the State.

There is a charm about Sylvania that is not found in the other two towns. In a short time one becomes so imbued with its spirit of carefree contentment that the hustle and hurry on the other side of the mountain seems useless and vain. During hunting season for instance, everyone feels free to stop work and hunt game. For a few days shots resound through the woods, and in nearly every home, at any time of day are to be found a group of men with old red caps pushed back on their heads, shotguns at their sides, seated around the kitchen stove‐‐deer hunting. Perhaps the charm of the place is best expressed by one of the citizens who explained‐‐"It is always afternoon here."

The town is an ideal place for a rest cure, but not so ideal a place in which to spend a lifetime. There is lacking in the environment the stimulus that is necessary to bringing out the best inherent capacities of the citizens and to encouraging the children to greater effort. In the words of a critical newcomer, "The people seem to be dormant." This suggests deterioration, and is, in consequence, a challenge to the State to pursue a line of action, for the sake of its future welfare, that will prevent deterioration from taking place in the quality of the stock of the citizens yet to be born in such of its rural communities.

These are ways in which the three rural towns have been affected by emigration‐‐each in a different way and each to a different degree. It may be said that three towns are not representative of all the small rural towns of the State, but this we know‐‐that there are few small rural communities as prosperous as Pomona, many that do not measure up to the high average set by Beaufield and some that fall far below the standard set by Sylvania.

Summary. Emigration has affected the life of the rural communities by the loss of able young people and by changes due to the nature of the immigration.

1. The small immigration has affected the comnnmities by encouraging considerable intermarriage and inbreeding; it has also brought a new element into the towns which though small is somewhat difficult to assimilate. In Pomona immigrants tend to be American of poorer stock than that of the emigrants or of the older residents ill town. In Beaufield most of the immigrants are foreigners‐‐French Canadians. In Sylvania they tend to be able but somewhat maladjusted people of native stock.

2. The emigration of young people has affected the vigor of the social life and the fecundity rate in these towns. The excess of births over deaths in each town is very low and the size of family is small.

3. In order to show the extent to which the qualities of energy and vigor attributed to emigrants exists among the residents of the three towns, their ability to manage their own affairs, to provide for their young and to meet the problems that confront them, were illustrated in each town. In Pomona and in Beaufield, judged by the ability of the people to provide well for their families, to give their children advantages of education, to cope with the problems that are common to all rural people, there is little sign of deterioration in the quality of the stock or in the social environment in which the young people of these communities are raised. In Sylvania people live under difficulties. Many are able to earn but a meagre living and can provide but few advantages for themselves and for their children. The environment lacks the stimulus that is necessary to challenge the potential abilities of the residents so that some fine qualities of character tend to become dormant and ,nay, in the process of time, deteriorate.

Migration within the United States continues on as vast a scale as in pioneer days. Only the direction of the movement has changed so that the westward trek has become a cityward movement. The persistency of this migration has threatened the older communities of the country with deterioration in the social life and in the quality of the stock of future generations. The consequences are of particular importance to Vermont since its rural communities have been drained more by emigration over a longer period of time than have similar communities elsewhere. Into the recent migratory movement have gone the young people of the rural towns, and among them many of the better educated. Their loss has affected to a considerable extent the vigor of the social life and also the fecundity rate in the rural communities. The quality of the immigration has compensated to a large extent for the loss due to emigration, but it is made up, in part, of people of a different quality of stock from that of the emigrants and of the old residents, and has therefore tended to alter the life in the towns. But people of fine character and ability predominate in the rural communities. Whether they will continue to do so, considering the low fecundity rate and the extent of emigration, is the challenge that is flung to the State.

Recommendations. To maintain people of fine stock in the rural communities two conditions are most essential. One is that in the rural sections which are fertile and well suited to cultivation conditions be so improved that people who really love the land are encouraged to remain. The other is that in the rural sections where the land is poor and little suited to cultivation the people be encouraged to leave for more progressive communities, lest deterioration in the quality of the stock of future citizens occur.

One line of action that is necessary to holding a fine class of people in the rural communities is that both the economic and social conditions of the farmers in the good rural sections be improved. Economic improvement for Vermont farmers can be brought about by greater cooperation in marketing, and by producing and selling products of only first class quality‐‐for Vermont's future prosperity lies not in the quantity but in the quality of its products. Amelioration in the social life can come only through better rural schools, improvement in rural health conditions, and in means to enjoy comforts and modern conveniences. Such improvements will do much to encourage people of fine character, who really love the land, to remain in the rural communities; and only when such improvements have been made can the people be encouraged to raise larger families so that the same fine quality of stock may always be represented in the rural towns of the State.

The second line of action is, if anything, more important than the first. It is that the State encourage people who live on marginal land to move to the more progressive communities of the State by taking over all marginal land. This of course would demand first a careful study of each township to determine reorganization on the basis of the uses for which land is best suited. It may appear at first a costly program, but in the long run it will repay a hundredfold in human values even more than in land values. Deterioration can take place only in poor isolated communities where the potential capacities of the people are not challenged into use. If then Vermont wishes its future citizens to have the same fine qualities of character that marked the early builders of the State, it must pursue a line of action that will prevent deterioration from taking place by providing a social environment that will continue to bring out all the fine qualities in the character of its people.

FORMS OF BLANKS USED RESIDENTS

MAPS OF THE THREE TOWNS‐‐1930