Essay on the Cost of Progress
I've been slowly working my way through "I'll Take My Stand" by the Twelve Southerners and really enjoying most of the essays. Last night I read an essay that communicated exactly the ideas that I have been thinking. The essay was entitled The Hind Tit and was written by Andrew Nelson Lytle. Here's a little quote regarding the coming influence of industrialization and what a man should do to prepare for it:

"They also tell him that he (meaning his family) deserves motor-cars, picture shows, chainstore dresses for the women-folks, and all the articles in Sears-Roebuck catalogues. By telling him how great is his deserving, they prepare the way to deprive him of his natural deserts. He must close his ears to these heresies that accumulate about his head, for they roll from the tongues of false prophets. He should know that prophets do not come from cities, promising riches and store clothes. They have always come from the wilderness, stinking of goats and running with lice and telling of a different sort of treasure, one a corporation head would not understand."

This essay also seems to have served as the basis for H.L. Roush's "Henry and the Great Society," which expands many of Lytle's observations into a full narrative of the effects of "Progress." For those interested in reading through the 45 page essay, I found an online copy HERE (link to The Hind Tit). 

¶ 4/25/2005 08:49:00 AM