Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/650

 630 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

in all the rural mill communities, which are now counted by the score to every one in a city, a garden patch always, and often pasturage for one cow, can be counted on with every cottage.

House rent is not a considerable item. The mill cottages rent by the month on the basis of 60 cents to $i per room, and they range in size from three to eight rooms, four, however, being the rule. With few exceptions these cottages are fairly comfortable and built with a view to good sanitation. Outside of cities, each one has its ground space where the inmates may grow flowers and vegetables, thus fostering a form of local attachment that is by no means weak.

From this brief survey it may be deduced that, while the one- time tiller of the soil has lost something in becoming a factory operative, he has also gained something. A surer balance between gain and loss may be struck when we have looked well into the subject of education in the new mill communities.

LEONORA BECK ELLIS. ATLANTA, GA.