people were accustomed to sleep in one not very large bedroom,
which had only one small window, and even that was nailed shut,
one of these five had incipient tuberculosis. These people were
well-to-do farmers, living in a large twelve-room, stone house and
simply crowded into one room for the sake of mistaken economy--
presumably to save coal and wood.

Many such cases could be described, not only in the more remote
and backward regions, but even in prosperous farming communities.

What is the result of this overcrowding and lack of proper housing
in the country? Just exactly the same as in the great cities--lack
of efficiency, disease, and premature death to many ... While the
great majority of people subjected to overcrowding and bad housing
conditions do not prematurely die, yet they have a lessened
physical and mental vigor, are less able to do properly their
daily work, and not only become a loss to themselves and their
families, but to the state ... [Footnote: Bashore, "Overcrowding
and defective housing in the rural districts," quoted in Nourse,
AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, pp. 118, 119, 121.]

STRENGTH OF THE NATION DEPENDS ON THE HOME

Some of our states and many of our cities have laws to regulate
housing conditions, but such laws seldom apply to small
communities. In cities where people live crowded together in
closely built city blocks, unsanitary conditions in one home
endanger the health of the entire community. There is also danger
from fire, and vice and crime may breed and spread quickly and
unseen. The community is driven, therefore, in its own defense, to