3389 What they were saying 70 years ago

"The farm family [previous paragraph was on divorce rate being much lower in rural areas] remains also the cradle of the nation, whereas the urban family is its grave. Births have declined so rapidly in the cities that urban populations are no longer reproducing themselves. Without the migration of rural youth into the cities to make up the deficit of necessary births, cities would find their population depleted by two-thirds within a century, assuming that the rate of decrease will remain what it now is; and as a matter of fact the trend is to a greater and greater decline." . . .

"Among social institutions that touch upon the material well-being of people, postulate high moral qualities, and produce rich social by-products, few, if any, are the equal of private property. Basic to peace, order, and progress is the security of private property. On this account, Pope Leo XIII, almost fifty years ago, in his celebrated encyclical, Rerum Novarum — On the Condition of Workingmen, developed at length arguments in behalf of private property. 'The law, therefore, should favor ownership,' he wrote, 'and its policy should be to induce as many people as possible to become owners.' "

Aloisius Muench, Bishop of Fargo, North Dakota, Catholic Rural Life Objectives, St. Paul, 1937, pp. 16–19. Annals of American History, accessed Jan 21, 2007.