COUNTRY LIFE
"More Light"
A lament reaches me from a small and rather isolated village in Essex concerning the absence of light. The electric com-
pany refuses altogether to bring electricity to the village, where it is greatly desired, on the ground that it would bring only a small percentage of profit, not more than 6 per cent. Now, electricity in these days may be called a necessity of life. It is my conviction that nothing more surely tends to send young people from the country to the town than the lack of light in the homes, a deficiency due sometimes to the electric com- panies, sometimes to the owners of the cottages. Neither of these two culprits has any excuse for a refusal to give the benefit of electric light and power. In Sweden, which is a country of much more scattered habitations than ours and a poorer country, the Government decided many years ago to take the telephone to the remotest houses in order to spread Swedish culture. That is a model attitude. If our social reformers really desire to keep a healthy rural community in its place they could take no more effective method than by compelling the supply of electric light to cottages and of light and power to the farms. Neither public utility company nor a landlord should be able to refuse this benefit ; and the general experience is that the provision of light and power becomes remunerative even in the poorest districts. Dwellers are willing, are anxious, to pay their scot in this regard.
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