90 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



murders resulting from drinking; read of the poverty in the slums 

 where children swarm and the display of the extravagance of the 

 foolish rich; we read of the great need for charity, of poverty 

 that is the result of misfortune or vice; we read of the strikes 

 and the lockouts, of oppression of labor by capital, of great 

 accumulation of wealth to oppress the weak and poor; we see 

 the foolish girls both in the country and in town who, caught by 

 the glitter of the city, flock on its streets, often falling prey to 

 the lust of men who glory in their shame. When we think of 

 all this in the city, can we doubt for a moment that the clean, 

 wholesome life of the country folk is far and away the happiest, 

 the most useful life? 



We must, therefore, from a technical and moral motive do 

 everything possible to keep our people who live in the country, 

 in the small towns, from rushing into the already overcrowded 

 cities and becoming consumers instead of producers. We must 

 do everything to keep the best brains of the nation where the 

 best brains originate-^-on the farm. They will not be wasted 

 there — and there is just one way in which this can be done, 

 and that in my judgment is this: Give the farmer and his family 

 economic justice and the problem is solved. The bright lights 

 and the gay white way lures a few, many perhaps, to the city; 

 the desire to wear a stiff collar and keep the hands clean is the 

 motive of some; the expectation of escaping hard work attracts 

 a few foolish ones, but the vast majority of those people who 

 leave the farm and go to the city, and the vast majority of 

 emigrants who take up the city life instead of the country life, 

 do so because they believe they can make more money in the 

 city; they believe that there are bigger opportunities for them in 

 the city. If we expect to keep them on the farm we must not 

 only show them the opportunities which already exist, but we 

 must see to it that the farm opportunities are in reality as great 

 as those of the city. We must see to it that the city man has 

 no unfair or artificial advantage over the farmer. Let the farm- 

 ers of Missouri and Kansas get a hundred cents on the dollar 

 for all- they produce and they will make country life attractive 

 without any commission to show them how. Give them the 

 money and they will need no guardian to show them how to 

 spend it. As a matter of course, this cannot be accomplished in 

 a day or in a year. Our whole system of distribution must be 

 readjusted in some way before the farmer will attain economic 



