592 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



success, receive the support, not only of the farmer, but also 

 of the farmer's wife. 



The county farm bureau should include the women of the 

 farm and their household problems in its scope. If these pro- 

 gressive movements are to go forward the home must not be 

 neglected. For on the home foundation is built all that is good 

 in state or individual. Many farmers' 'wives do more reading 

 than their husbands, and are more susceptible to suggestions, 

 and are anxious and alert to make progress in their life work. 



The first problem of the farmer is how to increase farm prod- 

 ucts through labor-saving devices and better farming. The 

 first problem of the farmer's wife is how to improve the con- 

 dition of her home. The mistake of the husband in his sphere 

 during one season may, with the aid of the farm adviser, be 

 corrected in the next. The mistakes made by the wife in the 

 home and in rearing her children are never entirely corrected. 

 The woman is in greater need of expert advice than the man, 

 and we should have a special county bureau for women, with 

 a woman well trained in home economics at the head of it. 

 Her expert advice would enable the wives and mothers to solve 

 many home problems and make the home life more efficient. 

 The future of most families depends upon the mother. She 

 is the one who does much to make for the happiness and the 

 health of her family, and it is her attitude toward the farm and 

 her success in making a happy farm home that largely deter- 

 mines whether the boy or girl remains on the farm. 



If the mother feels that the farm offers no future for the 

 boy or girl the chances are that the farm will lose them. You 

 may remember the little waif. Glory McGuire, as she looked 

 through the window at rich children's parties she would lament. 

 Oh, the good times going on in the world and me not in them! 

 Farm women want some of the good times. Is it fair for the 

 cities to absorb all the talent or culture generated in the country 

 and never send any of it back from whence it came? Seldom 

 does a high official of church, school or state visit the rural 

 districts except to draw more votes, more dollars or more chil- 

 dren from the homes of the farmers. 



With good roads eliminating space, and with the telephone, 

 country women want and can have social centers and neighbor- 

 hood gatherings. They need domestic science, the neighbor- 

 hood nurse, the traveling library and the up-to-date con- 

 solidated district school and playground. All farm women 

 have in a large degree the same experience, and therefore they 



