354 Missouri Agricultural Beport. 



not enjoying equality of opportunity under the law with the 37i4 per 

 cent, residing in town centers. 



Childhood is the preparatory stage of life — it is all too brief — it 

 comes but once. The children of today are the citizens of tomorrow, 

 and I can think of no more pathetic thing than to hear man or woman 

 cry out, from the despair of knowledge .that comes too late, this sad 

 commentary on the failures of parents ancl teachers, "It might have 

 been — success — if only I had had timely opportunity and direction." 



It augurs well for the future of IMissouri that at this great meet- 

 ing of twelve organizations for the advancement of the agricultural re- 

 sources of this rich State, so much time is set apart for the considera- 

 tion of the problems of the country home and the country school. It 

 is hoped that this discussion will result in increased activity and a 

 closer co-operation of the State's economic, social and educational forces 

 to the end that the evolution of the coimtry child from the deadening 

 monotony of the isolated home, too often without books, pictures and 

 music ; from the dirty bare school and its daily grind of hum-drum les- 

 sons from the text-book, from the mud, the dreariness, the hopelessness 

 of it all — may come early and stop the steady flow of the State's best 

 blood to the cities and towns with all its accompanying ills. 



Because we who are here tonight are deeply interested in aiding 

 any movement that promises to better country life conditions, and keep 

 the majority of the boys and girls on the farm, it becomes necessary 

 first to examine closely these conditions and then consider remedial 

 measures. 



And do you know it requires a great degree of moral courage to 

 view unpleasant truths squarely 1 Yet this persistent refusal on the part 

 of so many to recognize painful facts is one of the greatest obstacles to 

 progress in any line of human endeavor; another obstacle, equally 

 strong is tradition or custom, as I hope to show^ you later on. 



As an incentive to a thoughtful consideration of what follows, I quote 

 what Judge Ben Lindsey once said: "The child is the State and the 

 State is the child. Preserve the child, and indeed you shall preserve 

 the State; for the citizenship of tomorrow will then take care of itself." 



A good citizenship is the most valuable asset a State can claim, keep- 

 ing it stable in time of stress, more valuable than stocks or bonds, farms 

 or crops even ; whereas without it, we would be unhappy in wealth. 

 While it must be admitted we have good citizens in urban communities, 

 it is also granted that the cities themselves would decay were it not for 

 the constant stream of virile country blood they receive — and history 

 shows that always the intelligent, honest, industrious tiller of the soil has 



