100 Mlssiniri AgriniJl lira] L'rpnrl. 



Tliey are yoiii-s foi- llic askiiiji'. No one is to Itl.-iiiic bill yoursell', and 

 no one is e\'ei- iioinji;' to give tlieiii to \'ou. \\\' have had a eomniission 

 appointed ))y the President of the United States to investigate country 

 life, to investigate country schools, and what did they find? Inadequate 

 schools, ])oor roads, i)oor sanitary conditions and little done to furnish 

 recreation and other amusements. 



Go to tlie city, visit the man that handles your commodities. He will 

 meet you with an automobile, take you about and show you the sights. 

 Can you meet liim witli an automobile when he comes to your home? 

 Possibly some of you can, but very few. When a farmer gets an auto- 

 mobile the fact is written up in the paper, is considered something won- 

 derful. Now the farmer is the one who ought to have the automobile; 

 the banker has it for pleasure, the farmer needs it for business. 



There is just one method, and one alone, by which the farmers can 

 accomplish the ends he should accomplish and give to himself and his 

 children the ])lessings of life to whicli they are entitled, and that is by 

 co-operating. The farmer's first imperative need and duty is co-opera- 

 tion in marketing his products in order that he may get a liviijg price 

 for 'what he produces. At Voltaire, N. D., there is a farmers' organiza- 

 tion having its own l)uilding in which to transact business and to hold 

 the meetings. The farmers meet in an upper room and the basement is 

 fitted up for children to spend the evening while their parents are en- 

 gaged in the upper room. They have their grain elevator, insurance, 

 and telephone companies which are managed at Crosby. I don't think 

 there is anything more necessary than to have a nice place fitted up 

 where the farmers can hold their meetings. You pay out more in the State 

 of jMissouri for tobacco and liquor than you would to Iniild in every 

 township in the State a consolidated school house with a large hall that 

 might be used as a place where you could gather for recreation and to 

 transact your business. 



We read a great deal in the papers today a])out tlie depopulation of 

 the rural districts. Can we blame the people for leaving the country? 

 Go out here eight or ten miles from the railroad, and what opportunity 

 have you there for young people to have a decent good time ? We hear 

 a great deal in the cities about young people going astray. The same 

 thing is going on in the country only we don't hear so much about it, 

 and what are you, as farmers, doing toward protecting your children 

 and your neigh])or's children? What are you doing towards making 

 the farm life pleasant? Has you school iiouse a i)iano, a play ground, 

 and a croquet or tennis grounds? I want to say to you, gentlemen, that 

 the perpetuity of this Union does not depend upon our glorious Consti- 



