262 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



eradication of human tuberculosis. But has not this work all been 

 done in order to provide for the future of these same boys and girls? 

 It is not believable that the farmer loves his stock better than he 

 loves his children. Rather, he has a sublime belief in the child's 

 power to overcome the influence of his environment and come out 

 well in the end. Then, too, the end was not so easily seen. The 

 pigs and calves are looked upon from one standpoint only — the 

 financial standpoint. It is simply a business proposition; so many 

 pigs, so much feed, so long a time, so much money received, so 

 much profit. 



But can the care of children and the value of a true home be 

 expressed in terms of dollars and cents? The home must be the 

 expression of the intellectual and spiritual as well as of the physical 

 Hfe of the family group and these cannot be expressed in terms 

 of money any more than we can put a money valuation on good 

 health. We know how much is expended for doctors' bills, how 

 much time is lost, and can estimate the value of the material goods 

 not produced in a time of illness. These we can put in dollars and 

 cents, but do they tell half the story? And who can express the 

 happiness and contentment the spirit of well being and peace with 

 the world in such terms? How shall he express the value to the 

 family of a housemother who is not worked to a state of exhaustion 

 every day and who has time for good books and good music; who 

 has time to spend with her children as they grow up, and enjoy the 

 things they are doing and to co-operate with the teacher from whom 

 they are receiving their education? 



The housewife has a difficult problem because it is indefinite, 

 but it is hoped by the home makers' clubs to simplify life not to 

 make it more complex; to get at the essentials and let the unim- 

 portant go ; to standardize housework as work on the farm has been 

 standardized ; to learn by study and by each other's experience how 

 we may work to save labor ; to install in our farmhouses as well as 

 on the farms, labor saving devices that will give the housemothers 

 healthier, happier lives with more leisure time for their own enjoy- 

 ment and development. 



The State Board of Agriculture can help the home makers' 

 clubs in many ways — such as by furnishing lecturers for special 

 occasions, judges for contests; by helping in the planning of pro- 

 grams and sending lists of bulletins on various subjects and by their 

 own bulletins. Several clubs may unite and arrange for a "short 

 course" of five or ten days ; all the clubs in one county may form a 

 county organization meeting each two months or oftener and all 



