1019] EDITOKIAL. 705 



try Life was appointed in 1908 it was received with surprise and 

 even skepticism, and regarded by some as in the nature of a reproach. 

 Those who remained open-minded toward it were often none the less 

 doubtful as to the meaning of it or the necessity for it. 



The commission was a response to a belief that, while farmers at 

 that time were probably more prosperous than at any previous 

 period, country living and the opportunities for a healthful and 

 sa-tisfying life were trailing considerably behind those of urban 

 communities, and that this was haAnng an unmistakable effect upon 

 the welfare of the agricultural people and upon the industry itself. 

 In appointing the commission, the President expressed the view that 

 v>'hile public attention had rightly been concentrated at the begin- 

 ning on means of increasing production, w'hen this had been accom- 

 plished "the effort for better farming should cease to stand alone 

 and should be accompiinied by the effort for better businiess and 

 better living on the farm." He held that the great rural interests 

 are human interests, and that good crops are of little value to the 

 farmer unless they open the door to a good kind of life on the farm. 



The inquiry and the recommendations of the commission rested in 

 the belief that country life might be made to supply the four great 

 requirements — health, education, occupation, and society; that the 

 disadvantages and handicaps that are not a natural part of the 

 farmer's business should be removed, and that forces should be en- 

 couraged and set in motion which would stimulate and direct force- 

 fully local initiative and leadership. Its life was too short to do 

 more than open up the subject and set in motion a train of thought 

 which gradually led to study and action, and has resulted in much 

 progress in improving material conditions. It is interesting to note 

 how many of the suggestions made in its brief report have been put 

 into effect in the less than twelve years that have intervened. These 

 include the establishment of an agricultural extension system on a 

 national basis, a rural credit system, parcel post and postal savings 

 banks, a national system of road improvement, the provision of a 

 vast amount of information on marketing, market conditions, prices, 

 warehouses, etc., the establishment of standards for grading prod- 

 ucts, promotion of organization and cooperation, the control of 

 liquor traffic, greater attention to rural health, and numerous other 

 measures which have a vital bearing on farming and life in the 

 country. 



Progress in the introduction of rural economics in the colleges has 

 been quite steady in the past few years, and as a teaching subject it is 

 now accorded a definite place. Nation-wide activity has been or- 

 ganized in aid of marketing farm products, and farm management 

 has become a well recognized brancli. But investigation in the broad 



