666 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



be on duty in the field every day, the farm woman's eyes often follow 

 longingly the trail of dust that tells of passing autos, and on particularly 

 strenuous days, when she is over-tired and nerve wearied, the fluttering 

 veils in the fleeting cars, seem but to mock at her loneliness and to 

 emphasize her deprivations. It is then she whispers to herself that poig- 

 nant little phrase that has so imperiled the proper balance between city 

 and rural population, "I wish we could go to town to live. It would be 

 so much more enjoyable to live there and so much better for the chil- 

 dren." 



And they go to town. And many of their neighbors with them. It 

 may be for better school privileges; for more social advantage; or be- 

 cause of the scarcity of farm help. But whatever the reason, the fact 

 remains that they go, for statistics show a steadily decreasing popula- 

 tion in this and many other states. We are appalled by the fact that 

 this is so, but surprisingly unconcerned about the reason or the remedy. 

 And there is a remedy as well as a reason. 



Out in Putnam county, Illinois, is a country community from which 

 the people have no desire to go. Those familiar with the situation there 

 have pronounced it the most ideal country community in the United 

 States. The centralization of social interest here began in a small way 

 when a Grange was organized. It was rapidly furthered through the 

 efforts of a country church in which the whole neighborhood met re- 

 gardless of denomination or belief. At the Gramge, all matters of spe- 

 cial interest to the community were discussed. Farm problems of one 

 kind or another, such as cropping systems, co-operative buying, and 

 more efflcient labor. School problems were brought up for considera- 

 tion, and this quickly led to the consolidation of the township schools. 

 A man named John L. Swaney and his wife gave twenty-four acres for 

 the campus of this school and the concentrated effort of all concerned 

 have succeeded in making it the pride of the school world. 



In Indiana, the state which now leads in the number of its con- 

 solidated schools, the co-operative spirit has been furthered by the 

 school consolidation. The township schools have made ideal meeting 

 places, and extensive school programs have often been the means of 

 interesting the community in its social welfare. 



Michigan takes the lead in the number of its Farmers' Clubs. It 

 has more than one thousand local clubs and a strong state organization. 



Iowa is far behind in the matter of rural organization, and much the 

 pity, for, quoting from a late periodical, "We have come to the place 

 where the progressiveness of a state may usually be very accurately 

 measured by the number of live country clubs within its boundaries." 

 But Iowa is awakening, they further tell us, and already has about 

 150 live clubs although her state association is less than two years old. 



The main purposes of Farmers' Clubs seem to be, according to their 

 various constitutions and by-laws, discussions among the farmers con- 

 cerning more farm efficiency, better roads, better buying and selling 

 methods, and better laws for farmers; for their wives, work is taken 

 up along the lines of Home Economics, labor saving methods, and child 



