598 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



salt has lost its savor wherewith shall it be salted? Hence, I cheerfully add 

 my mite to the feast of good thoughts which has been spread before this 

 institute today. The conclusions which have been drawn are largely the 

 result of personal observation and experience, and, as a result, may refer 

 rather to local conditions and problems than to any general characteristics 

 of farm life; though I am inclined to believe that what is true in north- 

 western Iowa will be found to be largely true throughout our great middle 

 west. In some few instances the suggestions are almost wholly theoretical, 

 and should he accepted as mere suggestions, not as well-tested working 

 hypotheses. If what is said shall be used as the basis for a fuller and more 

 informal discussion of the subject by the institute as a whole, it will have 

 fulfilled the purpose for which it was intended, and will have accomplished 

 that which it was sent forth to do. 



It is an old and familiar saying, ' 'God made the country man made the 

 town." We have to face the fact, disagreeable as it may be, that our boys 

 and girls are trying to reach the place where man and not God is pre-emi- 

 nent, and are leaving behind them God's country, where the lilies out-rival 

 kings in their purple and gold, where even the little sparrows are cared for 

 and where, in ever recurring seasons, we see the fulfillment of the parable, 

 "Behold, a sower went forth to sow." 



Unconsciously to each mind recurs the everlasting "Why.?" Why should 

 such an abnormal state of society exist? What has infatuated the sons and 

 daughters of the soil that they should wish to cast aside all the home ties and 

 throw themselves into the unmerciful scramble for bread that characterizes 

 modern city life? Can we point to any one thing and say, "Herein lies the 

 difficulty?" What remedies have we ready to apply when we shall have 

 found the cause of the trouble? Do we know how to apply these remedies 

 when they are given us? Shall we simply discuss the question and let it drop 

 there, or shall we do something as well as say something? Shall we shift 

 the responsibility and say with a nudge and a wink to our neighbor, ' 'That 

 was a pretty hard rub on you," or shall we respond to the truth when we 

 hear it, and say, "It is worth an effort, any way. Let's join forces and go 

 to work?" Would it not clarify matters a little if we could find the answer 

 to the question, "Why so many leave the farm?" If we know why they leave, 

 can we not then do away with these conditions and keep our boys and girls 

 with us? It is as the blind leading the blind when we try to work without 

 a definite aim in view and an intelligent understanding of the thing to be 

 accomplished. Then let our purpose be definite if simple, our plan of cam- 

 paign well worked out if not elaborate in detail, and our efforts be supported 

 by reason and good judgment, and not be mere spasmodic attempts to 

 bring about an irrational condition of farm life. 



In general, both boys and girls leave the farm for the same reasons. 

 There is no place there for a loafer, and doubtless, occasionally there is one 

 who leaves simply because he is lazy. Perhaps this aversion to work may 

 have been developed by the parents shielding the boy from all hard knocks 

 and saying that they do not wish their boy to do what they have had to do. 

 This often makes the boy feel that he is above ordinary farm life, and he 

 turns into a first-class rowdy and cheap sport after a term or two in college. 

 He goes into town where his talents will be more appreciated and ekes out a 

 bare living, supported chiefly by self-conceit. The girl shrinks from doing 



