And State Papers 129 



as to allow a closer touch between man and man, 

 than, too often, we find to be the case in the city. 

 Men feel more vividly the underlying sense of 

 brotherhood, of community of interest. I do not 

 mean by this that there are not plenty of problems 

 connected with life in our rural districts. There 

 are many problems; and great wisdom and earnest 

 disinterestedness in effort are needed for their solu 

 tion. 



After all, we are one people, with the same fun 

 damental characteristics, whether we live in the city 

 or in the country, in the East or in the West, in the 

 North or the South. Each of us, unless he is con 

 tented to be a cumberer of the earth's surface, must 

 strive to do his life-work with his whole heart. 

 Each must remember that, while he will be noxious 

 to every one unless he first do his duty by himself, 

 he must also strive ever to do his duty by his fel 

 low. The problem of how to do these duties is 

 acute everywhere. It is most acute in great cities, 

 but it exists in the country, too. A man, to be a 

 good citizen, must first be a good bread-winner, a 

 good husband, a good father I hope the father of 

 many healthy children ; just as a woman's first duty 

 Is to be a good housewife and mother. The busi 

 ness duties, the home duties, the duties to one's 

 family, come first. The couple who bring up plenty 

 of healthy children, who leave behind them many 

 sons and daughters fitted in their turn to be good 

 citizens, emphatically deserve well of the State. 



But duty to one's self and one's family does not 



