252 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



of education until we definitely understand that a man may be 

 well trained in book-learning and yet, in the proper sense of the 

 word and for all practical purposes, be utterly uneducated; 

 while a man of comparatively little book-learning may, never- 

 theless, in essentials have a good education. 



IMPROVEMENT OF CONDITIONS AFFECTING COUNTRY LIFE 



It is true that agriculture in the United States has reached a 

 very high level of prosperity; but we cannot afford to disregard 

 the signs which teach us that there are influences operating 

 against the establishment or retention of our country life upon 

 a really sound basis. The overextensive and wasteful cultiva- 

 tion of pioneer days must stop and give place to a more econom- 

 ical system. Not only the physical but the ethical needs of the 

 people of the country districts must be considered. In our 

 country life there must be social and intellectual advantages as 

 well as a fair standard of physical comfort. There must be in 

 the country, as in the town, a multiplication of movements for 

 intellectual advancement and social betterment. We must try 

 to raise the average of farm life, and we must also try to develop 

 it so that it shall offer exceptional chances for the exceptional 

 man. 



Of course the essential things after all are those which concern 

 all of us as men and women, no matter whether we live in the 

 town or the country, and no matter what our occupations may 

 be. The root problems are much the same for all of us, widely 

 though they may differ in outward manifestation. The most 

 important conditions that tell for happiness within the home are 

 the same for the town and the country; and the relations between 

 employer and employee are not always satisfactory on the farm 

 any more than in the factory. All over the country there is a 

 constant complaint of paucity of farm labor. Without attempting 

 to go into all the features of this question I would like to point out 

 that you can never get the right kind, the best kind, of labor if 



