248 CIVIC IMPROVEMENT 



offered for the best home-grown seed corn. These prizes are 

 usually awarded at the State and county fairs under the aus- 

 pices of the State Superintendent of Public Schools and the State 

 Board of Agriculture. In North Carolina a series of contests in 

 woodwork has been arranged, which has been found profitable as 

 well as interesting. In other States the attention of the boys 

 has been given to live stock and poultry. 



The contests for girls, of course, have been along different 

 lines. Sometimes prizes have been offered for work in plain or 

 fancy sewing, for making bread, cakes, jellies, preserves, etc., 

 or for growing fine varieties of flowers or vegetables. 



Both boys and girls can join in friendly home lawn improvement 

 contests, and frequently a prominent merchant or business man 

 can be prevailed upon to offer prizes for the neatest and best- 

 kept lawn. Such a movement is always beneficial in any com- 

 munity, and it is one in which every teacher should take a vital 

 interest. The local boys' and girls' clubs may unite to form town- 

 ship clubs, with monthly meetings; and the township clubs may 

 unite to form county clubs, with annual meetings, under the 

 direction and supervision of the County Superintendent and the 

 State Superintendent. 



THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON COUNTRY LIFE 



Realizing the need of a national movement for the betterment 

 of country schools and country social life, President Roosevelt, 

 in August, 1908, appointed a National Commission on Country 

 Life, composed of L. H. Bailey of New York, Henry Wallace of 

 Iowa, Kenyon L. Butterfield of Massachusetts, Gifford Pinchot 

 of Washington, D.C., Walter H. Page of North Carolina, William 

 A. Beard of California, and Charles S. Barrett of Georgia, men well 

 fitted for the task before them. 



The Commission elected L. H. Bailey, Chairman. E. W. 

 Allen, of Washington, D.C., was engaged as Executive Secretary. 

 Norval D. Kemp, of Dayton, Ohio, was chosen Secretary to the 

 Chairman. The Commission, at its meeting on October 1, declared 

 that its function was to make as thorough a preliminary investiga- 

 tion as possible, to ascertain the main deficiencies of country life, to 



