FARMERS TO THE FRONT 159 



at least has the satisfaction of knowing that he is of 

 some use in the world. 



The problem, then, is to develop the life on the 

 farm up to the full measure of its great possibilities. 

 We must make farming a career in the sense that 

 other honorable occupations are careers, assure the 

 farmer of a fair return for his labor, develop in him 

 a pride in his work, make him see that it is worth 

 while for him to put into it all the brains he possesses 

 and that scientific farming pays, and give him that 

 intellectual stimulus which comes from a larger and 

 freer life. We must elevate the farmer's business 

 until it is on an equality with the best business in the 

 country, and when farming as a profession is the best 

 profession on earth. When we have done all this, 

 when the Third Power at last asserts itself, there will 

 be no difficulty in keeping the boys on the farm, and 

 other boys will want to come. Is not the experiment 

 worth trying ? Do not the farmers see that they owe 

 it to their profession, the most ancient and honorable 

 of all professions, to exert themselves to the utmost 

 to give it that standing in the eyes of the world that 

 it ought to have and once did have ? And can not all 

 our people be made to understand that anything 

 which contributes to the accomplishment of all these 

 results is worthy of their cordial and enthusiastic 

 support ? There is nothing here suggested that may 

 not be done. The question is, Will the farmers do it ? 



