POOR LAW CHILDREN 83 



ment of co-operation that the poorer individuals 

 in the community can secure freedom and equahty. 

 There are already several school co-operative 

 societies which are doing most valuable work 

 and would serve as guides for those who wish to 

 follow their example. 



Once this economic and sound ladder for which 

 we are pleading is created the country teacher will 

 be able to tell his children that there is a future 

 for them on the land, just as he has in the past, I 

 am afraid, told them with perfect candour that 

 anyone who had brains should leave the country 

 for the town or emigrate. In the work of rural 

 regeneration the teacher can be made to play a 

 powerful part, and though his stipend is hardly an 

 acknowledgment of the fact, it is principally he 

 who wields the power of moulding the mind of the 

 nation when it is at its most susceptible stage. 



When this great change in the country elemen- 

 tary schools takes place, there is little doubt that 

 there will be a greater inclination for a career on 

 the land. But there are other sources from which 

 the increase in the agricultural population can 

 come. Take the Reformatories and Industrial 

 Schools, for instance. Some of them have excellent 

 farms attached to them and are giving first-class 

 agricultural training. Some 1,500 Reformatory boys 

 go on to the land every year and succeed well. This 

 number could be greatly increased if all reformatories 

 and industrial schools had farms attached and 

 developed their agricultural instruction. 



Again, there are 230,000 Poor Law children. 



