APPOINTMENT OF COMMISSION 45 



farm. I am therefore anxious to bring before the 

 people of the United States the question of securing 

 better business and better living on the farm, whether 

 by cooperation between farmers for buying, selling 

 and borrowing; by promoting social advantages and 

 opportunities in the country; or by any other legiti- 

 mate means that will help to make country life more 

 gainful, more attractive, and fuller of opportunities, 

 pleasures and rewards for the men, women and chil- 

 dren of the farms. 



I shall be very glad indeed if you will consent to 

 serve upon a Commission on Country Life, upon 

 which I am asking the following gentlemen to act: 



Professor L. H. Bailey, New York State College of 



Agriculture, Ithaca, N. Y., Chairman. 

 Mr. Henry Wallace, Wallaces' Farmer, Des Moines, 



Iowa. 

 President Kenyon L. Butterfield, Massachusetts 



Agricultural College, Amherst, Massachusetts. 

 Mr. Gifford Pinchot, United States Forest Service. 

 Mr. Walter H. Page, Editor of The World's Work, 



New York. 



My immediate purpose in appointing this Com- 

 mission is to secure from it such information and ad- 

 vice as will enable me to make recommendations to 

 Congress upon this extremely important matter. I 

 shall be glad if the Commission will report to me upon 

 the present condition of country life, upon what 

 means are now available for supplying the deficiencies 

 which exist, and upon the best methods of organized 



