THE QUESTIONS 51 



THE CIRCULAR OF QUESTIONS. 



As a means of securing the opinions of the 

 people themselves on some of the main aspects of 

 country life, a set of questions was distributed, 

 as follows: 



I. Are the farm homes in your neighborhood 

 as good as they should be under existing 

 conditions? 



II. Are the schools in your neighborhood train- 

 ing boys and girls satisfactorily for life 

 on the farm? 



III. Do the farmers in your neighborhood get 

 the returns they reasonably should from 

 the sale of their products? 



because no more valuable work for the farmers of this country 

 can be done. 



Now of course the whole success of the work depends upon 

 the attitude of the people in the open country, of the farming 

 people of the United States. If they feel an awakening interest 

 in what you are doing, they should manifest it. Moreover, it is 

 essential that the farmers, the men who actually live on the soil, 

 should feel a sense of ownership in this Commission, should feel 

 that you gentlemen in very truth represent them and are re- 

 sponsive to their desires and wishes, no less than to their needs. 

 It seems to me, therefore, that it would be wise to try to get into 

 the closest possible touch with the farmers of the country and to 

 find out from them, so far as you are able, just what they regard 

 as being the subjects with which it is most important that you 

 should deal. This you are already doing by sending out a cir- 

 cular of questions and by holding meetings in different parts of 

 the United States. But perhaps something more can be done. 



I accordingly suggest that you ask the farmers to come to- 

 gether in the several school districts of the country so that they 



