152 



I understand that this evening is to be very largely devoted to an 

 illustrated lecture upon the education of our boys and girls in relation to 

 the fundamentals of life. How simple, and yet how vastly important ; 

 as a matter of fact it is just exactly what every parent is trying to do. 

 I can look back upon no experience in my life which I consider of more 

 value than three summers which I spent as a boy upon a farm, harrow- 

 ing corn, working in the truck garden, picking potatoes, making hay, 

 thrashing, milking and a hundred and one things incidental to that life. 

 I learned then, as I should never have learned since, the language of every 

 barnyard fowl and the practice and customs of the men who form in 

 reality the backbone of our nation- — The American Farmer. [Applause.] 

 Now this advantage is rarely given to the city youth, just as the problems 

 of city life are rarely exhibited to the agriculturist. Consequently the 

 proper adjustment has been long delayed, but such meetings as these 

 will rapidly clear the ground for an intelligent understanding of the whole 

 situation by all parties. 



What is the condition in Pennsylvania today regarding these men 

 upon whom every one of us in the city depends? What has the farmer 

 done that his children may know how, intelligently, to get the very best 

 of mother nature, — she is bursting with good things, if they but know 

 how to gather nothing less than the best. 



We have agricultural colleges which are doing a magnificent work, 

 and many of our young men are attending these institutions, but what 

 we need are agricultural schools that will charge a nominal price for the 

 proper education of the youth of our farming districts. There is perhaps 

 too much head and tail to our system of agricultural education today 

 and not enough body. This is the trouble with too many of the projects 

 today which are launched at the hands of our legislatures. I repeat, it 

 is this secondary education that is desired in this state, and what we 

 want is men who can get back into the country and teach the people 

 what is the best modern method to pursue in the raising of their crops. 

 That I take it is a part of what is hoped to be accomplished by these 

 conventions, together with the equally important matters of agricultural 

 banking; relations to the railroad, middlemen, warehouse companies, etc. 



In closing may I say that the boys' camps which are now being 

 instituted in our mountain districts, where young men and boys are sent 

 in the summer time rather than to our fashionable hotels, are a splendid 

 course in the line of healthful education, but if I had the opportunity to 

 choose between sending a son of mine to one of these camps or of send- 

 ing him for the summer months to a farm, offering him the opportunity 

 of getting into the closest possible touch with nature, I would decide to 

 send him to that farm instead of to the boys' camp. [Applause.] 



Mrs. Smith: We have with us tonight Mr. A. P. Sandles, President 

 of Ohio Agricultural Commission, who is responsible for the work along 



