December, 1909.] 



547 



Miscellaneous. 



This is the first voice which has been 

 heard from the land, from the country 

 people. They are the very people that 

 need to be encouraged to speak for them- 

 selves, and life in the country needs to 

 be stimulated and given every possible 

 support and encouragement. Iu fact, it 

 should be made the centre of attention 

 both of the people and the Government. 

 The eyes of the public should be turned 

 to the farmers and the country people, 

 and they should be placed in the centre 

 of the stage of action. For a time, at 

 least, the politician can well be forgotten 

 and left to work out his problems, not 

 so much in the public forum, but rather 

 in conference with the people who are 

 the real producers of wealth. 



For the past eight years we have been 

 facing the condition of importing 

 annually an average of £13,758,890 worth 

 of rice, £154,570 worth of coffee, £308.114 

 worth of cacao and chocolate, £237,248 

 worth of sugar, £552,108 worth of eggs, 

 £14,216,238 worth of cotton goods. The 

 United States might as reasonably 

 import her wheat, milk, batter, meat 

 and potatoes. Such a national founda- 

 tion is as frail as straw and as unstable 

 an water, such a condition is a condition 

 of dependence and not independence. A 

 country in which the people will not 

 produce the food staples necessary for 

 their own subsistence and right living, 

 when the land uaturally produces such 

 products, can be nothing more than a 

 dependency no matter how brilliant its 

 statesmen and professional men, 



The editor knows of no better expres- 

 sion or statement of the needs of the 

 people and the government of this 

 country— in order that the Filipinos 

 may attain to the ends most desired by 

 them — than the following by a pro- 

 minent Filipino :— 



We should earn sufficient money to 

 live in such a manner as to produce 

 healthy and vigorous children, and 

 educate them so that their earning capa- 

 city will be still greater. In which case, 

 1 swear upon my honour that our grand- 

 children with their health, education, 

 and money will be independent in spite 

 of everything. * * * America freed 

 herself from England because she had 

 men, money, and true patriots. 



In his message President Roosevelt 

 points out the various agencies tor the 

 improvement of country life, namely :— 



(1) The National Department of Agri- 

 culture. 



(2) The State Departments of Agri- 

 culture. 



(8) Th« State College ul Agriculture 



(4) University and Agricultural Ex- 

 tension Work. 



(5) Agricultural Experiment Stations. 



(6) Farmers ' Union, 



(7) The Grange, and 



(8) The Agricultural Press. 



In the Philippines we have but few of 

 these agencies in either the Insular, 

 provincial, and municipal government 

 organisations or among the people. Act 

 No. 1829 provides tor civico-educational 

 instruction, yet the need of agents or 

 officials charged with the responsibility 

 for improving the existing conditions of 

 country lite is manifest and decidedly 

 emphatic to anyone who fairly considers 

 the situation. 



The President emphasizes the import- 

 ance of organization on the part of the 

 farmers themselves, and states that the 

 country people must organize to protect 

 their interests as well as any other class 

 of industrial workers. The Government 

 can point out the way, but as indicated, 

 the country people must co-operate and 

 must give dignity and attractiveness, as 

 well as better results from the farms, if 

 country life is made all that it can and 

 should be. In the Philippines we not 

 only need better farming, which the 

 Bureau of Agriculture is endeavouring 

 to stimulate and encourage, but we most 

 emphatically need better business and 

 better living on the farms. President 

 Roosevelt states that the farmers ' prob- 

 lems are the whole country's problems. 

 The President further asserts that 

 neglect of this subject has held back 

 country life and lowered the efficiency 

 of the whole nation. Perhaps no other 

 subjects received so little attention 

 during the period in which the Philip- 

 pine Islands were governed by the 

 Spaniards as the education and elevation 

 of the people in the country, and work 

 for the improvement and development 

 of those things which were for the best 

 interests of the country people. The 

 President declares that the strengthen- 

 ing of country life is the strengthening 

 of the nation, that while the growing 

 of crops is an essential foundation, it is 

 only a part of the life of the people in an 

 intelligent and progressive country, 

 that it is literally vital that the farmer, 

 his wife, and his children shall lead the 

 right kind of life. He believes that 

 the National Department of Agriculture 

 should become a department of country 

 life, fitted to deal not only with crops, 

 but with questions pertaining to all of 

 the larger aspects of life in the open 

 country. 



President Roosevelt points out threu 

 # teat needa of country life, namely s— 



