December, 1909.] 



- 551 



Miscellaneous. 



they apply to men and women who live 

 in the towns. Given a sufficient founda- 

 tion of material well being, the influence 

 of the farmers and farmers ' wives on 

 their children becomes the factor of first 

 importance in determining the attitude 

 of the next generation toward farm life. 

 The farmer should realize that the 

 person who most needs consideration on 

 the farm is his wife. I do not in the 

 least mean that she should purchase 

 ease at the expense of duty. Neither 

 man nor woman is really happy or 

 really useful save on condition of doing 

 his or her duty. If the woman shirks 

 her duty as housewife, as home keeper, 

 as the mother whose prime function is 

 to bear and rear a sufficient number of 

 healthy children, then she is not entitled 

 to our regard. But if she does her duty 

 she is more entitled to our regard even 

 than the man who does his duty and the 

 man should show special consideration 

 for her needs. 



/ warn my countrymen tJiat the greed 

 progress made in city life is not a full 

 measure of our civilization, for our civiliza- 

 tion rests at bottom on the wholesomeness, 

 the attractiveness and the completeness as 

 well as prosperity of life in the country. 

 The men and women on the farm stand for 

 what is fundamentally best and most need- 

 ed in oicr American life. Upon the deve- 

 lopment of country life rests ultimately 

 cur ability, by methods of farming re- 

 quiring the highest intelligence, to 

 continue to feed and clothe the hungry 

 nations, to supply the city with fresh 

 blood, clean bodies and clear brains 

 that can endure the terrific strain 

 of modern life. We need the develop- 

 ment of men in the open country, who 

 will be in the future, as in the past, the 

 stay and strength of the nation in time 

 of war and its guiding and controlling 

 spirit in time of peace. 



Special Recommendations op the 

 Commission. 



The Commission enumerates eleven 

 specific suggestions for Congressional 

 action that have been sent to it, such as the 

 encouragement of land sur veys, the establisJi- 

 mcnt of highway engineering service to be 

 at the call of the States, and the enlarge- 

 mint of the Bureau of Education ; it also 

 gi oups remedies under the general term 

 of an educative campaign to spread in- 

 formation on the whole subject of life, 

 to quicken the sense of responsibility for 

 diversifying fanning so as to perserve 

 soil fertility and improve rural society, 

 to make more ividesjn'cad the belief in the 

 necessity of organisation, to make more 

 general the farmer's sense of responsibility 

 for the welfare of the farm labourer, and to 

 awaken among the people generally con- 

 science in the protecting and developing 

 natural scenery and the attractiveness of the 

 open country, There are, however, three 

 great movements which the Commission 



calls fundamental. These are worthy 

 of quotation in full :— 



I. Taking stock of country life. —There 

 should be organized as explained in the 

 main report, under the Government 

 leadership, a comprehensive plan for an 

 exhaustive study or survey of all the 

 conditions that surround the business 

 of farming and the people who live in 

 the country, in order to take stock of our 

 resources and to supply the farmer with 

 local knowledge. Federal and State 

 governments, agricultural colleges and 

 other educational agencies, organization 

 of various types, and individual students 

 of the problem, should be brought into 

 co-operation for this great work of 

 investigating with minute care all agri- 

 cultural and country life conditions, 



II. Nationalized Extension Work. — Each 

 State college of agriculture should be 

 empowered to organize as soon as practi- 

 cable a complete department of college 

 extension, so managed as to reach every 

 person on the laud in its State with both 

 information and inspiration. The work 

 should include such forms of extension 

 teaching as lectures, bulletins, reading 

 courses, correspondence courses, demon- 

 stration, and other means of reaching 

 the people at home and their farms. 

 It should be designed to forward not 

 only the business of agriculture, but 

 sanitation, education, home-making, and 

 all interests of country life. 



III. A Campaign for rural progress, — 

 We urge the holding of local, State, and even 

 national conferences on rural progress, 

 designed to unite the interests of edu- 

 cation, organization and religion into 

 one forward movement for the rebuild- 

 ing of country life. Rural teachers, 

 librarians, clergymen, editors, 2ihysician.s, 

 and others may well unite with farmers 

 hi studying and discussing the rural ques- 

 tion in all its aspects. We must in some 

 way unite all institutions, all organiza- 

 tions, all individuals having any interest 

 in country life into one great campaign 

 for rural progress. 



The Commission recognizes the great 

 value of existing organizations such as 

 libraries, agricultural societies, the 

 Young Men's Christian Association, and, 

 above all, the rural churches ; and it 

 urges the development of greater co- 

 operation among them. It adds that 

 there is a great call for leaders among 

 farmers, rural teachers and the rural 

 clergy. The report and the message 

 ought to have the widest circulation, 

 not only among the dwellers in the 

 country, but even more especially among 

 the people of the cities. It is the urban 

 citizen who is in the greatest need of 

 information on the subject ; and he is 

 in fact as much concerned with proper 

 rural conditions as the man on the farm. 



