Agricultural Education. 



440 



[November, 1911. 



in sightclothing, watches, buggies, 

 etc." Their expenditure may not be 

 judicious, but it shows a desire to spend 

 money to increase their comforts. Ex- 

 perience will correct the errors. 



The farmer is necessarily conserv- 

 ative, but offer him a genuine thing 

 and prove it and no one is more respon- 

 sive. He will not accept what has not 

 been fully tested, and be must see it to 

 believe, because he has been frequently 

 deceived. He wants all that the best 

 civilization can give him if he can get it. 

 Increase the net income of the average 

 farmer and the wages of the rural toiler, 

 and the first step necessary to the up- 

 lift of the rural masses will have been 

 taken. The following results will be 

 brought about as rapidly as time will 

 permit : 



(1) The emancipation of the farmer 



from the bondage of debt. 



(2) The ownership of more and better 



tools, teams, and stock on the 

 farm. 



(3) The improvement of the land. 



(4) Better rural school buildings and 



more months of schooling. 



(5) Better highways, rural-mail deli- 



very, and telephone service. 



(6) Contentment with the life of a 



farmer, 



In the Southern States, in every 

 township and in nearly every neigh- 

 bourhood, there are a few who are 

 able to support a better civilization than 

 the one in which they live. Finding 

 that it is difficult to obtain what they 

 requite they move to a town or city. 

 Snch removal to secure better social, 

 religious, or educational advantages are 

 matters of common occurrence. But, 

 after all, this class forms the minority, 

 and it is the condition of the great 

 majority which must be considered. 



Most people agree that rural conditions 

 should be improved. The farmer believes 

 it as strongly as anyone. The problem 

 is to know where to begin. Shall we 

 trust the people and commence by in- 

 creasing their resources, or shall our 

 efforts be directed to improving farm 

 dwellings and home conditions, the con- 

 struction of better highways, or the 

 introduction of the telephone, the rural 

 free delivery of mails, the community 

 library, and improved social and reli- 

 gious privileges ? 



Evidently the answer depends upon 

 the degree of advancement of rural 

 communities. The remedy that would 

 help one might be utterly inapplicable 

 to another. For example, if it were 

 found that the average farmer in a rural 

 township lived in a house valued at 



about $100, without any barn or garden 

 (not a mere patch of green, but a well- 

 tilled plot that furnished in the South 

 sufficient tubers, roots, legumes, melons, 

 and fruit in their season for the family) 

 and without a cow, a pasture, and a 

 sufficient supply of poultry, and if it 

 were also found that a majority of the 

 tillers of the soil were unable to read 

 and were heavily involved in debt, it 

 would be the height of folly to commence 

 the rural uplift by establishing a public 

 library or even a school. The rural 

 toilers must first be properly nourished, 

 clothed, and housed ; it is the order of 

 greatest necessity. The money to do 

 this cannot be given to them, and if 

 it were there would be no uplift. They 

 must be shown how to earn it by a better 

 tillage of the soil and how to husband 

 their earnings by greater thrift. Low 

 wages, a small amount of work accom- 

 plished in a day, and an uneconomic use 

 of resources are features of aoy civili- 

 zation marked by a low earning capacity. 



No mistake is made more frequently 

 than to assume that low wages are a 

 result of oppression. As a rule, the 

 wages are determined by the accomplish- 

 ment. In India it requires from fourteen 

 to twenty-four servants to do the work 

 of a small household, where an in some 

 portions of the United States two would 

 do it better. 



Upon a farm one man in the United 

 States with a good team and modern 

 machinery can do the work that fifty to 

 one hundred men do in many oriental 

 countries. Consequently, when the lat- 

 ter are paid 5 to 10 cents a day they are 

 paid up to their earning capacity, a 

 capacity that is insufficient to sustain a 

 high civilization. 



As a preliminary step, then, in this 

 inquiry, let us determine the present 

 status of the rural South with respect 

 to the following items :— 



(1) The earning capacity of the aver- 



age farm worker in the South. 



(2) The average number of acres in 



each State worked by one man. 



(3) Tte character and value of the 



buildings. 



(4) The value of implements and tools 



on the average farm in each State. 



(5) The number of horses or mules 



used for each farm labourer. 



(6) The average number of milch cows 



on each farm. 



(7) The average value of poultry on 



each farm. 



(8) The percentage of firms in each 



State worked by tenants. 



The following tables present these 

 facts in compact form for the various 

 parts of the United States:— 



