The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-01

CT, the house painter, the foundry man. should be trained just as carefully as the stenographer or the drug oierk. They should be trained alike in head and in hand. They should get over the idea that to earn twelve dollars week and call it salary is better than to earn twenty-five dollars week and call it wages.
 There is but one person whose well fare is as vital to the welfare of the whole country as is that of the wage worker who does manual labor; and that is the tiller of the s0il-the farm CT. If there is one lesson taught by history it is that the permanent great ness of any state must ultimately de- pend more upon the character of its country population than upon anything else. No growth of cities no growth of wealth can make up for a loss in eith- CT the number or the character of the farming population. In the United States more than in almost any other country We should realize this and should prize our country population. When this nation began it's independ- ent existence 1t was as a nation of farmers. The towns were small and were for the most part mere seacoast trading and fishing ports. The chief industry of the country was agricul- ture and the ordinary citizen was in some way connected with it. In every friS ne ba c pop1Iliar Aa- pendence has had to be placed upon the farming populations; and this de- pendence has hitherto been justified. But it cannot be justified in the fu- ture if agriculture is permitted to sink in the scale as compared with other employments. We cannot afford to lose that pre-eminently typical American, the farmer who owns his own farm.
 Back to the Farm,
 Ambitious native-born young men and women who now tend away from the farm must be brought back to it, and therefore they must have social as well as economic opportunities. Every thing should be done to encourage the growth in the open farming country of such institutional and social moVe- ments as will meet the demand of the best type of farmers, There should be libraries, assembly halls, social organ izations of all kinds. The school build ing should, throughout the country dis tricts, be of the very highest type, able to fit the boys and girls not merely to live in, but thoroughly to enjoy and to make the most of the country. The country church must be revived. All kinds of agencies, from rural free de- livery to the bicycle and the telephone should be utilized to the utmost; good roads should be favored; everything should be done to make it easier for the farmer to lead the most active and effective intellectual, political, and eco- homie life.
 "The farm grows the raw material for the food and clothing of all our citizens. it supports directly almost half of them; and nearly half the chill dren of the United States are born and brought up on farms, How can the life of the farm family be made less soli- tary, fuller of opportunity, freer from drudgery, more comfortable, happier, and more attractive? Such a result is most earnestly to be desired. How can life on the farm be kept on the high est lever, and where it is not already on that level, be so improved, digni- fled, and frightened as to awaken and keep alive the pride and loyalty Of the farmers boys and girls, of the farm CTS wife, and of the farmer himself? How can a compelling desire to live on the farm be aroused in the children that are born on the farm? All these questions are of vital importance not only to the farmer, but to the whole nation; and the department of agricul- ture must do its share in answering them
 "The drift toward the city is largely determined by the superior social op- portunities to be enjoyed there, by the greater vividness and movement of city life Considered from the point of view of national efficiency, the prob- lem of the farm is as much problem of attractiveness as it is a problem of prosperity. It has ceased to be mere ly a problem of growing wheat and corn. and cattle. The problem of pro- duction has not ceased to be funda- mental but 1t is no longer final; just as learning to read and write and cipher are fundamental, but are no longer the final ends of education We hope ultimately to double the average yield of wheat and corn per acre; it will be a great achievement; but it is even more important to double the de- sirabtlity, comfort and standing of the farmers life'
 "The people of our farming regions must be able to combine among them selves, as the most efficient means of protecting their industry from the highly organized interests which now surround them on every side. A vast field is open for work by cooperative associations of farmers in dealing with the relation of the farm to transporta- ton and to the distribution and manu- facture of raw materials. It is only through such combination that Ameri- can farmers can develop to the full their economic and social power. Com bination of this kind has, in Denmark, for instance, resulted in bringing the people back to the land, and has en- abled the Danish peasant to compete in extraordinary fashion, not only at home but in foreign countries, with all rivals"
 The Farmers Wife,