Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-10-01

1
your being able to keep on the farm
high type of citizenship. The effort
must be to make farm life not only
remunerative but attractive, so that
he best young men and girls will feel
inclined to stay On the farm and not
% go to the city. Nothing is more i'm
lportant to this country than the per-
lpetuation of our system of mediums
sized farms worked by their owners.
We do not want to see our farmers
sink to the conditions of the peasants
of the old world, barely able to live
on their small holdings, nor do We
want to see their places taken by
wealthy men owning enormous estates
which they work purely by tenants
and hired servants.
AT present the ordinary farmer
holds his own in the land as against
any possible representative of the land
lord class of farmer-that is, of the
men who would own vast estates
because the ordinary farmer unites his
capital, his labor, and his brains with
the making of permanent family
home, and thus can afford to hold lis
land at a value at which it can not be
held by the capitalist, who would have
to run it by leasing it or by cultivatina
it at arms length with hired labor.
Home Part of Reward.
. ''In other words, the typical Ameri
can farmer of today gets his remun
Grafton in part in the shape of an in
, dependent home for his family, and
, this gives him an advantage over az
absentee landlord. Now, from the
standpoint of the nation as a whole il
is prominently desirable to keep az
one of our chief American types thG
farmer, the farm home maker, of tho
medium-sized farm. This type of farr
home is one of our strongest political
and social bulwarks. Such Il farm
worked by the owner has proved b..
, experience the best place in which t
breed vigorous leaders alike for coun
try and city. 1t is a matter of primt
economic and civic Importance to en-
l courage this type of homecoming far
mer.
, cry way to aid in the education of tn,
= farmer for the farm, and should shap.
/ our school system with this end i.
. view; and so vitality important is thi
; that, i'll my opinion, the federal gov
} eminent should cooperate with tn,
: state governments to secure the needle,
t change and Improvement in on
: schools. 1t is significant that bot
from Minnesota and Georgia there hav
come proposals in this direction in tn
' appearance of bills introduced into tn
national congress.
$ Colleges DO Not Reach Masses
$ "The congressional land grant &C
of 1852 accomplished much i'll estal
. fishing the agricultural colleges in tn
!. several states. and therefore in prepal
l. ing to turn the system of educationa
n training for the young into channels a
, once broader and more practicable
; and what | am saying about agricu
5, tural training really applies to all il
= dustrial training But the colleges ca
/ not reach the masses. and it is eSsel
= tial that the masses should be reache'
1t Such agricultural high schools as thos
IT in Minnesota and Nebraska for farI
boys and girls, such technical hig
q schools as are to be found, for il
stance, in both st. Louis and Was
! ingtOn, have by their success show
v that it is entirely feasible to carry
= practical fashion the fundamentals :
; industrial training into the realms ,
u our secondary schools. At preseI
y there is a gap between our primar
II schools in country and city and the il
~ dustrial collegiate courses, which mu.
u be closed, and if necessary the natio
~ must help the state to close it. TC
y often our present schools tend to pl
u altogether too great a premium upC
mere literary education, and therefor
= to train away from the farm and II
! shop.
" 1--WE should reverse this process
Specific training of a practical kir
should be given to the boys and CIR
y who, when men and women, are
make up the backbone of this matte
by working in agriculture, in the m
chanical industries, in arts and trades
- in short, who are to do the duty tn
- should always come first with all
us, the duty of home-making and HON
keeping. Too narrow literary educ
:. ton is, for most men and women, n
real education at ALL for real ed
cation should fit people primarily f
the industrial and home-making el
pigments in which they must empl,
20 the bulk of their activities. Our cou
-, try offers unparalleled opportunities
~ domestic and social advancement,
-, social and economical leadership in t
world. Our greatest national asset
- TO be found in the children. They ne
to be trained to high ideals of evel
"a day living, and to high efficiency in the
~ respective vacations; we can not
o., ford to have them trained otherwi!
-. and the nation should help the stat
:, 20 achieve this end
n. Speaks of the West.
SIS Now, men of Iowa, l want to S