Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-31
Common Sense Needed.


industrial work; and in real life most work
Is industrial.
Common Sense Needed.
The problem of furnishing wel-trair y
craftsmen, or rather journeymen fitted il
the end to become such. is not simple
few problems are simple in the actual
process of their solution-and much care
and forethought and practical common
sense will be needed in order to work it
out in fairly satisfactory manner 1t
should appeal to all our citizens. l am
glad that societies have already been
formed to promote Industrial education,
and that their membership includes man
ufacturers and leaders of labor unions,
educators and publicists, men of all con-
ditions who are interested In education
and in industry. 1t is such cooperation
that offers most hope for a satisfactory
solution of the question as to what is the
best form of industrial school, as 20 the
means by which 1t may be articulated with
the public school system, and as to the
way to secure for the boys trained therein
the opportunity to acquire in the industries
the practical skill which alone can make
them finished journeymen.
There Is but one person whose welfare
is as vital to the welfare of the whole
does manual labor, and that is the tiller
of the soil-the farmer. If there is one
lesson taught by history it Is that the per
manent greatness of any state must u!ti-
ma,ely depend more upon the character of
it's country population than upon anything
else. No growth of cities, no growth of
wealth can make up for loss in either 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 its
independent existence it was as a nation
of farmers. The towns were small and
were for the most part mere seacoast trad
ing and fishing ports. The chief industry
of
ordinary citizen was in some way connected
with it. In every great crisis of the past
a peculiar dependence has had TO be placed
upon the farming population; and this de-
pendence has hitherto been Justified. But
it cannot be justified in the future if agri-
culture is permitted to sink In the scale as
compared with other employments. We can
not afford to lose that prominently typical
american, the farmer who owns his own
farm.
Some Economic Factors.
Yet 1t would be idle to deny that in the
last half century there has been in the east
ern half of our country a falling off in the
relative condition of the tillers of the soil,
although signs multiplying that the
ton has walked up to the danger and is
preparing to grapple effectively with it.
East of the Mississippi and north of the
Ohio and the Potomac there has been on the
whole an actual shrinkage in the number Of
the farming population since the civil war.
In the states of this section there has been
a growth Of population-in some an enor-
nous RrOwth-but the growth has taken
place in the cities, and especially in the
larger cities. This has been due to certain
economic factors, such as the extension of
railroads. the development of machinery.
and the openings for industrial success af
forded by the unprecedented growth of
cities. The increased facility of commune
cation has resulted in the withdrawal from
rural communities Of most of the small,
ysi.l a1y isfr rfnpp
mercal operations OF former times. and the
substitution therefor of the centralized COM
mercial and manufacturing industries of the
cities.
The chief offset to the various tendencies
which have told against the farm has hith-
erto come in the rise of the physical sci
ences and their application to agricultural
practices to the rendering of country
conditions more easy and pleasant. But
these countervailing forces are as yet in
their infancy. AS compared with a few
decades ago, the social or community life
of country people in the east compares less
well than ii formerly did with that of the
jewellers in cities. Many country commune
ties have lost their social Conference, their
sense of community interest. In such COM
munities the country church, for instance,
has gone backward both as "a social and q
religious factor. Now, we can not too
strongly insist upon the fact that it is quite
as unfortunate to have any social raS any
economic falling off. 1t would be calamity
to have our farms occupied by q lower
type of people than the Woodworking, self
respecting, independent and essentially
manly and womanly men and women who
have hitherto constituted the most typically
American, and on the whole the most valua-
BILE. element in our entire nation Ambi-
tiouS 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 well as economic opportuni-
ties. Everything should be done to encour-
age the growth in the open farming coun-
try pf Sncb institutional and social
ments as will meet the demand of the best
type of farmers. There should be libraries,