New-York tribune., 1907-06-01

sire TO live on the farm be aroused in the children
that 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
Agriculture must do it's share in answering them
The drift toward the city is largely determined
by the superior social opportunities 10 be en-
joyed there, by the greater Yividness and move
ment of city life. Considered from the point OF
view Of national efficiency, the problem OF the
farm is much problem Of attractVeHesS as
1t is problem Of prosperity. II has ceased TO
be merely a problem OF growing wheat and corn
and cattle The problem Of production has not
ceased TO be fundamental, but ii is no longer
final just learning 10 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: 1t will be a great achievement; but 1t IS
even more important to double the deSirability,
comfort and standing Of the farmers life
We must consider, then, not merely how 70
produce, but also how production affects the
producer. In the past have given only scant
attention to the social side OF farm life. We
should study much more closely than has We.
and inquire whether its institutions now
really useful to the farmer as they should be-
or whether they should not be given new direC-
ton and n new impulse. for no farmers life
should lie merely within the boundary OF his
farm. This study must be Of the East and the
West, the North and the South for the needs
vary from place to place.
OF FIRST IMPORTANCE
First in Importance. of course. comes the effort
to secUre the mastery Of production Great
strides toward this end have already been taken
over the larger part OF the United States: much
remains 20 be done, but much has been done,
and the debt Of the nation to the various ageu-
cies Of agricultural Improvement for SO great
an advance is not TO be overstated. But We
cannot halt here. The benefits Of high social
organization include such advantages as ease Of
communication better educational facilities In
creased comfort of living and those opportunities
for social and intellectual life and intercourse Of
special value to the young people and 70 tho
women, which are as vet chiefly TO be had in
centres OF population. All this must be brought
within the reach Of the farmers who live on the
farms. OF the men whose labor feeds and clothes
the towns and cities.
/ Farmers must learn the vital need of co-opera-
ton with one another Next to this comes CO.
operation with the government, and the govern
ment can best give its aid through associations
| of farmers rather than through the Individual
farmer; for there is greater agricultural prob
lem than that OF delivering to the farmer the
large body of agricultural knowledge which has
been accumulated by the national and state gov
ernments and by the agricultural colleges and
schools.
| Nowhere has the government worked to bet
! ter advantage than in the South, where the
work done by the Department of Agriculture in
connection with the cotton growers of the
Southwestern states has been phenomenal in its
value The farmers in the region affected by
! the boil WeeVl in the course of the efforts to
! hght II have succeeded in developing a most
scientific husbandry, so that In many places the
! boil weevl became blessing In disguise Not
! only did the industry of farming become OF very
much greater economic value In It's direct re-
| suits but 1t became immensely more interest
! ing TO thousands Of families. The meetings at
which the new subjects of interest We're dis
cussed grew to have distinct social value
| while with the farmers were tOined tbA NOR
! chants and bankers Of the neighborhood IL Is
needless to say that every such successful effort
| to organize the farmer gives great stimulus
| to the admirable educational work which is be-
! ing done in the Southern states as elsewhere
10 prepare young people for an agricultural life.
1t Is greatly to be wished that the communi-
ties whence these students drawn and to
which they either return should return could
! be comparatively organized; that IS that asso-
! Citations of farmers could be organized. primarily
! for business purposes, but also with social ends
! in view. This would mean that the returned
students from the institutions OF technical Ieo
! Ing would find their environment prepared TO
profit TO the utmost by the improvements In
technical methods which they had learned
NEED OF COOPERATION
The people of farming regions must be
aDle 10 combine among themselves as the most
efhcient means of protecting their industry from
the highly organized interests which now sur
round them on every side. vast field Is omen
for work by cooperative associations of farm
ers IN dealing with the relation of the farm TO
| transportation and to the distribution and mann
facture OF raw materials. 1t is only through
such combination that American farmers can
develop TO the full their economic and social
power. Combination of this kind has in Den
mark, for instance, resulted in bringing the peo-
pie back to the land, and has enabled the Dan
| ish peasant to compete in extraordinary fashion
not only at home, but in foreign countries with
! all rivals.
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
Agricultural colleges and farmers institutes
have done much in instruction and inspiration
/ they have stood for the nobility of labor and
| the necessity of keeping the muscles and the
| brain in training for industry. They have de-
| veloped technical departments OF high practical
value. They seek to provide fer the people on
! the farms equipment SO broad and thorough
as to Mt them for the highest requirements of
our citizenship; that they establish and
maintain country homes of the best type and
create and sustain country civilization more
| than equal to that Of the city. The men they
! train must be able to meet the strongest busi-
ness competition at home abroad, and they
can do this only If they trained not alone
| In the various lines of husbandry but in sue
cessful economic management. These colleges
! like the state experiment stations, should care
| fully study and make known the needs of each
section and should try TO provide remedies for
what is wrong.
The education 10 be obtained in these colleges
should create as intimate relationship is pos
slbie between the theory of learning and the
! facts of actual life Education establishments
| should produce highly trained scholars. OF
course. but in a country like ours. where the
educational establishments are so numerous, il
is folly 10 think that their main purpose is tC
produce these highly trained scholars Without
In the least disparasing scholarship and learning