The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-11-14
REASONABLY SATISFACTORY.

REASONABLY SATISFACTORY.
The commission appointed by Pres
ident Roosevelt to investigate farm
life, has begun it's operations. 1t has
prepared set of questions which COW
er the whole gamut of country life, In
30 far as any remedies of material
sort might be able to change the pres
emit situation. Those who look at
the questions and compare conditions
suggested by them now with fifty
years ago, or even less, will not fail
to see the enormous strides which
hoods.
The significant phrases in the set OF
questions are lin your neighborhood"
and reasonably satisfactory" This
means that the commissions view
point is one of fact and practical re-
suits, as opposed to theory and ideal
conditions. This is the most hopeful
symptom of the whole proceeding.
We're are the questions:
/. Are the farm houses in your
community as good as they should be
ander existing conditions?
2. Are the schools in your neigh
borhood training boys and girls sat
isfactorily for life on the farm?
3. Do the farmers in your neigh
borhood get the returns they reasona-
bly, should from the sale Of their pro-
ducts?
4. Do the farmers in your neighbor
hood receive from the railroads, high
roads and trolley lines, etc, the ser
vice they reasonably should have?
s. Are the farmers and their wives
In your neighborhood satisfactorily Or
ganized to promote their mutual buy
ing and selling interests?
g.. Are the renters in your neigh
borhood making satisfactory living?
Z. Is the supply of farm labor in
your community satisfactory?
g. Are the conditions surrounding
hired labor on the farms in your
neighborhood satisfactory to the hired
man?
8. Do the farmers in your neigh
borhood receive from the United
States postal service, rural telephone,
ETC., the service they reasonably
should expect?
TO- Have the farmers in your neigh
borhood satisfactory facilities for do
ing their business in banking, credit,
insurance, etc?
II. Are the sanitary conditions in
your neighborhood satisfactory?
IL. Do the farmers and their wives
and families in your neighborhood get
together for mutual improvement and
entertainment and social intercourse
as much as they should?
What, in your Judgment is the most
important single thing to be done for
the benefit of country life?
We dare say that of the questions
which are asked the heaviest and most
unanimous answer will be to the ques-
ton on the postal service. Notwith-
standing the vast improvement which
has taken place in the mails in the
country since the introduction OF the
rural route. it is safe to say that the
farmers are convinced of the necessity
for parcels post. AS a farmer said
not long ago, there is a CLEAN of hope
on the horizon, since the adoption of
the parcels post between this coun-
try and Great Britain. Why? "Be-
cause" said the farmer, I'VE can now
have our friends and merchants send
our parcels to this country by way
of England, a process which will not
be much slower than the express COM
panies perform this service-and in
finitely cheaper"
This is one of the few things men
toned in the above list of questions
which the federal government can do
for the farmer, if it will. and the data
collected will probably be convincing.
On the whole there is no reason why
this set of questions should not prove
a valuable aid to the improvement of
conditions. 1t is exhaustive without
being exhausting. and it has infinite
possibilities. 1t represents to farm
life what the trouble clerk does to the
telephone system.
Is the service reasonably satisfac-
tory?