Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1908-08-29
INVESTIGATING FARM LIFE.

Among all the new ideas President
Roosevelt has fathered there is none
more deserving the highest praise
than the Commission recently appoin-
ted by him to investigate the con-
diiions that surround life on the
American farm and make suggestions
of ways and means to bring about an
Improvement.
The gist Of the Presidents plan is
for the Commission to learn wherein
life on the farm is not attractive and
offer suggestions for bettcrment of
the home life. Extracts from the
Presidents letter to Professor Bailey.
one of the Commission, tell what
Roosevelt is driving at. He says:
mo nation has ever achieved per-
manent greatness unless this great
ness was based on the well-being of
the great farmer class, the men who
live on the soil; for it is upon their
welfare, material and moral, that the
welfare of the rest of the nation ulti-
mately rests. In the United States,
diSregardiug certain sections and
taking the nation as a whole, | be-
lieyc it to be true that the farmers in
general are better off today than they
ever were before. We Americans are
making great progress in the develop
mcnt of our agricultural resources.
But it is equally true that the social
and economic institutions of the open
country are not keeping pace with
the development of the nation as
whole. The farmer IS, as n rule, bet
ter off than his forebears; but his in
crease in well-being has not kept pace
with that Of the country as whole.
While the condition of the farmers in
some Of our best farming regions
leaves little 10 be desired. we are far
from having reached so high level
in all parts of the country.
1T is especially important that
whatever will serve to prepare coun-
try children for life on the farm. and
whatever will brighten home life in
the country and make 1t richer and
more attractive for the mothers,
wives, and daughters of farmers,
should be done promptly, thoroughly,
and gladly. There is no more impor-
tant person, measured in influence
upon the life of the nation. than the
farmers wife, no more important
home than the country home, and it
is of national Importance to do the
best we can for both.
The farmers have hitherto had
less t'lan their full share of public
attention along the lines of business
and social life There Is too much
belief among all our people that the
prizes of life lie away from the farm.
] am therefore anxious to bring be-
fore the people of the United States
the question of securing better busls
ness and better living on the farm,
whether by cooperation between
farmers for buying, selling, and Dor
rowing; by promoting social advan-
tages and opportunities in the cOun-
try; or by any other legitimate
means that will help to make country
life more gainful, more attractive,
and fuller of opportunities, pleasures,
and rewards for the men, women, and
children of the farms"
You will doubtless also find 1t
necessary to suggest means for bring
ing about the redirection or better
adaptation of rural schools to the
training of children for life on the
farm. The National and State agri-
cultural departments must ultimate
ly join with the various farmers and
agricultural organizations In the eff
fort to secure greater efficiency and
attractiveness in country life"
We hope that the readers of the
+ lletin will see In these words
of the President an opportunity for
local effort.
If there Is any place under the
Flag whore life on the farm should
be taken up seriously 1t is in the Ter
Iitory Of Hawaii. We have no farms
in the mainland sense, or mighty few
certainly. But we have population
growing up in the midst of an exclu-
siyely agricultural land. and il is OF
the utmost importance that the ISL
ands should be developed in a man
ner to make the agricultural calling
attractive and elevate agricultural la
Dor to a dlgnihed plane.
The place to begin, In the estima-
tion of this paper, Is the public
schools, When these twenty thou.
sand school children who are growing
to manhood and womanhood within