River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-08-13
WOULD BETTER
LIFE ON FARMS
PRESIDENT PLANS TO SEND MES
SAGE TO CONGRESS.
SELECTS FIVE EXPERTS
Chief Executive Asks Them to lnves-
tgate Conditions and Report
Recommendations for I'M
provements.

Oyster Bay, N, Y, Aug. 10.-With
view to bringing about better social,
sanitary and economic conditions on
American farms, President Roosevelt
has requested five experts on country
life to make an investigation into the
whole matter and to report to him
with recommendations for improve
ments. The report and recommends
tions, with any additional recon-
mendations which the president him.
self may desire to make, will be in
corporated in a message which the
president will send to congress prob
ably early next year.
The men President Roosevelt has
asked to act as an investigating COM
mitteee are Prof L. H. Bailey Of the
New York College of Agriculture,
Henry Wallace of Wallace's Farmer,
Des Moines, Ia; President Kenyon L.
Butterfield of the Massachusetts Agri-
cultural college, Clifford Pinchot of the
United States forest reserve and Wal
ter H. Page editor of the Worlds
Work, New York.
President Outlines His Plan.
In a letter to Prof. Bailey, asking
him to accept the Craftsmanship of the
commission, the president outlines his
desires in the direction of improve
ments on the farms. The letter fol
lows in part:
"My dear Prof. Bailey: No nation
has ever achieved permanent great
ness unless this greatness 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 ultimately rests. In the
United States, disregarding certain
sections and taking the nation as
whole, / believe it to be true that the
farmers in general are better off to-
day than they ever were before. We
Americans are making great progress
in the development 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
a whole The farmer, is, as a rule,
better off then his forebears; but his
increase 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 to be desired, we are far
from having reached so high level in
all parts of the country. In portions
of the south, for example, where the
department Of agriculture, through
the farmers cooperative demonstra-
ton work of DR.. Knapp is derectly in
structfng more than 10000 farmers in
better methods of farming, there is
nevertheless much unnecessary SUI
fering and needless loss of efficiency
on the farm.
Importance of Farmers Wife.
"It 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 it richer and
more attractive for the mothers,
wives and daughters of farmers, should
be done promptly, thoroughly and
SldQly. 1ASIS 10 III AAAOA . AhAPOA SS%AA
person, measured in influence upon
the life of the nation, than the farm
er's 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
than their full share of public atten-
ton 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. I am
therefore anxious to bring before the
people of the United States the ques-
ton of securing better business and
better living on the farm, whether by
cooperation between farmers for buy
ing, selling and borrowing; by pro-
noting social advantages and oppor-
tunities in the country; or by any
other legitimate means that will help
to make country life more gainful
more attractive, and fuller of oppor-
tunities, pleasures and rewards for
the men, women and children of the
farms"