The Florida star. (Titusville, Fla.) 1880-1917, 1908-08-21
BETTERLIFEONFARNS
President Roosevelt Plans Fed
eral UpIlft For Farmers.
SUBJECT TO Be WELL pRoBED

dltions - Pleasantsr Conditions 40
Vital as Raising Bigger Crops, He
contsnds-visws Of Experts.
With a view to bringing about bet
ter social. sanitary and economic con-
ditions on American farms, President
Roosevelt has requested four experts
on country life to make an investiga-
ton into the whole matter and to re-
port to him, with recommendations for
improvements. The report and recon-
mendations. with any additional recon-
mendatiOns which the president him.
self may desire to make, will be incor-
porated In a message which the presi-
dent viii send to congress. probably
early next year.
The men President Roosevelt has
asked to act as an investigating com
mittee are Professor L. II. Bailey Of
the New York College Of Agriculture,
Henry Wallace OF Wallace's Farmer,
Des Molnes. Ia; President Kenyon L.
Butterneld Of the Massachusetts, Agri-
cultural college, Clifford Pinchot Of the
United States forest reserve and Wal
ter II. Page. editor OF the Worlds
Work. New York. In letter to Pro
lessor Bailey asking him to accept the
Craftsmanship Of the commission Pres
ident Roosevelt outlines his desires In
the direction Of Improvements on the
farms AZ follows:
'No nation has ever achieved perma-
nent greatness unless this greatness
was based on the well being Of the
great farmer class, the men who live
on the soil. for It 10 upon their welfare,
material and moral, that the welfare
OF the rest OF the nation ultimately
rests. In the United States, disregard
ting certain sections and taking the ma
ton a. q whole, believe 1t to be true
that the farmers In general are better
on today than they ever were before.
We Americans are making great prog
ress In the development Of our agricul-
tural resources. But IL in equally true
that the social and economic institu-
lions OF the open country are not keep
ing pace with the development Of the
nation AS a whole.
The farmer Il, an q rule, better or
than his forbearS, but his increase In
well being has not kept pace with that
OF the country as a whole. While the
condition OF the farmers In some Of
our best farming regions leaves little
20 be desired, we are far from having
reached so high a level in all parts Of
the country. In portions Of the south,
for example. where the department OF
agriculture, through. the farmers Co
operative demonstration work Of DR..
Knapp, Ia directly instructing more
than 10000 farmers in better methods
OF farming there are nevertheless
much unnecessary suffering and need
less loss OF efficiency on the farm. A
physician who Is also a careful student
OF farm life In the south, writing to me
recently about the enormous percent
age Of preventable deaths Of children
due to the insanitary condition Of
certain southern farms, said:
Personally, from the health point
Of view, l would prefer to see my own
daughter, nine years old, at work In a
cotton mill than have her live as ten
ant on the average southern tenant
one horse farm. This apparently ex-
IRENE statement Is based upon actual
life among both classes Of people
al doubt IL any other nation can
bear comparison with our own in the
amount OF attention given by the gov
eminent. both federal and stats, to az
ricultural matters. But practically the
whole OF this effort has hitherto been
directed toward increasing the produc-
ton of crops. Our attention has been
concentrated almost exclusively on get
ting better farming In the beginning
this was unquestiOnably the right thing
to do. The farmer must first Of all
grow good crops In order to support
himself and his family. But when this
has been secured the effort for better
farming should cease TO stand alone
and should be accompanied by the ef-
fort for better business and better liv-
ing on the farm. II is at least as I'M
portant that the farmer should get the
largest possible return in money, COM
fort and social advantages from the
crops he grows as that he should get
the largest return In crops from the
land he farms. Agriculture is not the
whole OF country life. The great rural
interests are human interests. and good
crops are Of little value to the farmer
unless they open the door to a good
kind OF life on the farm.
This problem OF country life Ii In
the truest sense a national problem. In
an address delivered at the semicen-
h. An,rr,hInnr nH a ariNIllfnral