Morris tribune., 1908-08-15
BET7ERL|FE ONFAR|NS|
President Roosevelt Plans Fed
eraI UpIift For Farmers.
SUBJECT TO BE WELL PROBED


Commission Appointed to Investigate
Social, Sanitary and Economical Con.
ditions PIeasanter Conditions a:
Vital as Raising Bigger Crops, Hs
Contends-views 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 10 him, with recommendations for
.n"o-ements. The report and recon-
mel::: ions. with any additional recon-
me-. q: :ons which the president him
se:f may desire to make, will be incor-
porated in message which the presi-
dent will send to congress, probably
early next year.
The men President Roosevelt has
asked to act as an investigating com
mtttee are Professor L. FL. Bailey of
the New York College Of Agriculture,
Henry Wallace of Wallace's Farmer,
Des Moines, Ia; President Kenyon l..
Butterfeld of the Massachusetts, Agri-
cultural college, Clifford Pinchot Of the
United States forest reserve and Wal
ter FL. Page. editor Of the Worlds
Work, New York In letter to Pro
fessof Bailey asking him to accept the
craftsmanship Of the commission Pres
ident Roosevelt outlines his desires in
the direction Of improvements on the
farms as follows:
mo nation has ever achieved perma-
nent greatness unless this greatness
was based on the we'll 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, disregard
ing certain sections and taking the ma
tion as a whole, I believe it to be true
that the farmers in general are better
OF today than they ever were before.
We Americans are making great prog
ress In the development Of our agricul-
tural resources. But it is equally true
that the social and economic institu-
tons Of the open country are not keep
ing pace with the development Of the
nation as q whole. ...J
'The farmer is, as a rule, better off
than his forbears, but his increase In
well being has not kept pace with that
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
q agriculture, through the farmers CO.
operative demonstration work of DR..
Knapp, is 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 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, I 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-
treme statement is based upon actual
life among both classes of people
"I doubt if any other nation can
bear comparison with our own In the
amount Of attention given by the gov
eminent. both federal and state, to ag-
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 uQQuestfonably 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 1t 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 is In
the truest sense a national problem. In
an address delivered at the semicen-
tennial Of the founding of agricultural
colleges In the United States a year
ago last May said:
There Is but one person whose
welfare Is as vital to the welfare OF
the whole country as is that of the