Amador ledger., 1908-12-04
NEEDS OF COUNTRY LIFE.

The government. which is prying
into all sorts of propositions and
making all sorts of Investigations,
primarily for the purpose of deter
mining truths that shall help man
kind, has among other things appoint
ed a commission on country life.
This has resulted from the we'll
known movement OF back to the soil,
an effort of discerning pubIiolsts to
restore the equilibrium that has been
seriously DETECTED in recent years by
causes ii is now sought to discover.
This commission, by means of hun
dreds OF thousands of letters written
farmers, teachers, ministers, business
men and others, requesting their
categorical observations and opinions
oil the conditions of country life,
sanitary, economic, social and other
wise, is attempting to throw light on
the subject.
Here are some of the heads under
WulCu tulS lulOrulHIlUu Is W ue
gathered:
Are farms as good as they should
be?
Are schools training boys salts
factorily for life on the farmY
Do farmers get reasonable returns
for their products?
DO farmers get transportation facii-
ties they should have?
DO farmers get the proper postal
serviceP
Are the farmers organized to pro
mote buying and selling interests?
Are renters making satisfactory
living?
Is supply of farm labor satisfactory?
Are conditions satisfactory to hired
men?
Are sanitary conditions on farms
satisfactory?
All concluding with tho all-inclus-
i've question which may be theoreti-
cally answered through the aggregate
wisdom of the hundred thousand
"What III your Judgment is the III ost
important single thing to be done tor
the general betterment of country
life?"
Al this is not chimerlcal, but from
it much good should result.
An Indiana farm hand has written
his views to the president, and they
will be found to agree with the obser-
walton Of many:
81 have been a farmland just long
enough" says the presidents cores
pendent, "to learn the cause of so
many sons and daughters and we'll
meaning, reliable farmhands leaving
the beautiful farm and country and
going to the city. A lack Of order
and system on the farm, and too long
hours for day, is what is driving
the best minds from the farm to the
city and shop What can we expect
of a hand or the farmers wife and
her posterity in the way of intellectual
development when they get out Ut
their beds at $3.50 in the morning and
work from that time until or 8 p.
M? And no attention paid to the
sanitary conditions Of the home and
necessary convenlences on the farm
for doing the farm work with the
least labor and time.
And much more in the same
practical tone.
He might be asked to write in ad
vance the findings of the commission
after it has received the replies from
its army of observers and theorists.
In the first place, he would have
the farmer and the farmland educated
men, not dull clods who know only
how to follow pillow and feed pig.
The systematic farmer emancipates
himself from the slavery that drives
so many young men to seek the less
certain but more alluring emoluments
of a city.
The brain is really a more pro-
ductive adjunct of the soil and the
sunshine than muscle, but too few
appreciate that as a living, vital
truth.
loo often the farmer farms only as
his father tarmed, applying neither
demonstrated science nor business
methods to his business, and in conse-
quence there are few callings less
attractive or remuneIative.
With the proper utilization Of
natures laws and business require
ments, the farm may be made the
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