The Spanish Fork press. [volume] (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-current, 1909-02-11

| prime agent the ideas the commission
| stands for must reach the people, should
| become without delay i'm fact a depart
ment of country life fitted to deal not
| only with crops, but also with all the
larger aspects of life in the open country.
| From all that has been done and
| learned three great general and immedi-
ate needs of country life stand OUT
| First, effective cooperation among
farmers, to put them on a level with the
| organized interests with which they do
| business.
Second, a new kind of schools in the
| country, which shall teach the children
as much outdoors as indoors and per-
haps more, so that they will prepare for
| country life. and not as at present, main
| ly for life in town.
Third. better means of communication,
| including good roads and parcels post,
which the country people are everywhere,
and rightly, unanimous in demanding.
To these may well be added better san
| itation; for easily preventabe diseases
| hold several million country people in the
| slavery of continuous i'll health.
Duty OF the Government.
| The commission points out and 1 con-
| cur in the conclusion, that the most i'm
| portant help that the government wheth-
| er national or state. can give is to show
| the people how TO go about these tasks
| of organization, education and commune
| cation with the best and quickest results.
| This can be done by the collection and
| spread of information. One community
| can thus be informed of what other com
| munities have done, and one country of
| what other countries have done. Such
| help by the peoples government would
| lead to a comprehensive plan of organi-
| cation, education and communication and
| make the farming country better to live
| in, for intellectual and social reasons as
| well as for purely agricultural reasons.
The only recommendation / submit is
| that an appropriation of $4,000 be pro-
| vided. to enable the commission to digest
| the material II has collected, and to col
| lect and to digest much more that is
within its reach, and thus complete Its
| work. This would enable the commits
| sion to gather in the harvest OF sug-
| gestlon which is resulting from the dis
| cussion 1t has stirred up The commits
sioners have served without compensa-
| ton, and l do not recommend any APP
preparation for their services. but only
for the expenses that will be required
to finish the task they have begun
To Develop Country Community.
To improve our system of agriculture
seems to me the most urgent of the tasks
which lie before us. But it cannot, in
my judgment be effected by measures
which touch only the material and tech
meal side of the subject; the whole bust
be taken into account. Such considera-
tons led me to appoint the commission
on country life. our object should be
to help develop in the country commu-
nifty the great ideals of the community
life well as of personal character. One
of the most important adjuncts to this
end must be the country church. and /
invite your attention to what the COM
mission says of the country church and
of the need of an extension of such work
as that of the Young Mems Christian as
ISOLATION In country communities. Let
me lay special emphasis upon what the
commission says at the very end of its
report on personal ideas and local leader
ship. Everything resolves itself in the
end into the question of personality,
Neither society nor government can do
much for country life unless there Is vol
untary response in the personal Ideals
of the men and women who live In the
country. In the development of charac-
ter, the home should be more important
than the school, or than society at large.
When once the basic material needs have
been met, high ideals may be quite in
dependent of income; but they cannot be
realized without sufficient income to pro-
vide adequate foundation and where the
community at large is not financially
prosperous 1t is impossible to develop a
high average personal and community
ideal In short, the fundamental facts
of human nature apply to men and wom-
en- who live in the country just as they
apply to men and women who live In the
towns Given n sufficient foundation of
material well being, the influence of the
farmers wives their children be-
comes the factor of first Importance In
determining the attitude of the next gen
Grafton toward farm life. The farmer
should realize that the person who most
needs consideration on the farm Is his
wife. ! do not in the least mean that she
should purchase n
duty, Neither man nor woman Is really
happy or really useful save on condition
of doing his or her duty. II the wom-
an shrks her duty as housewife, as
home Keeper the mother whose prime
function is to bear and rear sufficient
number of healthy children, then she is
not entitled to our regard. But If she
does her duty she Is more entitled to our
regard even than the man who does
his duty: and the man should show spe-
cial consideration for her needs,
Welfare of Nation at Stake.
| warn my countrymen that the great
recent progress made in city life is rot
full measure of our civilization; for our
civilization rests on the wholesomeness
the attractiveness, and the completeness. |
as well as the prosperity, of life In the |
country. The men and women on the |
farms stand for what Is fundamentally |
best and most needed In our American |
life. Upon the development Of country |
lift rests ultimately our ability by meth |
DDS of farming requiring the highest in |
telligence. to continue to feed and clothe |
the hungry nations. to supply the city |
with fresh blood. clean bodies and clear |
brains that can endure the terrific strain |
Of modern life; we need the development |
OF men In the open country, who will be
in the future, as In the past the stay |
and strength of the nation in time OF |
war and its guiding and controlling spr-
II in time OF peace.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
The White House, February O. 1909.
Joel Chandler Harris Memorial.