The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1909-02-09
ANOTHER
MESSAGE

Washington, Feb. 9.-The President
today sent special message to the
congress, conveying with it the report
of the Country Life Commission. The
message is as follows:
Message of the President
To the Senate and the House of Rep
resentatives:
transmit herewith the report of the
Commission on Country life. At the
outset 1 desire to point out that not a
dollar of public money has been paid
to any commissioner for his work on
the commission
The report shows the general con-
dition of farming life in the open com
try, and points out its larger prob
lens: it indicates ways in which the
Government, National and State, may
show the people how to solve some OF
these problems and it suggests con-
tinuance of the work which the COM
mission began.
Judging from thirty public hearings,
to which farmers and farmers wives
from forty States and Territories came
and from 120,0 900 answers to printed
questions sent out by the Department
of Agriculture, the commission finds
that the general level of country life
is high compared with any preceding
time or with any other land. If it has
in recent years slipped down in some
places, it has risen in more places
Its progress has been general, If not
uniform.
Yet farming does not yield either
the profit or the satisfaction that It
ought to yield and may be made to
yield. There is discomfort in the com
try, an din places discouragement.
Farmers as a class do not magnify
their calling, and the movement to
Iov. 20 c.aNv
less than formerly, is still strong.
Under our system it is helpful to pro
mote discussion of ways in which the
people can help themselves. There
are three main directions in which the
farmers can help themselves, namely,
better farming, better business, and
better living on the farm. The Ma
tional Department of Agriculture,
which has rendered services equaled
by no other similar department in amy
other time or place; the state depart
ments of agriculture; the state col
leges of agriculture and the mechanic
arts, especially through their extension
work; the state agricultural expert
ment stations; the Farmers Union;
the Grange; the agricultural press;
and other similar agencies; have all
combined to place within the reach of
the American farmer an amount and
which, if applied would enable him,
over large areas, to double the produc-
tion of the farm.
The object of the Commission on
Country Life therefore is not to help
the farmer raise better crops, but to
call his attention to the opportunities
for better business and better living
on the farm. If country life is to be-
come what it should be, and what l be-
lieve it ultim ately will be-one of the
most dignified, desirable, and sought
after ways of earning a Gving-the far
mer must take advantage not only OF
the agricultural knowledge which IS
at his disposal but of the methods
which have raised and continue to
raise the standards of living and OF
intelligence in other callings.
Those engaged in all other indus
trial and commercial callingS have
found it necessary, under modern eco
nomic conditions, to organize them
selves for mutual advantage and for
the protection of their own particular
interests in relation to other interests.
The farmers of every progressive Eu-