Wallowa chieftain. [volume] (Joseph, Union County, Or.) 1884-1909, 1909-01-07
An Indiana Agricultural Laborer
Writes President Roosevelt
About Country Life.
FARMERS ARE EIGHT-HoUR MEN
Long Periods of Labor and Lack of
System in Operations Are
Deplored.

letter to President Roosevelt about the
work which the Country Life Commits
sion is carrying on. The President has
turned the letter over to the Country
Life Commission and the commission
has asked the farmland to write some
more.
Il have been a farmland just long
enough" says the Presidents corre-
spondent, Ito 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 of their beds at
$3.50 in the morning and work from
that time until 8 or 0 p. m.? And no
attention paid to the sanitary condi-
tions of the home, and necessary con-
veniences ON the farm for doing the
farm work with the least labor and
time"
This man has given the Country Life
Commission some very interesting first
hand information about rural condi-
tions and recommendations based on a
long experience in farm work and farm
life. He has worked for all kinds of
farmers, good and bad, he says, and
he has always had his eyes open to
detect the causes of their success or
failure. He has drawn his own con-
clusions and sets them forth in down.
right, straightforward fashion. Edu-
cation pays in farming, he says. The
farmer who plans out his work and
carries it through in a systematic,
business-like manner, Just as the city
man does, will be able to shorten the
hours of labor $50 many farmers
measure everything on the farm from
the standpoint of muscle he contin-
ues, land are extreme in some things
and slack in others. l decided sew
eral years ago that life is too short to
work for Peter Tumbedown farmers"
Compel the farmer to be business
man." he says. Go into the homes of
some Of the farmers and the so-called
farmers and ascertain how they live,
and learn of their methods of doing
the business in which they are engaged.
And you will be surprised what a va
riety you will find. Ascertain what
they read, and what stresses they put
on the literature that comes into their
homes (if any comes) bearing on the
business they are engaged in. See what
per cent study their business.
''Give me the educated farmer as
boss and the educated farmland as a
hand. When l come in contact with
hand or farmer that studies his bust
ness | find him advancing, and II is a
pleasure to work for such men.
"The majority of the farmers are
eight-hour men, that is, eight hours in
the forenoon and eight in the after
noon. Eight or ten hours on the farm
cannot well be adapted in all cases, but
1t need not be from fourteen to sixteen
hours. II the family arise every morn
ing at ) O'Clock and the wife and daugh-
ters attend to the household duties,
and the farmbands and sons attend to
the chores and go to the field at Z
O'Clock and work until II or II 80 and
go to the field again at l and keep at
1t until o'clock. and go to the house
and eat the supper and then do the
evening chores, they have done farm
days work. Regular hours for work,
and regular hours for meals, and reg
ular hours for sleep, and regular hours
for rest and recreation, with plenty of
standard papers and books. including
the best agricultural papers and books,
and full faith in God, and good grub
is wanted
''The family should rise at o'clock
on Sunday morning as well as on week
days, and do the necessary Sunday
morning chores, and then go to church
and show the business man in the city
that Sunday ON the farm does not con-
sist in changing the stock from one
field to another, or sailing it, or un-
loading a lead of hay that was brought
I'm on Saturday evening
Coming to the meals at the meal
hour makes it easy on the wife so she
can arrange her household duties In
order. as can also the husband his
farm work
"Men OF worth and standing In the
shop and city tell me that If order and
system were used on the farm they
would go back to the farm. If the
farmer wants to keep his sons and
daughters on the farm he must not
lengthen the hours for a days work at
both ends. Limit the hours of work on
the farm to twelve or thirteen with
pay for overtime, and freedom to the
hired man on Sunday"
Not Wholly Careless.
u 4