Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-02-10

lcdTllcO IHIcG STtdt SCAChhA chA'A AAAAAA''-
date needs Of country life stand out:
First, effective cooperation among
to put them on level with
the organized interests with which
they do business.
Second, a new kind Of schools in the
which shall teach the chill
dren as much outdoors as indoors and
perhaps more, so that they Will pre-
pare for country life, and not as al
present, mainly for life in town.
Third better means Of cOmmunica-
ton, including good roads and a par
GELS post, which the country people arc
everywhere, and rightly, unanimous
in demanding.
To these may we'll be added better
sanitation; for easily preventable dis
eases hold several million country peo-
pie in the slavery of continuous i'll
health.
The commission points out. and
concur in the conclusion, that the most
important help that the Government,
whether National or State, can give is
20 show the people how to go about
these tasks of organization. education,
and communication with the best and
quickest results. This can be done by
the collection and spread of infor1na
ton. One community can thus be in
formed of what other communities
have done, and one country of what
other countries have done. Such help
by the Peoples government would lead
to comprehensive plan of organ1Za-
ton, education, and communication
and make the farming country better
to live in, for Intellectual and social
reasons as well as for purely agricul-
tural reasons.
partment of Agriculture does not cul
tivate any mans farm for him. But
it does put at his service useful knowl-
edge that he would not otherwise get.
In the same way the National and
State Governments might put into the
peoples hands the new and right
knowledge of school work. The task
IF maintaining and developing the
schools would remain, as now, with
the people themselves.
The only recommendation I submit
is that an appropriation of $4,000 be
provided. 70 enable the commission to
liSest the material it has collected
and to collect and to digest much more
that is within it's reach, and thus COM
Dlete its work This would enable the
commission to gather in the harvest of
suggestion which is resulting from the
discussion it has stirred up. The
commissioners have served without
compensation, and I do not recon-
mend any appropriation for their ser
Int only fnr J,n
will be required to finish the task that
they have begun.
To improve our system of agricul-
ture seems to me the most urgent of
the tasks which lie before us. But it
can not, in my judgment, be effected
by measures which touch only the ma
terial and technical side of the subject;
the whole business and life of the far
mer must also be taken into account
Such considerations led me to appoint
the Commission on Country Life. Our
object should be to help develop in the
country community the great ideals of
community life as we'll as of personal
character. One Of the most important
adjunCtS to this end must be the
country church, and l invite your at
tention to what the commission says
Of the country church and of the need
IF an extension of such work as that
Of the Young Mems Christian Associa-
ton in country communities. Let me
lay special emphasis upon what the
it's report on personal ideals and local
leadership. Everything resolves itself
III the end into the question of person.
sll Nntf hnr ot<,&r,
can Go much for country life unless
there is voluntary response in the per-
soaal ideals Of the men and women
who live in the country IN the devel-
opment of character, the home should
be more important than the school, or
than society at large. When the basic
material needs have been met, high
ideals may be quite independent of In
come but they can not be realized
without sufficient income to provide
adequate fotlndation: and where the
community at large is not financially
prosperous it is Impossible to develop
4 high average personal and commu-
nifty ideal. In short, the fundamental
facts OF human nature apply to men
and >Wolnen who live in the country
Just as they apply to men and women
who live in the towns. Given a suffi-
clent foundation of material we'll be-
ing, the influence of the farmers and
farmers wives on their children be-
comes the factor Of first Importance in
determining the attitude of the next
generation toward farm life. The far
lner should realize that the person who
most needs consideration on the farm
is his wife. l do not in the least
mean that she should purchase ease
at tire expense OF duty. Neither man
FOR woman is really happy or really
useful save on condition of doing his
Or her Guty. Ii the woman shirks her
duty as ahousewife, as nome keeper.
as the mother whose prime function
It is to bear and rear a sufficient num-
her OF healthy children, then she IS not
Antli1d to our regard. But if she
does her duty she is more entitled to
cur regard even than the man who
i"es his duty; and the man should
show special consideration for her
needs.
I warn my countrymen that the
great recent progress made in city life
IS not full measure of our civiliza-
ton: for our civilization rests at bot
tom on the wholesomeness, the attrac-