The Mena weekly star., 1909-02-11

l that the farmer expends and the risks that he assumes, and that the social conditions in the open country are far short of their possibilities. We must measure our agricultural efficiency by the possibilities rMNer than by com. parison with previous conditions. The farmer is almost necessarily handl. capped in the development of his busj. ness, because his capital is small and the volume of his transactions limited :. and he usually stands practically alone against organized interests. Tn the general readjustment of modern life due to the great changes in manu. factures and commerce, inedualities and discriminations have arisen, and naturally the separate man suffers most. The unattached man has prob. lems that government should under stand
 The reasons for the lack of a highly organizer rural society are very many. as the full report explains. The lead. Ing specific causes are:
 A lack of knowledge on the part of farmers of the exact agricultural con. ditions and possibilities of their re- gions:
 Lack of good training for country life in the schools:
 The disadvantage or handicap of the farmer as against the established busi- ness systems and interests, preventing him from securing adequate returns for his products, depriving him of the benefits that would result from unmo- nopolized rivers and the conservation of forests, and depriying the communi- ty, in many cases, of the good that would come from the use of great tracts of agricultural land that are now held for speculative purposes;
 Lack of good highway facilities;
 The widespread continuing deple- ton of soils, with the injurious effect on rural life;
 A general need of new and active leadership.
 Other causes contributing to the general result are: Lack of any ade- quate system of agricultural credit. whereby the farmer may readily se- cure loans on fair terms; the short age of labor, a condition that is often complicated by intemperance among workmen: lack of institutions and in. centives that tie the laboring man to the soil; the burdens and the narrow life of farm women; lack of adeuuate supervision of public health.
 Nature of the Remedies.
 Some of the remedies lie with the na- tional government, some of them with the states and communities in their corporate capacities. some with yolun. tary organizations, and some with in. dividuals acting alone. From the great number of suggestions that have been made. covering every phase of country life, the commission now enumerates those that seem to be most funda. mental or most needed at the present time.
 Congress can remove some of the handicaps of the farmer, and 1t can also set some kinds of work in motion, such as:
 The encouragement of a system of thorough-going surveys of all agricul- tural regions in order to take stock and to develop a scientifically and economically sound country life:
 The establishing of nationalized system of extension work in rural communities through all the land grant colleges with the people at their homes and on their farms;
 A thorough-going investigation by experts of the middleman system of handling farm products, coupled with a general inquiry into the farmers disadvantages in respect to taxation. transportation rates, cooperative or ganizations and credit, and the gen eral business system;
 An inquiry into the control and use of the streams of the United States with the object of protecting the peo- pie in their ownership and of savin. to agricultural uses such benefits as should be reserved for these purposes;
 The establishing of a highway en- gineering service. or equivalent organi- zation, to be ct the call of the states in working out effective and econom- ical highway systems;
 The establishing of a system of parcels posts and postal savings banks;
 And providing some means or agency for the guidance of public opinion toward the development of real rural society that shall rest di- rectly on the land.
 Other remedies recommended for consideration by congress are:
 The enlargement of the United States bureau of education, to enable it to stimulate and coordinate the ed ucational work of the nation;
 Careful attention to the farmers interests in legislation on the tariff, on regulation of railroads, control or regulation of corporations and of spec ulation. legislation in respect to riv- CTS, forests, and the utilization of swamp lands;
 Increasing the powers of the fed eraI government In respect to the and control of the public health;
 Providing such regulations as will enable the states that do not permit the sale of liquors to protect them selves from traffic from adjoining states.
 In setting all these forces in motion. the cooperation of the states will be