The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1909-12-10
PRESIDENT TAFT ON COUNTRY LIFE.

state OF Mississippi. IT has a popula-
ton more devoted to the soil and its
cultivation than any other state in
the United States. You do not
have large cities, and | do not thick
that a defect at all in your civiliza-
ton. The fact is that the tendency
toward concentration of population
in the cities is a tendency thatought
to be restrained.
Country life ought to be made
more comfortable and attractive.
The pursuit of agriculture. the pro-
fession of farming today, may we'll
attract the mental and manual ac-
tivity of men of the highest educa-
ton, of the highest culture, and of
the highest ambition"
1t was in these words that Pres
ident Taft, in the course Of his fam
Gus Swing around the Circle" adj
dressed the people at Wilmington,
North Carolina. With the facility
of all public HE for touching upon
something locally of vital interest,
he picked outa subject that is very
near the healts of the great rural
population. He was following the
lead of his strenuous predecessor in
office, who focused public attention
upon the farm problem less than a
year ago, when he appointed a COM
mission to investigate and report
upon conditions of country life.
In the opinion of many Mr.. Taft,
in again awakening the farm life
problem, has chit the nail on the
head"
How to keep the boy on the
farm-this is but one phase of the
great question that has so long &C.
cupied the attention of men in pub
lie and private life. The move
ment to the city of boys born and
bred in the country has always been
viewed with considerable alarm.
Such a movement if it became toe
general would result in two great
evils, overcrowding in city slums.
and lowering the standard of work
on the farms.
What's to be done? If young
people are disconnected at home
and think more opportunities are te
be had in the cities; if they find farm
work a drudgery and the social life
of the country irksome and monot
onous is there not some remedy:
To remove the cause of discomfort
would seem to be the best solution
j It may be recorded here that so sue,
cessful have been efforts to make
life on the farms more profitable
and attractive hal danger of any
serious exodus to the cities is
thing of the past.
The farms today have many ad'
vantages that a generation ago were
not known. Most of them are
reached by the rural mail, the good
roads movement has spread won
derfully, newspapers and farm
Journals have extended their educa.
tive influence, and the rural tel
ephone has organized the great body
of farmers and brought them to
better knowledge of each other.
This one agency-the telephone
has done more, perhaps, than any
thing else to promote the business
and home welfare of all the farmers
Through all the great mediums O
, publicity the truths concerning it,
power for good have been told t.
the country population. The Yves
tern Electric Company, the larges
3 manufacturer of telephones in TIT
world distributed instructive litera
ture on the farm telephone subjec
| throughout the rural districts
: Farmers were shown how easily ru
raj lines are constructed, and hov
great a return such a line give
: when viewed only from the stand
point of an investment.
For not only does a rural tel
ephone pay; there are times whel
its presence confers a benefit tina
could never be gagged in terms O
dollars and cents. For instance
when a physician or a veterinary i
wanted in a hurry, the telephone i
the only reliable and quicker-than
lightning messenger. The tel
ephone really increases the eficienc,