The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1909-04-09

great cities there appeared from time to
time paragraphs. the points of which
were sharpened at the expense of the
country life commission appointed by
President Roosevelt. Few and insignifi-
cant as these paragraphs were they
aroused something like resentment in the
heart of the maj who was doing what he
could to improve the conditions of life,
where they were susceptible of improve
ment, in the small villages and in the
farming districts of the country. Presi-
dent Roosevelt during the whole time of
his administration tried to make it plain
to people that he thought that in many
respects the country life was much the
better part.
The president has gone out of office,
but between the time that he sent the re-
port of the country life commission to
congress, accompanied by his special
message, to the time that he said good
by to the White House, he was in daily
receipt of letters from people living in
farming communities all over the coun-
try, and ninety-nine one-hundredths of
these letters were in a tone cOmmenda-
tory of the object he had in view in ap-
pointing a commission to consider the
conditions Of farming life in the open
country.
The president was not alone in the re-
ceipt of letters. They lave been re-
ceived in large numbers by individual
members of the country life commission
and by the commission as a body. The
number of replies received to the cues
tons sent out by the commission is al
most past the computing. These replies
and the letters received since the com
missions report was turned in. have
been carefully read and carefully studied.
There is in them a world of human inter-
est. The letters have come from all
kinds, classes, and conditions of men
and women who live outside the great
congested centers of population.
Some Of these communications, though
q very small number in comparison to
the great number representing the total.
have resented, in a way, the intimation
that everything might not be all right W
or two letters practically told the presid
of the commission to mind their own bus
the letters 10 in the possession of thu
the messages which came from 'cranks
40 AASoIAt Ai1Sh o1o oIlCA WuOSS ulIuOS
perhaps necessary to make a distinctio
people in the world whom others carele
cranks whose opinion has weight and "
best of humanity. President Roosevelt
many times because of his desire to apr
look into farm life conditions.
The members Of the country life conn
outset that they would not make know
correspondents. 1t was thought that il
their names in any instance would be ms
not write freely from the heart. 1t is fl
the extracts from some of the correspon
of the answers which were received, the
have been omitted, though the ~localitie
and their calling in life have been give
pleasing things to President Roosevelt al
the commission was the serious tone of
country press of his plan for a commissi
dition to the letters which have been rec
there is a great bundle of clippings from
try bearing upon the commission subjec
the members, under Mr.. Tafts predecess
1t may be said that some of the replies
to the commission came from men and "
were illiterate. 1t is also true that one
came from a man in a southern state, a
able to write and almost wholly unable
lAdEy SAINT SuS6CStIOHS - Iuc iAIploNCA
ties as did any set Of replies which wa
of them came from men who not only
scholars in the highest sense of the wort
Concerning the general nature of the Il
which had been received up to a time
to the sending of the commissions rept
came from the Office of the commission
ing the general tenor of the epistles.
married it's opinion of the letters which b
time as follows:
1.-The general tenor Of the farmers le
only are they deeply concerned in the
sion but that they have clear-headed i'd
purpose in stating the inquiry and of W
be. The writer's get down to business
ideas with a hard-headed logic and clearI
makes it seem a little doubtful if the b
that rural schools ought to be improved
s.The farmers themselves, however, agr
al facilities in the country districts ough
as to At country conditions and needs n
Der Of writer's urge the need of introduc
mentary agriculture into h schools.
opinion, however. Some maintain that
trying to make agricultural instruction
THE one point in which all the farne
agree with the president is that the