The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1909-02-17
POINTS OUT IMPROVEMENTS
FOR COUNTRY COMMUNITIES
Special Message Of President Of Utmost Inter-
est to Farmers.
Urges That Social Well Productive Side of Farm Life
Be Built Up---Worlx for the Federal
Department.

ment OF agriculture, through which az
| prime agent the ideas the commission
stands for must reach the people, should
become without delay in fact q depart
ment of country life. fitted to deal not
only with crops, but also with all the
larger aspects Of life in the open country.
From all that has been done and
learned three great general and immedi-
ate needs Of country life stand out:
First, effective cooperation among
farmers, to put them on a level with the
organized interests with which they do
| business.
Second, new kind Of schools in the
country, which shall teach the children
as much outdoors as indoors and per-
haps more SO that they will prepare for
country life, and not as at present, MAIN
ly for life in town.
Third, better means Of communication,
including good roads and a parcels post,
! which the country people are everywhere,
and rightly, unanimous in demanding.
To these may we'll be added better SAN
itation; for easily preventable diseases
| hold several million country people In the
slavery of continuous Ill health. I.
Duty Of the Government.
The commission points out, and con-
| cur in the conclusion, that the most i'm
| portant help that the government, wheth-
| er national or state, can give is to show
| SAS PCOPAO uOW " 81 dOOuI lIACoS ldShS
OF organization, education and commune
cation with the best and quickest results.
This can be done by the collection and
spread of information. One community
can thus be informed of what other COM
munities have done, and one country of
what other countries have done. Such
help by the peoples government would
lead to comprehensive plan of organi-
cation, education and communication. and
make the farming country better to live
in, for intellectual and social reasons as
well as for purely agricultural reasons.
The only recommendation I submit is
that an appropriation Of $4,000 be pro-
vided, to enable the commission to digest
the material 1t has collected and to COL
lect and to digest much more that Is
within its reach, and thus complete its
work. This would enable the commits.
sion to gather in the harvest Of sug-
gestion which is resulting from the dis
cussion 1t has stirred up. The commits
sioners have served without compensa-
ton. and I do not recommend any APP
preparation for their services, but only
for the expenses that will be required
to finish the task they have begun.
To Develop Country Community.
To improve our system of agriculture
seems to me the most urgent of the tasks
which lie before US. But it cannot in
my judgment, be effected by measures
which touch only the material and tech
meal side Of the subject; the whole bust
ness and life Of the farmer must also
be taken into account. Such considera-
tons led me to appoint the commission
on country life. Our object should be
to help develop in the country commu-
nifty the great ideals Of the community
life as we'll as Of personal character. One
of the most important adjuncts to this
end must be the country church. and I
invite your attention to what the COM
mission says of the country church and
of the need of an extension Of such work
as that of the Young Mems Christian as
ISOLATION in country communities. Let
me lay special emphasis upon what the
commission says at the very end of its
report on personal ideas and local leader.
ship. Everything resolves itself in the
end Into the question Of personality.
Neither society nor government can do
much for country life unless there is vol
untary response in the personal id~als
Of the men and women who live in the
country In the development of charac-
ter, the home should be more important
than the school, or than society at large.
When once the basic material needs have
been met, high ideals may be quite in
dependent of income; but they cannot be
realized without sufficient income to pro-
vide adequate foundation and where the
community at large is not financially
prosperous it is impossible to develop a
high average personal and community
ideal. In short, the fundamental facts
of human nature apply to men and wom-
en- who live in the country just as they
apply to men and women who live in the
towns. Given sufficient foundation of
material we'll being, the influence Of the
farmers wives on their children be-
comes the factor of first Importance in
determi ding the attitude of the next gen.
Grafton toward farm life. The farmer
should realize that the person who most
needs consideration on the farm Is his
wife. I do not in the least mean that she
should purchase ease at the expense of
duty. Neither man nor woman is really
happy or really useful save on condition
Of doing his or her duty. If the wom-
an shirks her duty as housewife, as
home keeper, as the mother whose prime
function is to bear and rear sufficient
number of healthy children. then she Is
not entitled to our regard. But If she
does her duty she is more entitled to our
regard even than the man who does
his duty; and the man should show spe-
cial consideration for her needs.
Welfare Of Nation at Stake.
warn my countrymen thst the great
recent progress made in city life is not
a full measure of our civilization; for our
civilization rests on the wholesomeness,
the attractiveness, and the completeness,
az WelA dS lHe prosperity, VI NE III tHe
country. The men and women on the
farms stand for what Is fundamentally
best and most needed in our American
life. Upon the development of country
lift rests ultimately our ability. by meth.
DDS Of farming requiring the highest in.
telligence, to continue to feed and clothe
the hungry nations: to supply the city
with fresh blood. clean bodies. and clear |
brains that can endure the terrific strain |
of modern life; we need the development !
Of men in the open country who will be |
In the future. as in the past, the stay |
and strength of the nation in time OF |
war, and its guiding and controlling spir.
1t in time of peace. |
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
The White House. February 8. 1909.