The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1909-02-18
WASHINGTON
From our Regular Correspondent.

hitCl tllG lOuItU OI MATCH lU6
seasons will dou otless come and go
but we will not see his like again
at least not in tue White House.
Another important message with
the solemnity of farewell address
has been sent to Congress and there
is no telling how many more the
President may be intending to
send. The last message sent BY the
President is the outcome Of the in
vestigation of country life by the
commission not long since appoint
ed by him. This message was sent
with the report of the commission
and it dealt with the disabilities of
rural life and its needs, character
izing it 1.-THE foundation on which
rests the physical life of the nation
which in turn is the substructure
to the social and political ediice".
The document is didactic- almost
elegaic in its seriousness. The COM
mission made no discovery; it in.
vented nothing; it has really told
nothing new; but it cannot be use
less to have the attention of the
whole country riveted, if only for a
day, upon the important questions
OF improving, refining and eleva.
ting industrial and social conditions
i'll the soil, III that preponderant
area from which not only the means
Of physical life are derived, but
from which comes so much of the
brain and Drawn that, however re-
fined and changed in school, uni
versity, or city, must ever charac
terize people.
1t is of course interesting to have
confirmation of the fact, however
well known. that country life in
America has attained high level
as compared with former times and |
ether countries. The two remedies
suggested are cooperation and |
leadership. Much insistence is
placed on good roads and improved |
school teaching. The President
emphasizes the harm that threatens
the farmer in the encroaching
monopoly of water power for elec.
trical purposes, holding that this
power should be reserved for the
farmer for the purpose of lighting
and tor farm motor uses. 1t will
indeed be remarkable advance
when the stables, the dairy and
other outhouses of the farm and
the residence of the farmer, can be
cheaply illumined like the streets
OF the city. This is, nevertheless,
done in some localities and need
not appear too remote when it is
remembered that farmers are now,
some of them at least, riding in
automobiles.
The commission appointed by
the President advises sort of rural
settlement work and declares there
is in this country all opportunity
for intelligent and trained persons
to effect rural regeneration.
Xxx
Certain Senators have not been
able to await the return from Pan
anna OF the President-elect and the
expert engineers who went with
him, to express their pessimism
with reference to canal conditions.
Senator Kittredge, chairman of the
Committee on Inter-oceanic Canals,
with Senator Foraker and Senator
Teller, have taken time by the
forelock and denounced the present
plan of lock canal and shown
their intention of urging sea-level |
canal before further outlay has
been made in construction under |
the present plans. Mr.. Taft is ex-
pected to arrive in New Orleans
before the end of the week and it is
understood that he will, in an ad-
dress in that city, make an an
nouncement that will express the
opinion of the Administration, for
tined by careful inspection of the
canal with the assistance of COM
petent engineers; and this will at
least settle the administration poll
cy with reference to the great
work. The question, it will be re.
memDered, was thoroughly
threshed out three or four wears
ago when a number of distin-
guished engineers from all parts of
the world went to the canal terri
tory, and when majority of these
engineers pronounced in favor of
the sea-level canal. President
Roosevelt then, for the reason that
1t was understood that the sea level
canal would cost more and require
longer time to complete, urged a
canal with system of locks and
his preference. although backed by
only a minority of the engineers,
was potent in the adoDt;o,, &c t1,o