Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-08-23

ests. but those interests should not
have the right of way. and in all enter
prises and movements in which the So
ciaI condition of the country is in
volved the agricultural Countrywide
open country-should be as well repre-
scented as the city.
The man Of the open country is apt
TO have certain qualities which the
city man has lost. These qualities Off
set those which the city man has and
he himself has not The two should
be put on equal terms and the coun-
try talent be given the same oppor-
tunity as the city talent to express IT.
self and to contribute 10 the welfare
of the world in which we live.
The country church should be made
true social center. alive to every need
of the community. standing for a
broad individual outlook and develop
ment. taking the lead in work and in
recreation. caring more for conduct
than for dogma. more for ethical. Spir
itual. practical betterment than for
merely formal piety. The country fair
offers far greater possibilities for con
tinuous and healthy usefulness than
ii at present affords.
The country school should be made q
vital center for economic. social and
educational cooperation. 1t is natural
ly fitted TO De such a center for those
engaged in commercial farming and
still more for those engaged in domes-
tic farming. for those who live on and
by the small farms they themselves
own. The problem of the farm is real
~ the problem of the family that lives
on the farm. On all these questions
thereis need of intelligent study. such
as marks the books of Professor Bal
ley of Cornell and of Horace Plum
kett's book on the Rural Life Prob
lens of the United States"
LabOrers on Farms.
One feature of the problem snouId
be recognized by the farmer at once
and an effort made to deal with it.
1t is our duty and our business to con-
slider the farm laborer exactly as we
consider the farmer. No country life
can be satisfactory when the owners
of farms tend. for whatever reason. TO
go away to live in cities instead of
" VI anu. IL
cannot be really satisfactory when the
labor system is so managed that there
is for part of the year demand for
labor which cannot be met and during
another part of the year no demand
for labor at all. so that the farmers
tend to rely on migratory laborers who
come out TO work in the country with
no permanent interest in it and with
no prospect of steady employment
1t is exceedingly difficult to make a
good citizen out of man who can't
count upon some steadiness and con-
tinuity in the work, which means to
him his livelihood. Economic condi-
tons on the farm-in variety and kind
of crop growing especially as distribut-
ed in time and in housing for the men
must he so shaped as TO render il
possible for the man who labors for
the farmer TO be steadily employed I'M
der conditions which foster his self re-
spect and tend for his development.
Above all, the conditions OF farm life
must always be shaped with view to
the welfare of the farmers wife and
the farm laborer's wife quite as much
as TO the welfare OF the farmer and
the farm laborer. To have the woman
a mere drudge Is at least as bad as TO
have the man mere drudge. IL ia ev-
cry whit as important to introduce
new machines to economic her labor
within the hOnse as IL is To Introduce
machinery TO Increase the effectiveness
of his labor outside the house.
/ haven't tbe slightest sympathy
with any movement which looks TO ex-
cusing men and women for rhe non
performance of duty and fixes atten-
ton only on rights and MOI on duties.
The woman who shirks Der duty as