The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1910-08-26

does not 90 much good 70 farming; but,
on the other hand, just as little is done
| by the working farmer who stoffdry re-
fuses to profit by the knowledge of the
day; who treats any effort at Improve
ment as absurd on !ts face refnses to
countenance what he regards as new
tangled ideas and contrivances, and jeers
at all book farming" I wish I could
take representatives Of this type Of farm
er down to Long island, where live, to
nave them see what has been done, not
as philanthropy but as plain business
proposition, by men connected with the
Long Island railroad who believe 1t pays
to encourage the development of farms
along the line of that railway. They have
put practical men in charge Of expert
mental farms. cultivating them intensive
ly, and using the best modern methods,
not only In raising crops, but In securing
the best market for the crops when
raised. The growth has been astounding,
and land only fifty miles from New York,
which during our entire National lifetime
has been treated as worthless, has within
the last three or four years been proved
to possess really high value.
The farmer, however, must not only
make his land pay, but he must make
country life interesting for himself and
for his wife and his sons and daughters.
Farmers should learn how to combine
effectively, as has been done in industry.
l am particularly glad to speak to the
Grange, for I heartily believe in farmers
organizations; and we should all welcome
| every step taken towards an increasing
cooperation among farmers. The impor-
lance or such movements cannot be over
estimated: and through such intelligent
| joint action 1t will be possible to improve
the market Just as much as the farm.
Country life should be as attractive
as city life, and the country people
| should insist upon having their full
ia Hxyhnn e.
ing with all great public questions. In
other words, country folks should de-
mand that they work on equal terms
! with city folks in all such matters.
They should have their share in the
memberships Of commissions and coun-
| ellis; in short of all the organized bod
| les for laying plans for great enter
| prises affecting all the people I am
| glad to see on such bodies the names
| that represent financial interests, but
| those interests should not have the
right-of-way, and in all enterprises
| and movements in which the social
| condition of the country is involved,
| the agricultural countryside open
| country-should be as well represented
| as the city. The man of the open
| country is apt to have certain qualities
| which the city man has lost. These
| qualities offset those which the city
| man has and he himself has not. The
t"o Suoulu Ue put OH equal Terms, anu
| the country talent be given the same
| opportunity as the city talent to ex-
| press itself and to contribute to the
| welfare of the world in which we live.
The country church should be made
| true social centre, alive to every need
| of the community, standing for broad
| individual outlook and development
| taking the lead in work and in recrea-
ton, caring more for conduct than for
| dogma, more for ethical spiritual
| practical betterment than for merely
| formal piety. The country fair offers
| far greater possibilities for continuous
| and healthy usefulness than it at pres
emit affords. The country school should
be made a vital center for economic,
i social. and educational cooperation; it
| is naturally fitted to be such a center
for those engaged in commercial farm
| ing, and still more for those engaged
| in domestic farming. for those who live
| on and by the small farms they them
selves own. The problem of the farm
| is really the problem of the family that
| lives on the farm. On all these ques-
| lions there is need of intelligent study,
such as marks the books of Professor
| Bailey, of Cornell, and of Sir Horace
| Plunkett's book on the Rural Life
| Problems of the United States"
Conditions of Farm Life.
One feature of the problem should
| be recognized by the farmer at once,
| and an effort made to deal with it. It
| is our duty and our business to con-
slider the farm laborer exactly as we
| consider the farmer. No country life
f. can be satisfactory when the owners Of
| farms tend, for whatever reason, to
| go away to live in cities instead Of
| working their farms; and, moreover,
| it cannot be really satisfactory when
| the labor system is so managed that
o. 90 +I,o o,,1
| for labor which cannot be met, and
| during another part of the year no de-
mand for labor at ALL so that the farm
| ers tend to rely on migratory laborers
| who come out to work in the country
| with no permanent interest in 1T and
with no prospect of steady employ
ment. It is exceedingly difficult to
| make a good citizen out of a man who
can't count upon some steadiness and
| continuity in the work which means
| to him his livelihood. Economic con-
| ditions on the farm-in variety and
| kind of crop-growing, especially as
| distributed in time, and in housing for
the men-must be so shaped as to rem
| der it possible for the man who labors
for the farmer to be steadily employed
/ under conditions which foster his self
| respect and tend for his developments.
| Above all, the conditions of farm
! life must always be shaped with
| view TO the welfare OIL Tic ldrIHeT .
| wife and the farm laborer's wife, quite
as much as to the welfare of the farm
| er and the farm laborer To have the
| woman a mere drudge is at least as
| bad as to have the man mere drudge
| 1t is every whit as important to intro
| duce new machines to economlze her
| labor within the house, as 1T is to In
| troduce machinery to increase the eff
fectiveness of his labor outside the
| house. I haven't the slightest sympa-
1 thy with any movement which looks
| to excusing men and women for the
| non-performance of duty and fixes at
| tention only on rights and not on du-
| ties. The woman who shirks her duty
| as housewife as mother, is a con-
| temptible creature; just as the CORE
| sponding man is a contemplate crea-
| ture. But the welfare of the woman is
| even more important than the welfare
of the man; for the mother Is the real
| Atlas, who bears aloft In her strong
| and tender arms the destiny OF the
| world She deserves honor and con-
| sideration such as no man should re-
| ceiye. She forfeits all claim to this
| honor and consideration II she shfrks
/ her duties. But the average American
| woman does not shirk them; and 1T is
| a matter of the highest obligation for
| us to see that they are performed un-
| der conditions which make for her
| welfare and happiness and for the well
fare and happiness of the children she
! brings into the world.