Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1910-08-31
LETTERING FARMLFE
IS ROOSEVELTS TOPIC
Former President Stops at Utica ON
His Way West and Addresses Big
Gathering of Agriculturists on
Subject in Which He Is
Much Interested.

~ the working farmer who stolidly re-
fuses TO profit by the knowledge of the
0ay VINO treats any effort at improve
iheht as absurd on its face refuses to
countenance what he regards as new
tangled ideas and contrivances, and teers
at all book farming" / wish I could
take representatives of this type of farm
er down to Long Island where I live to
nave them see what has been done, not
as philanthropy but as a plain business
proposition, by men connected with the
Long Island railroad, who believe 1t pays
TO encourage the development Of farms
aiong the line of that railway. They have
put pracUcal men in charge of expert
mental farms, cultivating them intensive
~. 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,
winch during our entire National lifetime
mas been treated as worthless. has within
the last three or four years been proved
to possess a 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 heartily believe in farmers
organizations; and We should all welcome
every step taken towards an increasing
cooperation among farmers. The impor-
lance of such movements cannot be over
estimated; and through such intelligent
joint action it will be possible to improve
the market Just much as the farm.
Country life should be as attractive
as city life, and the country people
should insist upon having their full
representation when 1t comes to deal
Tn
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. 1 am
glad to see on such bodies the names
that represent financial interests, but
those interests should not have the
right-of-way,s and in all enterprises
and movements in which the social
condition of the country is involved
the agricultural country-the 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
two should be put on equal terms. and
the country talent be given the same
opportunity as the city talent to ex-
press itself and to contribute 20 the
welfare of the world in which we live.
The country church should be made
a 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.
20. 1ry
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,
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. 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
working their farms; and moreover,
it 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 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 1t is exceedingly difficult TO
make a good citizen out of a man who
can't count upon some steadlness ana
continuity in the work which means
To him his livelihood. Economic con-
di+iors on the farm-in variety and
1,ipd of crop-growing, especially as
distributed in time. and in housing Tor
the rnen-must be so shaped as to rem
der it possfSIe for the man who labors
for the farmer to be steadily employed
nnder conditions which foster his self
respect and tend for his development.
Above all. the conditions of farm
life 4ntqst always be shaped with
view to the welfare of the farmers
,-;fa aDd the farm laborerS wife, quite
ne rn,,ch as to the welfare of the farm
or aud the farm laborer. To have the
woman a mere drudge is at least as
nod "a to have the man mere drudge.
II is every whit as important to intro
duce rew machines to economic her
nor within the house, as it is to in
troduce machinery to increase the eff
fectiveness of his labor outside the
house. I haven't the slightest sympa-
INV With any movement which looks
70 excusing men and women for the
op-uerformance of duty and fixes at
tentfon only on rights and not ON du-
tics The woman who shirks her duty
as housewife as mother, is con-.
+enptible creature; just as the eorre-
Snonding man is contemplate erea-
tire But the welfare of the woman is
even more important than the welfare
~ 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-
sidera ton such as no man should re-
ceive She forfeits all claim to this
honor and consideration If she shirks
her duties. But the average American
woman does not shirk them; and 1T IS
a matter of the highest obligation for
rs to see that they are performed I'M
der conditions which make for her
welfare and happiness and for the well
fare and happiness of the children she
brings into the world.