The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-07-16


the New York State College of Agri-
culture at Cornell and chairman of the
commission of country life appointed
by ex-President Roosevelt, told facts
of interest to farmers all over the
country. The subject of his address
was Leadership in Country Life" and
and a n abstract of the speech follows:
We are meeting in one Of the most
prolific agricultural regions in the
world There is probably no other
area anywhere SO full of the fairness
OF the land as the mic region of the
great Mississippi valley. This is to
be the center of one If the great
world units. 1t is important lot only
to you who live here, but to all people
everywhere what kind of civilization
you develop on these great prairies
and plains.
This is an epoch OF reconstruction
in every line of human endeavor. All
institutions and ideas are being chal-
lenged. The period of human drift
is passing, and we are beginning con-
sciously to build new civilizations.
We must rebuild the open country
with the rest, not because the open
country is decadent, but because all
society is progressing.
Country Must Solve Problems.
The reconstruction of the open coun-
try must depend in the main on the
efforts OF the country people them
selves. We are glad of all interchange
of populations; the influx of country
blood has thus far been the salvation
of cities; the outgo of city people has
set new aspirations into the country,
and it is still necessary to call on the
cities for labor in times of PRESSURE:
but stated in its large terms, the open
country will rise no higher than the
aspirations of the people who live
there and the problem must be solved
in such a way that they will meet
the conditions as they exist on the
spot. 1t is therefore of the utmost
Importance that the country people
themselves be reused to the necessity
of a reconstruction of rural civiliza-
ton.
Profitable Farming Not Sufficient.
1t is the very first duty of every
man to earn a decent living for him
self and those dependent upon him.
We must all learn how to be better
farmers; and a countryman cannot ex-
pect to have much influence on his
tim eand community until he makes
his farm pay in dollars and cents.
But the final object in life is not to
make money, but to use the money in
developing a higher type of endea-
vor and a better society. The rich
est farming regions do not necessarily
have the best society or even the best
living conditions.
Insufficiencies in Country Life.
A few months ago l attended a
meeting in one of the best parts of
the corn belt, that was called for the
purpose of discussing the condition
CT country life in that region. The
first testimony of those who spoke was
uniformly to the effect that farm life
in that part of the world was all that
could be desired. All farmers who
had given any worthy attention to
their business were prosperous. farms
were paid for, the men had the best of
turnouts and some of them had auto
mobiles, and many of them not only
had money in the bank but were bank
directors or concerned in other impor.
tant business enterprises. The farm
ers were not complaining, and town
people considered farm land a good in
vestment. In fact, the farmers were
so prosperous that they were able to
move to town at fifty years of age.
l asked why they desired to move
to town. The answer was. to secure
good school facilities. to escape bad
| roads and isolation, to have church
privileges and to be able to enjoy So
| cial advantages. In other words the
country life of the region was sue
cessful only on it's business side, and
a satisfactory rural society had not
developed. The town vas the center
of interest. The country was not suf-
icient unto itself as a permanent
place of abode.
New Epoch in Farming.
We have covered the easy farming
regions, and we have been leaving the
difficult regions to grow up to timber.
! But in the end all country will be
needed for productive uses; and the
best civilization will come only when
we conquer the difficult places as well
as utilize the easy ones. We shall de
velop greater skill in farming than
we have yet dreamed of. The raw and
ragged open country that we see every
where from trolley lines and railway
trains is not at all a necessary condi
ton: it is only a phase of a transition
period between the original conquest
of the country and the growing utili.
cation of the country. We shall uti.
lie it all in time: and the more com
pletely We conquer and utilize it, the
more resourceful and hopeful PEG
pie should be. Speaking broadly. we
are now in the rough and crude stage
of our agricultural development.
The Call for Leadership.
Here. then, is a call for leadership
All the great questions of human so
ciety in both city and country are still
before US. The call for leadership in