Omaha daily bee., 1910-08-24

when II comes to dealing with all great
public questions. In other words, country
| folk should demand that they work on
equal terms with city folk in all such mat
ters. They should have their share in the
memberships OF commissions and councils;
in short, OF all the organised bodies for lay
ing plans for great enterprises affecting all
the people. I am glad to see on such bodies
the names that represent financial inter
ests. 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
we'll 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 opportun-
ity as the city talent to express itself and
to contribute to the welfare of the world
in which we live. -.-s
Social Centers in Country.
THE country church should be made
true social center, alive to every need of
the community, standing for a broad indi-
vidual outlook and development taking the
lead In work and in recreation, caring more
for conduct than for dogma, more for eth
ical spiritual. practical hetterment than
for merely formal piety. The country fair
offers far greater possibilities for continu-
Gus and healthy usefulness than 1t at pres
ent affords. The country school should be
made vital center for economic, social
and educational cooperation; ii is naturally
fitted to be such center for those engaged
in commercial farming, for those who live
on and by the small farms they themselves
own. The problem of the farm is really
the problem OF the family that lives on the
farm. On all these questions there is need
of intelligent study, such as marks the
books of Prof. Bailey Of Cornell and of
Horace Plunketts book on the Rural Life
Problems Of the United States
"One feature Of the problem should be
recognized by the farmer at once, and
an effort made to deal with 1t. 1t is our
duty and our business to consider the
farm laborer exactly as we consider the
farmer. No country life can be. satisfac-
tory when the owners Of farms tend, for
whatever reason, to go away to live in
cities instead of working their farms; and,
| moreover, II 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 an
other part Of the year no demand for labor
at ALL so that the farmers tend to rely
on migra tory laborers who come out to
work in the country with no permanent in
terest in it and with no prospect of steady
employment. 1t is exceedingly difficult to
make a good citizen out Of a man who
can't count upon some steadiness and con-
tinuity in the work which means to him
his livelihood. Economic conditions on the
farm--in variety and kind of crop grow
ing, especially distributed in time, and
in housing for the men--rnust be so shaped
as to render 1t possible for the man who
labors for the farmer to be steadily en-
ployed under conditions which foster his
self-respect and tend for his development.
The Farmers wife.
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 10
the welfare of the farmer and farm laborer.
To have the woman a mere drudge is at
least as bad as to have the man a mere
drudge. 1t is every, whit as important
to introduce new machines to economize
her labor within the house as 1t is to in
troduce machinery tothcrease the effective
ness of his labor outside the house.
haven't the slightest sympathy with any
movement which looks to excusing men
and women for theA non performance of
duty and fixes attention only on rights
and not duties The woman wso shirks
her duty as a housewife, as mother, is a
contemplate creature; just as the corre-
spending man is contemplate Creature.
But the welfare OF the women 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 de-
serves honor and consideration such as no
man should receive She forfeits all claim
to this honor and consideration If she
shirks her duties. But the average Amer
lean woman does not shirk them; and 1t
is a matter of the highest obligation for
us to see that they are performed under
conditions which make for her welfare and
happiness and for the welfare and happl-
ness of the children she brings into the
world"
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