The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-08-24
RURAL LIFE POLICY
VITAL TO THE NATION
Continued From rage one.

successfully solved save on condition
that there is at least measurable
success in the effort to solve the other
In any great country the prime physi-
seal asset-the physical asset more
valuable than any other-is the fertil-
ity of the soil. All our industrial
and commercial welfare, all our ma
terial development of every kind, de-
ponds in the last report upon our
preserving and increasing the fertility
of the soil. This, of course, means
the conservation of the soil as the
great natural resource; and, equally,
of course, it furthermore implies the
development of country life, for there
cannot be a permanent improvement
of the soil if the life OF those who
live on it, and make their living out of
fl, and suffered to starve and languish
to become stunted and weakened and
inferior to the type of life lived else
where. We are now trying to preserve
not for exploitation by individuals, but
for the permanent benefit Of the whole
people, the waters and the forests. and
we are doing this primarily as a means
of adding to the fertility of the soil;
although in each case there is great
secondary use both Of the water and
of the forests for commercial and in
dustrial purposes.
'Tn the same way it is essential for
the farmers themselves to try to
broaden the lift Of the man who lives
in the open country; to make 1t more
attractive, to give it every adjunct
and aid to development which has
%N he 90 ~
the cities.
Therefore, friends the conservation
and rural life policies are really two
sides OF the same policy; and down at
fundamental law that neither man
nor nation can prosper unless, in deal
ing with the present, he steadily take
thought for the future.
Very Old Problem.
"In one sense this problem with
which we have to deal is very, very
old. Wherever civilizations have hith-
erto sprung up they have always tend
ed to go through certain stages and
then to fall. No nation can develop
a real civilization without cities. Up
to a certain point the city movement
is thoroughly healthy, yet it is a
strange anu ldIIleIlldDl6 LdCL LndL al
ways hitherto after this point has
been reached the city has tended
to develop at the expense of the coun-
try draining the country Of what is
best in it, and making an insignificant
return for this best. In consequence,
in the past, every civilization in rs
later stages has tended really to wit
ness those conditions under which the
cities prosper and the men decay.
There are ugly signs that these ten
denotes are at work in this nation of
ours. But very fortunately we see
now what never before was seen in
any civilization-an aroused and alert
public interest in the problem, a rec
ognition of its gravity and a desire
TO attempt it's solution.
1.-THE problem does not consist
merely in the growth of the city. Such
"a growth in itself is a good thing and
mot a bad thing for the country. The
problem consists in the growth of the
city at the expense of the country;
and even where this is not the case,
In so great an equality of growth in
power and interest as to make the city
more attractive than the country, and
Therefore apt to drain the country of
the people who ought to live therein.
The Human Side.
1.-THE human side of the rural life
problem is to make the career of the
Farmer and the career of the farm la
borer as attractive and remunerative