The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-08-24

remove the discrimination found to exist
| by the investigating committee between
that farm life in the future shall not
| only develop men of the stamp Of
Washington and Henry Clay, but shall
be so attractive that these men may
continue as farmers; for remember tina.
Washington and Henry Clay were sue
cessful farmers. I hope that things
will SO shape themselves that the farm
er can have a great career and yet end
his life as farmer; so that the city
man will look forward to living In the
country rather than the country man
| living in the city.
Strength in Union
Farmers should learn how to COM
| bine effectively, as has been done In
Industry. I am particularly glad to
speak to the Grange. for I heartily be-
lieve in farmer& organizations; and We
should all welcome every step taken to-
ward an increasing cooperation among
farmers. The Importance of such
movements cannot be overestimated,
and through such intelligent joint ac-
ton 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
| representation when 1t comes to deal
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
bodies for laying plans for great en-
terprises affecting all the people.
II 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 agricul-
tural country, the open country, should
be as well represented as the city. The
man IN 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 express
itself and to contribute to the welfare
| of the world In which we live.
Two Social Centers
THE country church should be maoe a
the community, standing for q broad in
dividual outlook and development, taking
the lead in work and in recreation, caring
more for conduct than for dogma, more
for ethical, spiritual, practical betterment
than for mere16 formal piety The coun-
| try fair offers far greater possibilities
| for continuous and healthy usefulness
than 1t at present affords.
THE country school should be made a
vital center for economic, social and edu-
cational co-operation; 1t is naturally TT
| ted to be such a center for those engaged
In commercial farming, for those who
| live on and by the small farms they
| themselves own.
1.-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 Professor Bailey of Cornell
and of Horace Plunkett's book on the
Rural Life Problems Of the United
| States
zone feature Of the problem should be
recognized by the farmer at once, ana
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, Tor
| whatever reason, to go away to live IN
| cities instead Of working their farms;
and moreover 1t cannot be really salts
| factory when the labor system Is so man.
aged that there is for part of the year
| demand for labor which cannot be met.
and during another part of the year no
demand for labor at all, SO that the farm
ers tend to rely on migratory laborers
who come out t. work in the country
with no permanent interest in it, and with
no prospect Of steady employment.
ut is exceedingly difficult to mako a
good citizen out OF man who can't count
| upon some steadiness and continuity In
the work which means to him his liveli-
hood. Economic conditions on the farm
| in variety and kind of crop growing, es-
pecially as distributed in time. ana In
housing for the men-must be so shaped
as to render it 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 develop
ment.
Conditions of Farm Life
"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
to the welfare of the farmer and farm Ia
borer. To have the woman mere drudge
is at least as bad as to have the man
a mere drudge.
at is every whit as important to In
troduce new machines to economize her
labor within the house as it is to intro
duce machinery to increase the effective
ness of his labor outside the house. l
haven't the slightest sympathy with
any movement which looks to excusing
men and women for the non-performance
of duty and fixes attention only on rights
and not on duties.
''The woman who shirks her duty as
housewife, as mother is a contemplate
| creature just as the corresponding man
| is contemplate creature. But the well
fare 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 des-
tiny Of the world. She deserves honor
and consideration such as no man should
receive. She forfeits all claim "