Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1910-08-26
NEW YORK FARMERS HEAR
ADDRESS BY ROOSEVELT
Starting on His Western Tour, the Colonel
Speaks to Agriculturists Near Utica, Dwell
-. ing Especially on Need Of Better.ng
the Condition Of Country Life

on the other hand, Just as little is done
by the working farmer who stolidly re-
fuses to profit by the knowledge of the
day; who treats any effort at improve
ment as absurd on its face, refuses to
countenance what he regards as new
tangled ideas and contrivances. and jeers
at all book farming I wish / could
take representatives of this type of farm
er down to Long Island, where L live, TO
have them see what has been done, not
as philanthropy but as plain business
proposition, by men connected with the
Long Island railroad, who believe Il pays
to encourage the development of farms
along the line of that railway. They have
put practical men in charge Of expert
mental farms, cultivating them intensive
ly, 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,
which during our entire National lifetime
has 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.
[ am particularly glad to speak to the
Grange, for l 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 as ..uch as the farm.
Country life should be as attractive
as city life. and the country people
should insist upon having their full
representation when it 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 bod
les for laying plans for great enter
prises affecting all the people. I 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 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
opportunity as the city talent to ex-
press itself and to contribute to 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,
practical betterment than for merely
formal piety. The country fair offers
far greater possibilities for continuous
and healthy usefulness than it at pres
ent affords. The country school should
be made vital center for economic.
social, and educational cooperation; it
is naturally fitted to be such a center
for those enga ged in commercial farm
ing and still more for those enga ged
in domestic farming. for those who live
on and by the small farms they them
selves own. The problem u the farm
is really the problem Of the family that
lives on the farm. On all these ques
tions 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 a 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 it and
with no prospect of steady employ
ment 1t is exceedingly difficult to
| make good citizen out of a man who
| can't count upon some steadiness and
| continuity in the work which means
| to him his livelihood. Economic con-
ditions on the farm-in variety and
| kind of crop growing, especially as
distributed in time and in housing for
| the men-must be so shaped as to rem
| der it possible for the man who labors
| for the farmer to be steadily employed
/ under conditions which foster his self
respect and tend for his development.
Above all, the conditions of farm
! life must always be shaped with a
| view to the welfare of the farmer S
| wife and the farm laborer's wife, quite
| as much as to the welfare of the farm
err and the farm laborer. To have the
| woman a mere drudge is at least as
| bad as to have the man mere drudge.
| 1t is every whit as important to intro
duce new machines to economic her
| labor 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-
| thy with any movement which looks
| to excusing men and women for the
| non-performance of duty and fixes at
| tention only on rights and not on du-
| ties. The woman who shirks her duty
! as housewife as mother. is con-
| temptible creature; just as the CORE
| spending man is a contemplate crea-
| ture. But the welfare 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 destiny of the
| world She deserves honor and con-
| sideration 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 it is
| a matter of the highest obligation for