The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-05-14
An address delivered at varions
\ Agricultural high schools Of the state. /
BY PAUL u. BARRINGER, VI. u. III. d..
Sresident Virginia Poiytcchnic In

US hihiost eVerS american who makes
q fortune In my form of business
spends his arst surplus income in buy.
Il Ing farm. If he came original,
from the country he may stop with
building on his farm modern coun.
try home and the proper outbuildincs
but If our rich man is genera iol
Or two removed from the. soil he MAY
be expected TO do much more Under
these conditions he will probably built
larger. IL not better. house, and
K then barns galore. He will then mex,
install menagerie of horses, cattle
sheep, hogs. dogs and fowls. possibly
several kinds of each, regardless OF
Z expense and difficulty of keep and
proudly call the whole a stock farm
This farm mania is so certain to hap
pen that the real estate men now keen
tab on the reports OF financial success
and save time by meeting the fnancieI
half way. 1t is n fever that is in the
very blood, and II Will out-ani in
st!nctive desire to live in the open. q
own land and direct Its culture and
breed animals But you have all seer
these cases yourselves and IL you have
followed the sequence and order Of
events YOU VIII recall that in each case
The prospective farmer always built
first a dwelling pluce-a home If o
man OF cultural training, our new
will rather rnnsack the earth for some
old country place with grass, trocs and
Hhrubbery already grown. When this
rs bought he does the same thing as
The man who builds al first hand--he
makes the old house a living place
equal to the demands of the day--wit lib
more windows and light hot and cold
+ water. bathrooms, q sewerag system
and some modern system of lighting,
etc. s4iH
B Why does the city man thus come
to the country? Because in that close
City office where, year after year. he
lsbored to become rich, he drcamt
dreams and saw visions, and they al
ways took one form-green folds and
shady woods and birds and flowers,
and when he becomes free and able
he goes to the scene of his visions.
THAT 6 all there Is In 81; IT is not
strange-it is natural drift The
menageric man is simply the intense
type-he merely shows an exuberancc
of feeling In wanting It all and MT
pnce.
@ InccntIvc to Bctter life.
Those may laugh nj him who WILL
but no who builds a home that Is an
incentive TO a better life. to better
health and cleaner living is no tit sub
iect for laughter. L is not as is some
cessful and dominant industries 10
those less prosperous, but nine times
out of ten 1t is a sincere attempt nj
the proper thing: Mt an ideal-n home
and for that reason 1t carries a
message and sermon TO every old
time farmer who laughs. There arc
some insists, course. The city mhn
may go too fast: he may spend too
much money; but he has lived the
life-ho has gotten close to his Ideal.
Unfortunately. against this picture
we must sometimes place another we
often see tho farmer who has made Il
fortune by earnest effort going
straight 70 town. leaving the farm.
Why? Because us day after day he
toilcd in the hcld and furvow there
Rrosc before him also visions. This
time they came comfortable home
in some neisliborinG town; with fur
mace heat. hot and cold water. bath
tubs and all the conveniences of life.
and, last but not least abundant com
pany In fancy twas TO him also an
earthly paradise.
II YOU have followed many OF these
cases here you have also seen some
insists. Fortune may have waited too
long. and the old farmer does not
quite til into the new life. ! know Of
no sight more sad than thtlt of rich
old country couple living IN large
town house, aloof and alone, as remote
from the life around them as prisoners
IN a dungeon awaiting the end. But
we have all seen IL,
These divergent ideals arc matters
OF fact: they exist all over the land,
and they move men 10 and fro as II
shuttle In the loom, but they can never
weave q strong fabric of rural life for
us, because these Two classes are es-
sentialiy at odds-nt cross purposes.
What weird happen If two Of these
men. e-~ohe going and the other
coming. each II good representative of
Ills class, could he made TO stop and
confer together rs TO their real mo-
iives In moving? I have never been
able TO bring this about. but believe
that by anRiyzinE the lives and the
desires and emotions Of these two
classes we can arrive at n solution OF
the most important of all social prob
iems-what will keen the family and
The boy on the farm?
Il The problem is further complicated
by tho fact that IL is not alone the
rich farmer who leaves the farm Let
the average singie-crop farmer get
even little ahead" and lie III once
makes for town. rents out the farm.
and Joins The great army Of absent
ian6iords." who already constitute the
In the South There must lie something
really wrong with the details OF our
present farm life when the mere hopa
az financial success VIII tempt he
farmer 10 renounce i,-iEfor il Is re
nuncistion.I .
Boys lenving Farm.
Farther. we must note that TIE farm
IS losing no, only al the top, but Of
the hott1n. Boys are leaving as vel!
AZ men, and this s'he real problem.
1Ic city wants the boy and II calls
rim. The farmers task is 70 prevent
the steady loss in rural economy rep
resented ~ the going of the boy, born,
bred and educated al the expense OF
the farm The Journey man artisan
VINO takes away from il q KNOWLEDGE
Of its practical details such as nc
other can ever gain e%cept AT great
sacrifce.
The lowest ee?imate which. any no
lItical economist could put upon =
mt 4 .