New-York tribune., 1911-01-22
BACK TO THE COUNTRY
Success of Movement Depends
on Better Conditions There.
NOW CRY IS FALlAClOUS
All This Settled at Republican
Club Luncheon by Men Who
Suggest Remedies.

Given better conditions in the country
the back 10 the country movement WI
grow 10 vast proportions No matter no"
attractive life I'm the country may he rnao''
tho cry hack 40 the country is ansoluteIN
fslIacious This much was settled AZ the
luncheon yesterday at the RephpTcan
C.Iub Dr < \ KNAPP or the Agricuit-
uraI Denar,nent at Washington. settleh "
os frs, stated The Rev. Dr. Josiah Strong
so,ued il hy repetitions Of the announce
mon, concerning the propositior's absolute
faIIscv And then there were other speak
ers
Professor l., ". Bailey. of cornell I'M
versitv. chairman of the Rural l.ife com
mission appointed by President Roosevelt
and George r. Powell president OF the
Agricultural Experts Association were
among them. Dr. Knapp's account or me
work being done by the government 10
help. through personal contact with agrl-
cultural specialists, the small farmer IN
the South was frequently interrupted by
hearty applause.
THE return Of the boy 10 the farm is
more difficult problem than we at first
imagine" said DIR. Knapp. And YOU can't
keep boy from leaving the farm II he Is
satisfied he can do better elsewhere. What
we must do to keep him there is to make
farm life more attractive
The Rev. Dr. Strong said:
THE making Of plea SAINT conditions on
the farm will not make more farmers. The
number of farmers will always he gov
erned by economic demands. The city is
destined to continue it's disproportionate
growth. because the progress in industry
and the fine arts will continue. We should
not waste our time and money on a fal-
lacious theory that life in the city is de-
generating 10 tho intellectual and the
physical Unless we teach the people Of
our cities 10 lead normal lives We shall
have a degenerate nation"
Dr. Strong added that the high cost Of
living was not due to food so much as to
Injuries "A man earning 10000 year
does not eat one hundred times as much
as man earning $1,000. but he can spend
one hundred times as much on horses and
carriages and his wife can wear 100000
worth Of iewelry all at one time II her
credit Is good enough and her taste bad
enough. The demand for food is natural
and limited, but the demand for mechani-
cal Improvements and tho fine arts is not
natural and is not limited"
Or Knapp said we were losing a million
dollars a year on farms and an equal sum
on the forests. and that farmers might
easily double crops by following directions.
There is no such thing as poor soil in
the United States" said Dr. Knapp. It's
a poor man atop a good soil. When I am
asked what to do with fertilizer say apply
one half To the man, the other one-half 10
th" soil Ve are the most illogically fed,
fed and clothed people in
the world. We eat things because it's the
fashion Nobody knows where fashion
comes from or where il goes II We could
save $50 n year for each American il would
mean saving in the cost Of living OF 81
s 00.00O,G coo. More than this Is possible
through the farmers following helpful sug-
Eestions We are beginning now in the
South 10 teach the value OF back yard
vegetable gardens.
Give me the price OF one half Of one
and | will put government agri-
7Tltural expert in every county in tho
United states ! can kill more foreign in
,aGers with pumpkin and a turnip and
4 beet I'm my hands than you can by shoot
ne at them all year. Put the farms on n
BUSINESS basis. There are more automo-
oiics beneath the soil than have been
lrcamed OF 10 date. We have taken A poor
farmers ton acres I'm tho South. and by a
cw practical suggestions enabled him to
produce siNty-fivc bushels Of corn to the
acre whore he never got more than ten.
ini eight bales Of cotton where the poor
hap could only get three. II is difficult
sometimes to convert the old man But
'ou can got him through his boy. We now
nave 1876 boys on our list receiving in
truction from our agents. Recently a boy
lad cighty-four bushels OF corn on his acre
,here the father had nine The old man
anne across. The boys methods will pre-
veil on that farm. We have tho word Of
he father for this announcement"