Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1912-12-19
Entered at the Elk City, Idaho, POST
office for transmission through the
mails as second-class matter
The Boy That Stays on the Farm.

The Boy That stays on the Ee' '''
For many years the magazines
dailies and even country newspapers
have been full of articles telling OF the
successes and victories of country boys
who left the farm and went to the big
cities to win fame or fortune. They
have had practically nothing to say
about the many thousands OF country
boys who went to the big cities and
were buried in oblivion, nor about the
thousands of boys who stayed at home
on the farm or in the home town
and became successful, prominent cltl-
zens and leaders in their communities.
Not only do such articles foster a
instrumentation of actual conditions, but
they are disastrous to the best inter-
ests of the nation. They are untruth-
full in their implications and utterly
bad in their effect upon the minds of
the youth of the country. The point
of view should be reversed and country
newspapers, at least, should lead IN
movement to chronicle the exploits and
successes of the boys that stay at home
on the farm and in the home town.
Caesars statement: cit is better to
be first in little Iberian village, than
second in Rome" has never yet been
successfully refuted.
One of the greatest dangers that to-
day haunt the American people is the
almost universal desire of the Amerl-
can boy to leave the farm and go to
the bright lights of the cities and
crowded centers. And the ''pull' of
the big city upon the country boy is
not the worst feature. 1t leaves
country communities without the right
kind of social advantages, without the
proper proportion of boys and girls,
and makes it increasingly difficult for
the country girl to meet desirable
young men and make a good and re-
spectacle marriage in her home COM
munity. Probably the country girls
themselves do not realize it, but this
may be reason why many of then
are leaving the farm or the home towr
and seeking education or employment
according to their financial circum
stances) in the larger cities.
A large firm in Chicago employs
something like 600 girls. Eighty fiv'
per cent of these come, not from tn
big city of Chicago itself, but from tn
country districts and approximate.
one-third of the girls employed by tn
firm has to be recruited every yeal
Many of these girls never find j
Chicago the healthful and moral &C
vantages that the home town should
but does not offer them.
So the way to keep not only tn
country boy, but the country girl also
at home, is to make farm life mon
pleasant, emphasize in print and othel
wise, the fact that the farmer is real
the king-pin of them all and improv
the social advantages of the hon
town. Why not encourage home dr.;
matte and musical talent? Have amt
teur plays occasionally. A state militi
company is often good feature ar
an armory might be made a soci
center. The boy scout movement ca
be used as advantageously in the sma
towns as in the large cities for tt
proper amusement and occupation
the younger boys and in making bett
citizens. Community picnics, b9sebs
teams, local bands, etc., are all goo
things for the home town. A gymn
SUM and school athletics should be e
couraged and every town of any 81
should have park, playground, pub
tennis court and a good library O
way to make farm life more attracti
is to improve the highways. Go
roads make it possible for the farmer
son and daughter to enjoy these q
vantages and participate in the soc
events of the home town and comm
nifty.