Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-08-03
SOCIAL LIFE AID
TO RURAL SCHOOL
Professor at DeKalb Asserts
Place Is Now Only Neigh
borhood Nursery.

DShGio, HI, aug. O.-POlIlCS ana
the country school were placed side
by side and criticised as disorganized
national institutions at the second
days session of the Illinois country
life conference here.
Professor Edward J. Ward, who is in
charge of the rural survey now being
conducted by the University of Wis
consin, denounced party politics in
general and the formation of the new
progressive party in particular.
He said the progressives are largely
young men today, and when they
grow old and become conservatives it
will have to be done over again.
Lack of united effort in a common
cause" was Professor Wards criti-
'cism of the country school, which he
called a ''neighborhod nursery and
nothing more in most instances"
He said the public school as an in
stitution is only half completed. He
also asserted that until the school
building becomes the social center a
true democracy will not be achieved
DIR. WILEY'S ADVICE.
DR.. Harvey W. Wiley told farmers
wives how to make their homes hap
pier. During his heart-to-heart talk he
said:
You cannot drive away a husband
who is we'll fed. Good cooking and
good food are the fundamentals of fu-
ture prosperity. Every farmers wife
should be a good cook and you know
that many of you are not. Some of
the worst meals l ever have eaten
have been on the farm. Our nation
is sure to prosper. We have the farm
ers. The whole world cannot beat
such full stomach"
State Senator Hugh S. Magin of
Princeton advocated the founding of
a states organization of all business
interests to encourage more scientific
farming methods.
FOR BETTER SCHOOLS.
o. ]. Kern of Rockford, school sun
erintendent of Winnebago county,
gave an illustrated address on consoli,
dated schools and declared this meth
cd of doing away with the one-room
schoolhouses was the hope of the fu'
ture.
Agricultural college extension work
was discussed by William D. Hurd OF
the Massachusetts State college al
! Amherst Logan Walter Page, direc
tor of the department of good roads II
1 the department of agriculture, haC
been expected as the chief speaker o.
| the morning session.
| The auditorium of the Northern Hi
nois Normal school was crowded will
Will and Dupage county farmers VINO
| had come anxious to hear good roads
discussion. Mr.. Page did not arrive
/ and sent a message of regret.
RANKER ASKS COOPERATION.
B. f. Harris of Champaign, Ill, pres
ident of the Illinois Bankers associa
ton, asserted that farmers problems
are bankers problems, and the agri
culturist and financier should WorF
hand in hand. Mr. Harris spoke OF
The Banker and His Relation to the
Public Welfare"
in Illinois 60 per cent of the bank
ers own an aggregate of 2,5OO,OO'
acres of farm land and are directi!
or indirectly interested in farming it,
he said.
THE best way to reach and impress
the great mass of farmers and MAKE
them masters of their craft is by send
ing qualified demonstrators to worl
with them in their fields and shoV
them how to get better results.
SEES WEALTH INCREASE.
"An average increase of five bushels
to the acre will add from a quarter o
a million to a million dollars annual,
to the wealth of each county in Illinois
One busheI an acre increase on all i'm
proved agricultural land in the Unite'
States would require 1880 extri
trains o; so cars each to transport.
Bankers speak Of their dormant
unearning cash reserve, yet scarcel
give a thought to large dormant vi
employed soil fertility and the pos
sibility of greater crop yields compai
ed with whose value the cash reserve
are as nothing"