The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-11-18
SECRETARY HOUSTON DIS
CUSSES HIGH COST OF LIVING
SAYS SOME COLLEGES ARE NOT
DOING THEIR FULL DUTY.

Points Out The HandiCapS OF the
Country Child and Compares it
With the Advantages of the City
Child.
Washington, D. c., Nov. H.
David F. Houston, secretary of agri-
culture, spoke on 1.-The Organization
of American Agriculture" before the
47th annual session of the National
Grange of Patrons of Husbandry at
Manchester, New Hampshire, on Fri
day, Nov. IA. In his introduction
Secretary Houston stated that it was
time that all intelligent people put
their heads together to consider rural
conditions, which presented not
class problem but a national prob
lem affecting city and rural popula-
tions alike.
Secretary Houston's address is
lengthy that we cannot publish it in
it's entirety, only taking the salient
points for consideration at this time.
Mr.. Houston said in part:
"A question frequently asked in
Washington of those connected with
agriculture is whether we have
reach the limit of our supply of
the necessaries of life and whether
or not anything can be done to de-
crease the cost of living. l have
systematically refused to deal off
hand, with this vastly important
problem, as so many of the inter-
viewers expect. 1t is one of vast i'm
portance and complexity. There are
many avenues of approach to it;
many controlling factors and no sim
pie remedy. But l am not one of
the pessimists. l do not entertain
the thought for second that we
have approximated the limit of our
output from the soil AS matter
of fact, we have just begun to attack
the problem. We have not even
reached the end of the pioneering
stage and have only in a very few
localities developed conditions where
maximum returns may be secured.
But we have Enthusiastically reached
the period where we must think and
plan and work. We can no longer
rely on the bounty of nature. There
are evidences that Providence is
ceasing it's protective supervision of
fools and Americans. Conditions are
emerging which if not fundamentally
dealt with will lead us into serious
embarrassments. 1t is well for us to
face the facts and get our bearings.
Consider the position of a child
in any of the more remote sections
of the rural districts in America to-
day, and ask yourself what his op-
portunities are for training and de-
velopment and efficiency as compar-
ed with those of similarly endowed
boy in an urban community. The
latter lives in house supplied with
running water, the purity of which
is protected by ample means; walks
on sidewalks free from dust and
mud; drives along adequate roads;
has access to many of the things
that minister to the legitimate
pleasures of living; has at hand the
best trained physicians and surgeons;
publicly maintained hospitals; well
planned schools of every grade from
the kindergarten to the professional
school or college. And most of these
things he secures at a minimum ex-
pense through a relatively low rate
of taxation. The other picture is
easily drawn. If we may confine our
thought for the moment to the
schools alone we find that outside of
New England, which has solved the
rural school problem largely by eli
minating the rural population, all
that the average country boy has &C
cess to is an ungraded school, usually
taught in one room by a girl with
less training than high school grad
uate, receiving $40 or $50 a month
for seven or eight months in the
year, teaching all ages in thirty or
more classes a day. If by any chance
boy survives this and desires to go
further it is necessary for his father
to put him on train, buy his trans
portation, send him to a town, pay
his board, his tuition, and lose his
services during the session, and prob
ably lose him permanently from the
country. l have said it before and
I am not afraid to repeat it that I
do not quite see how a father and
mother who are ambitious for their
children can gain their own consent
to continue to live in remote rural
districts under existing conditions"