Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1913-01-17

VIII uS'SAopSu we lind
self-respecting people, prospernrs
and happy, and keeping abreast !.
the times in all important human =
| terests, keenly alert to all new 4.
velopments and proud of their corn
try's heritage.
Did you ever stop to think hon
much more dignity and respect thu
term farmer" carries with it nor
than it did decade ago? | beliavo
1t marks a return to the former d.v.
before city growth when most of tho
wealth, and culture, and family nr,do
was in the open country and small
village.
We all know. however, and ve,
We are prone to underestimate tba
terrible depressing effect of isolation
on the farm on women and children
1t has been and is now the most
serious enemy of country life deye,.
opment in America today No whera
else in the world are farm homes 90
far apart and so scattered. The man
who naturally travels about mora
than his wife, becomes acquainted
and has been able to endure this ism.
lation and sometimes the wife and
mother in her zeal for a home NJ
her own has been able to endure II
but social hunger and craving for
some leisure and pleasure has driven
thousands of our most promising
boys and girls from the farms. lao.
lation has without doubt proved N
be our greatest curse to the country
and when we study it carefully we
wonder that it has not been worse
than it is. The telephone, the rural
free delivery of mail and the auto
mobile are now the three greatest
factors in removing these difficulties
of rural social betterment and
heartily commend the use of them
all to you. Indeed, today the first
two reach almost every home In your
county and the automobile Is being
recognized as a western farm neces-
sity. All of these are a business
necessity in the city, but In the coun-
try they are becoming not only
business necessity, but are a means
of pleasure and of much edu-
cational development. We only yet
need to have perfected the device for
imaging the face of the one to whom
we are talking to make the telephone
a perfect instrument for banishlng
isolation and loneliness and for bring
ing neighbors and communities into
almost immediate touch with each
other.
1t seems to me in treating this
subject of rural betterment, | ought
not to leave the matter of the farm
home and its conveniences I'M
touched. We have through all these
years of new and improved farm ma
chinery sought to keep up with the
latest and best, both from the stand
point of labor-saving and efficiency
in the work being done. Many of US
have even sought all the best and
most modern conVeniences In hous-
ing and caring for our live stock and
at the same time, we still live in the
same lily arranged and announcement
home where our wives, sisters and
mothers wear themselves out day
after day taking a hundred and one
needless steps or doing heavy work
that might be SO easily remedied by
uS if we only had the work to do
or If our hired man had 1t to do.
This Is not idle talk for | have been
III number of your homes and know
the conditions. What is the social et-
feet on those who have to endure,
year in and yearout, this drudg-
cry? Many women have grown pre-
maturely old and have shaved them
selves to death because of these con-
ditions which in many cases could be
bettered.
Next to these serious defects in
our homes are the defects in many
of our schools where our children
spend so much of their golden time
with poor equipment and poor ar
rangement for the best returns for
their efforts. Poor light, poor venti-
lation, poor heat, uncomfortable
seats. no water to even wash their
hands with, let alone to drink, no
shades on the windows, filthy and
immoral outhouses, no library and
even the teacher only meagerly sup
piled with text books If indeed she
Is furnished with any books at all
and yet We expect the young people
to come out of these schools well
rounded out and fairly equipped for
a useful life. | want to say to you
people that while you have some Of
the best equipped rural schools in