Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1913-07-25

litical heller and whoop 1t up for
the other fellow, or be forever
branded as a sour, stoical hayseed. y
But the remedy is in the farmers
Own hands. Whether he will assert
his right remains to be seen. No
class Of men will willingly remain
political or economic slaves when the
remedy is within their grasp; but let
us remember that great and lasting
victories are established IN mental
combat and such victories are more
permanent.
One of the most serious objections
urged against country living, how
ever, is the backward condition of
the rural schools. The objection is
not without foundation in fact, but it
can be removed. Ex-Governor Hoard
of Wisconsin makes the following
observations:
Our common schools recruit the
academy, the college and the uni
yersity, and they in turn recruit
every profession but farming, Our
young men flee to the towns and
cities because we have educated them
to do so. Nearly every European
country is putting forth strenuous eff
forts to stay this tendency by teach
irg the elements of scientific agri-
culture in the common schools 1t
can be done as easily as the teaching
of the elements of scientific arith-
metic or chemistry or philosophy. A
great host of farmers who were de-
priyed of such teaching, now find
themselves barred from an under
standing of much agricultural liter
allure. AS a consequence they turn
away from the agricultural college,
the experiment station bulletin and
the farm paper that S really worth
nothing to them. Had these men
been taught in the common schools
the meaning of the terms used in
agricultural chemistry, something of
the principles of animal husbandry,
something Of the principles that
underlie the preservation of fertility,
they would be today in much more
harmonious relation with all that con
stitutes agricultural progress"
The rem dy, however, is not diff
ficult one. Whenever farming COM
munities become wiling to put as
much money into education as the
urban people put into education the
country schools can be made as good
as the best of city schools More
over, country schools should be con-
solidated and made not only educa-
tional centers but social centers as
we'll. The consolidated school could
we'll be made the community mecca,
where a literary society should be es-
tabished for the youth and where
there could be an agricultural club
and a woman's club for the discus
sion of agricultural, civic or domes-
tic subjects Here picnics, ball
games, dramat cs, debates, etc, could
be enjoyed, instead of depending
upon the cheap and garish attrac-
tons the town offers along with
other designations to capture the
money of the unwary.
The consolidated school, properly
graded, with permanent, high class
teachers in charge and courses of
study that, among other things, en-
brace such subjects as relate to the
soil, plants, insects, birds, domestic
and wild animals and their habits,
rotation of crops. how to maintain
soil fertility, care and breeding of
live stock, together with a school
garden for the purpose of making
demonstrations for the boys, and do
nestle science in all it's branches for
the girls can be had when farmers
are willing to pay for it. And they
will have these better educational ia
ciilit;es just as soon as they think as
much of their children and of their
occupation as city people think of
their children and of their business.
j. IT. Worst, President North Da-