The bee. (Earlington, Ky.) 1889-19??, 1914-06-12

might through sane guidance, saOe
and progressive administration, and
sound system of taxation, become
within a generation or two the. hap
piest, the most independent and
most indispensable members of our
social and economic fabric. J. j..
Hill, retired president of one of our
greatest railroad systems, says that
the reason for the high prices of
beef, pork and other common neces-
sites of life is. first, that so few
people engage in farming, and, sec
ond, that those SO engaged are so
poorly prepared to pursue the bust
ness with profit and success They
need to be educated along these
lines. The place to begin Is the
rural schools
With the exception of Florida,
every state in the far so tn has half
or more of its land worked by ten
ants. In Mississippi, tenants hold
66.1 per cent of farm land In TEN
nessee, Kentucky. Virginia and
North Carolina the percentage va
ries from 26.5 to 45.S per cent. In
the sixteen states that are usually
referred to as the South are 40 per
cent of the farms in the United
States, almost third of the, total
area, and nearly third of the i'm
proved land. 1t is country of
cheap land and small farms, of poor
buildings, poor stock and poor
equipment, and al constantly shift
ing farm population,
Strong men everywhere are
thinking and working out ways and
means to accomplish rural better
ment, and there can be no more con-
vincing argument as to its need.
Massachusetts is making 1t possible
for country boys of high school age
to learn agriculture without leaving
the farm, four-fifths of their time
being put into farming under the
states supervision. at home and
only one-fifth upon book learning at
school. And there is much need Of
this training. 1T is recorded upon
highest authority that village min
lister went to conduct a taI
"a rural district near his town and
found there were only three persons
'cutAof two hundred living tfere1
abouts who ever went to church.
This is an extreme case, but it serves
to emphasize the need of making
rr<aI conditions what they ought to
be through proper education and
training of the sons and daughters
of the owners and workers of the
land, so that they will re-establish
the typical country home of earlier
times and add to country life the
lest things socially and materially
that may be had anywhere. Let us
do what we can Though the rural
schools to train them back to the
land and keep them from the cityI
G. w. Dyer, professor of sociology
at Vanderbilt university, addressing
the Southern Sociological Congress
upon southern problems. declared,
1.-THE city as we have it today is a
menace to the home. a menace to
wholesome Industrial life, a menace
to the state, a menace to the schools
and a menace to the churches -
The city Is dominated by the spirit
of sordid commercialism. and the
slogan that really expresses this
spirit would be similar to one given
by a hop-picking company in the
West. In advertising for men and
women and boyo and girls to come
to its place of business, it placed in
the newspapers the following adj
vertisement: 'Wanted-1000 hop
pickers; good wages, perfect accom-
mcdations, good food at city prices,
free whiskey. dance five nights in
tho week, evangelist on Sunday, and
hell of time.'"
DR.. Washington GLADDEN., OF
Columbus. Ohio. told a gathering Of
journalists in Lawrence, Kan, re-
Gently that the newspaper profession
is as sacred a calling as the minis
try. We must concede the necessity
of cooperation on the part of the
Country Press in the work of de-
veloping the Public Schools and
particularly as to the solution Of the
Rural School problem. The big Job
OF the Country Press is to educate
the peaple to tax themselves to do
these big and necessary things. We
must become social workers" and
take our part OF the task II we
would aid in this vital movement
We must get hearts aroused. purse