The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1916-02-25
oERISHO TELLS BREEDERS WHY
BOYS LEAVE FARM FOR
CITY.
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
From the Capital City, tho Various
State Institutions and from
Many Different Parts OF
the Sunshine State.
Western Newspaper Union News Service.

Pierre.-It's the eternal feminine!
E. G. Perisho, president of the South
Dakota State college at Brookings,
.Old the members OF the Interstate
Farmers and Breeders association, at
Sioux City, Iowa, that he had dis
covered the reason why the boy and
girl in the country gravitated to the
city. His answer to the age old prob
.em is woman.
Pretty city maidens who go 10 the
country as teachers are responsible
Tor much Of the social unrest among
the farmer sons and daughters and
the desertion Of the farms, according
TO the educator.
IF l was a member Of a board of
education in any rural community l
would not employ a city school teach.
er unless l knew that she was inter-
ested in farm work, for If she Is not
interested in country life it will mean
ruination to the school. The teacher
must be interested in the things in
which the people are interested.
Il know OF a community where a
city girl was employed as a teacher
and in a few months she had turned
the ideals of the pupils topsy turvy.
She did not like farm life and soon
destroyed the pupils liking for the
country"
President Perisho declared that one
of the greatest problems to be dealt
with by the farmer is the longing OF
tho hNxc ~ rot af The forro o~L TIA
similar desire Of the girls.
He outlined four arguments why the
younger generation want TO leave the
farm. They want to get away from
the isolation of the country; they
want to get in more cOngenial com
pany; they want to be where they
can be in better homes, and they want
to be connected with big things. In
combating these arguments President
Perisho said that the telephone and
the automobile have left but few iso-
lated rural communities, and modern
improvements now can be applied to
the country home as much as in the
cities. Agriculture, he declared, is the
biggest thing in the country.
He urged the establishment Of the
consolidated public schools. They
are helping keep the boy and girl on
the Iowa farms, he said. Within the
last decade the cities in South Da.
kota and Iowa have increased in pop.
ulation three times as fast as the ri.
raj districts, which has indicated that
there is a sort of migration from the
farm to the city, President Perisho
asserted. The loss in the country
population has been greater than the
gain in the growth Of the cities, he
stated.
Another tragical situation is to be
found on the farm in that 40 per cent
to SO per cent of the farmers in sec
tons of Iowa and South Dakota are
run only a year, declared the speaker.
Despite the fact that the rural pop
ulation has decreased and the percent
age OF renters has increased, the last
decade has been prosperous. Presi-
dent Perisho pointed out that farm
products have increased Y per cent
in price, while goods purchased by
the farmer have increased only about
% per cent Farm values have in.
creased 12S per cent.
Andrew E. Lee of Vermillion, S. D.,
former governor of South Dakota, pre-
sided at the sessions.