Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-09-14
Making the Farm Attractive.

Making the Farm Attractive.
That the farmer, speaking collect
lively, is essential to the well being
of the nation and the world is a
proposition so seli-evident that it
needs no argument. And yet the
trend of population is steadily away
from the farm and toward the cities
and towns. All writer's on economics
and students of sociology agree that
the congestion of great cities is NOR
ally unhealthful; a menace to our
national life and proper development.
What is the matter? Why do the
young men and young women leave
the farms and go to the cities?
The reason is evident. They go be-
cause they believe the city offers
better business opportunities and a
more desirable social environment.
You may say that they are mistaken
and that they will be disillusioned
by experience. Perhaps so but the
fact remains that this desire for
fuller life and for enlarged oppor-
tunities is the impelling force that
drives them from the land on which
they were born.
What is the remedy? Make farm
life so attractive, both from a bus,
mess and social standpoint that ii
will overcome the lure of the city
How. is that to be done? That, OF
course is easier asked than answer
ed, and yet 1 think it can be an
swered.
Man naturally loves the soil. II
is natural for him to love to plant
and till. He loves to watch the de.
velopment of plant life, and espe-
cially if he has sown the seed from
which it sprang. The city man, born
in the country, never forgets the
the scenes of his youth and in the
hour of his greatest triumph longs
for the green fields and woodlands
of his childhood. +
But for the most part farm life
is a life of drudgery and isolation.
No other class works such long
hours or enjoy so little of social
recreation. The financial rewards
are not proportional to the amount
of toll, exposure and hardship in
Cured. In no other world is there
SO much risk and uncertainty. The
farmers crops r always subject
to the vicissitudes of the weather and
his flocks and herds are always liza
BILE to be decimated by disease. In
the market, he is subject to the die
tation of the buyer of his products
and the seller of those things he
needs in the conduct of his business.
The farmer is the only producer
of commodities who buys at retail
and sells at wholesale. The packer,
the manufacturer, the. money lender,
the wholesale and retail merchants
manage to shift their share of tax
alton on to the shoulders of their
customers, but the farmer can not
shift his, and he is compelled to pay
taxes not only on what he owns but
or. what he does not own.
ic&t schools; the farmer pays for
them and sends his own children to
inferior schools, poorly equipped,
poorly taught and for the most part,
with as dreary and uninviting envir-
onment as can be imagined.
The remedy for farm conditions
is cooperation. The farmers must
get together and control the markets,
instead of dancing always to the
other fellows music. The old unlove-
ly country school must give way to
the consolidated rural grade and high
school, with modern, beautiful build
ings and ample campus, laid out un-
der the direction of the best land
scape artists.
The science of agriculture must
be studied to vastly increase pro-
duction,l and the science of distribu-
ton learned, so that there will no