The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1921-04-15
THE SOCIAL SIDE OF
THE FARM B

Not long ago a well known traveller
and writer was being shown through
the immense Capitol building of a
Middle Western state. "Just see the
great army of officials we employ
said his guide; "every man of them
vas born on a farm" And then the
visitor was shown through a quarter
of the city where "you can go a mile
and see only the homes of retired
farmers" Quothe the guide, "This
is a wonderful farming State"
Doubtless! And yet boys on its
farms dream of homes in town, and,
as o as they can arrange it, hire
somebody else to I'll the farm, and
move away. In less %"wonderful''
farming States, meanwhile, you oc-
~casionally see farms abandoned out
right, but even the custom of farm
ing by proxy is deplorable. In "The
Country Life Movement" Mr.. L. H.
Bailey observes, Farming by proxy
or by an absentee method is as dis
astrous in the long run as the doing
OF any other business by proxy. l hold
that it is essential that the very best
people live actually on the land. The
crops ARE there. The livestock is
there. The machinery is there. All
the investment is in the place itself.
IL this business is to be most effec-
tive, a good man must be constantly
With 1T and manage it. A farm is
not like a store or a factory that is
shut up at night and on Sunday. The
more difficult and complex the farm
ing business becomes, the greater will
be the necessity that a good man re-
main with it."
He is emphatic on the point. "The
fundamental need" he declares, "is
to place effectively educated men and
women in the open country. All else
depends on this. No formal means
can be of any permanent avail until
men and women of vision and with
trained minds are at hand to work
out the plans in an orderly way. Ag-
riculture is now a school subject. 1t
is recognized to be such by State
syllabi, in the minds of the people,
and in the minds of most school men.
1t is finding its way into high schools
and other schools here and there"
But do not the young folk thus train
ed turn to the open country? Does
farming pay? Is life in the open coun-
try attractive? "There has never
been a time when farming as a whole
has been so prosperous as now, not
withstanding the fact that there are
hardships in many regions. Formerly
a college man going back to the farm
was likely to be the subject of dis
trust and even ridicule. This attitude
is passing very rapidly in the good
rural regions" However, "the re-
creative life of the country community
greatly needs to be stimulated. Not
only games and recreation days need
to be encouraged, but the spirit of re-
lief from continuous and d~eadening
toll must be encouraged. The country
population needs to be livened up"
In the open country, social life CEN
ters mainly in the church. But too
often the church itself declines. In
an article on "The Rediscovery of the
Village Church, in The Homiletic Re
view, Rev. William H. Leach observes,
"Outside the average American viii
lage there is a PECAN belt of agricul-
turists. From the dozens of farm
ing families but a few are ever reach
ed by the Church. | have officiated
at funerals in this belt where there
were fifty or seventy-five present.
iIC L ploSD cI men ana
presumably good farmers, but they
are not interested in the church. As
a rule, the village church has no defin-
lite program with which to break into
this belt and carry its message"
But back Of these tiny churches
stand the more vigorous churches of
little towns, and those little towns
have still other institutions which,
once made aware of their opportuni-
ties, might do much for this "pagen
belt" In his admirable book, "The
Little Town." Mr.. Harlan Paul Doug
lass devotes a chapter to "The Towns
Country" Says Mr.. Douglass, "The
towns country is the area which
trades with it; which makes common
cause with it in buying and selling, in
credit and transportation facilities.
Its typical functionaries are the re-
tail merchant, the middleman-who
takes the farmers produce and turns
it over to the city for consumption
the banker, the postmaster, and the
railway and express agents."
Moreover, "the towns country is
the area which comes to it for play,
education, and worship. Here are the
country's moving pictures, it's base
ball diamonds, and it's Chautauquas.
The country's high schools are ordin-
arily here, and most of it's ministers of
religion live here, tho many of them
would do better in immediate neigh
borhood to the farmer whose religious
life they interpret. Here, tho the far