Arizona republican., 1921-12-08
Look Forward Not Backward throughout education week. Preparation greater

1 too often solitary, and the range of its activities narrow and circum-
 scribed. Too much of it's labor is
 mere drudgery, and unlike mining l lacks the alluring purport of easy
 profits or large wealth; it's earnings are too often small, it's work hard its hours of labor long and monoton- our, lacking stimulation and enthusi- asm.
 Many clements of the home life are meager. the farm women lack com panionship, their work is a hard rou- tine and uninteresting. A combina- ton Of influences tends toward a general atmosphere of repression over wide areas these conditions hap pity do not prevail and everywhere 1 they are becoming outgrown. When we were going through that phase of our country life in which these conditions were most prevalent. i our cities began to grow, and our | youth in a steady stream left the, to them, unattractive farms for the pleasures and opportunities of the apparently larger life. Under the in- l fluence of these conditions further Gegenerated farm life languished and
 cities grew apace. There is pathos
 in the deserted farm or where you find the aged parents alone awaiting
 the final summons.
 This disproportion, this condition
 of social and industrial unbalance ex- cited first interest and then alarm.
 Our people began to study the con-
 sequences to the individual and state
 of rural decay, and we began to see 1 country life with a better under standing and consequently with
 new appreciation.
 l We began to see that the country
 produced different although not
 necessarily a better way than the cities The full industry of the coun-
 try, it's beauty and it's sweetness, its dignity and it's peace were reflected
 in the character and personality of | the man who grew up there and gave him depth. and sincerity which make him big and effective.
 We saw the country free from these temptations which beset the path of the city youth and that a simple honesty was characteristic of 1t. The industries were moral and creative, it's wealth was clearly realized from the very elements by the application of honest toil
 With renewed force we saw its products feed the industries of the cities and created the commerce of the nation. With continued growth of
 our cities our social problems began to develop. Crime increased and
 within the large overcrowded tene- ment districts large numbers of the helpless began to appear. The ques-
 tion what to do with great mass of
 dependent children began to press for
 solution and divorces have so multi piled it has become a national Scan-
 dal, and we have observed that these conditions did not arise in rural com
 Enunities, that it's wholesome indus
 trial conditions forbade them, that
 they are almost the sole product of
 the cities, and that the country's only
 part in their existence was to pay the
 price of their correction and support.
 Manifestly the thing to do is to cease comparing city and country life
 but to go about it to so influence the
 forces back of each that the youth of
 both shall hear the right call and
 their progression be directed toward l the high places in life. We must
 carefully study the way in which our | teaching can be made most useful
 that it may not waste it's powers and our opportunities in fruitless and in
 effective activities
 It is gratifying to note the sub- stantiaI school buildings in Phoenix and the country schools which would ld do credit to any city unsurpassed fn any state. This will help the cOun-
 try in the only substantial and per
 manent way it can be helped and
 start it. on the road to endless de ? velopment.
 Agricultural education will not only l refine and cultivate the country man
 it will stimulate and energize hi: ; mind Trained to know his soil, hi: seed and his animals, he will use onl! the best and these to best advantage 5 He will farm more upon fewer acres } His labor to what is now regarded as the humblest detail will become intensive; farms will be Sub- divided | and production doubled.
 Upon these conditions the farn , meetings and farm organizations vii
 follow naturally and be made to thei . | fullest measure, social bettermen 5 and business advantage. We should , therefore, urge upon every moral re [ former, upo nevery humanitarian 5 upon every statesman and politica idealist that they demand and advis liberal support to special vocationa f training for the city youth and t t give the country lad an agriculture s education.
 Knowing the value of strong in l telligent rural population, of its ne l cessity as a service of happiness, o S wealth and strength, blind to conse