Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-12-22
HASKLN,S
LETTER
MORE CHILDREN ON THE FARMS


CELSIUS ItpOII HSuTeS anu pEeSeilteu
to the American people for consider
alton. This fact is that the farms,
which are responsible for most of
of the nations food supply, have
the added burden of being a main
source Of the child supply.
In other words, while the city
family tends to dwindle to proper
tons that fit a city fiat, the farm
family continues to fill an entire
farmhouse. This contrast has been
noted for some years, but statistics
on farm population were not tabu-
lated until the last census, and the
country has not realized how great
a population Of non-producers the
farms were supporting.
To put it into plain figures. if you
compare the 80, 900, 900 of our farm
population with an equal amount of
city population, you find that the
farms have 1000, 900 more children
under ten years than those cities
have.
This statement is made by DR..
C. j. Galpin, who is in charge of
farm population studies in the De-
partment of Agriculture. To make
his figures more vivid, he shows that
1000 600 is, roughly, about the popu-
lation of Wales, or Latvia, or of such
a state as Oklahoma. If you
imagine the task of feeding, cloth
ing, and educating a group of people
of this size, you have an idea of the
situation. Remember how much
money America gave for the stricken
war sufferers of the Near East,
merely to keep life in them. Then
think of the farmers supporting
their xce burden of young chill
dren and trying to keep up with the
rising standard of living.
Children between ten and twenty
years are more numerous on the
farms than in the cities in almost
the same proportion as those under
ten. So altogether the farms have
an excess burden of nearly 10000
600 children, as compared with h
same amount of city population.
1t is true that the farmer can feed
a large family almost as cheaply as
a city man can feed a small one.
Some other. expenses lower, too, in
rural districts. And the child on
the farm helps in the work. In its
surveys, the United States Childrens'
Bureau finds that farm work is an
important form of child labor. As
an example:
Children Work in the Fields
"In two cotton-growing areas of
Texas studied by the Children's Blu
reau many teachers reported that a
third or sometimes half of the chill
dren who We're supposed to be In
school in September or October did
not start until at least November.
During the harvest time the children
picked, hoed, and chopped, and
sometimes plowed and narrowed.
Nearly every child over ~ten-girls
as we'll as boys-had worked in the
6elds.'
There is no doubt that farm chill
dren are to some extent an asset IN
years when the city child is nothing
but a liability from the point of view
of the family finances. Still, even a
country child is but a partial pro-
Queer at most, And as the farmer
is urged to give his children better
education, and as the automobile,
Telephone, mail order catalogue, n
radio bring the farm closer to the
city, the budget of the farm family
becomes more and more like that
of any city household.
The joker in the situation<s that.
at some indefinite point, the farm
lchild is very apt to become the city
man or AS the census hg-
ures are tabulated under such gem
eral headings as under ten years,
ten to twenty years, and over twenty
years, it is difficult to estimate at
what age the young people desert
the farms for the cities. There
is no doubt, however, hat the farm
does raise thousands of children to
be producers for the city.
In this connection DR.. Galpin
says: "It is a pertinent question to
ask, What compensation to the farm
community does the urban commun-
ity render for this piece of human
service? p What would Minneapolis
think of adding the annual expense
Of 26. 900 children to its budget until
those children were educated ana
then handing them over to st. Paul;
doing this year after year. There
is more to farming than just getting
a fair return for crops. There is a
big. unsolved mystery of population
and institutions hanging about the
farm community"
How to Repay the Farmers
His mention of institutions is per-
haps a clue to one of the great needs
of the farm districts. And the Shop
pard-Towner Maternity Act, which
is financed Jointly by federal and
state appropriations, might be men,
toned as a specific example of the
sort of thing that the nation a dc
to some extent to assist the farm
family. The benefits of this act are
being applied especially In rural dis
tricts, where hospitals, clinics,
nurses, and health instruction are
not Just around the corner, as they
are for the city mother.
In the country, space, sunshine
fresh air, and quiet are free, or al
least cheap. In the city they arr
expensive. A roomy house with q
garden, or an apartment with 8
sunny exposure is handled by the
city agent as a priceless treasure
But the city has the advantage OF
the farm in regard to institutions
Mothers In towns have the benefit OF
%clinics, and the children's health IL
watched in the public schools.
The advantage of institutions Is
becoming apparent in the infanl
mortality rate. Between 1915 ant
1921, there was a marked decrease
in infant mortality in this country
and the greatest gain was noted II
city areas. With greater facilities
for care of mothers and children
the rural infant mortality rate coulc