The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-13
LIFE INSTITUTES TO BE CONDUCTED
 IN 50 COUNTIES
Agencies In State Will Cooperate In Four
 Square Development

Community life institutes will be conducted in 50 counties in Alabama during the summer months. by the Ala bama Council of Christian Education, cooperating with the state department of education, the state board of health, the Auburn extension department and the farm bureau.
 These institutes, which were given for the first time during the past year, met with so much success that a request was made for them again this year. The work for this summer was begun two weeks ago in Mobile county.
 Community life institute programs are based on the development of the four-square life, with Luke 2 :52 for a motto: And Jesus increased in wis dom, and in stature, and in favor with God and with man."
 In the programs, the department of education represents the mental develop ment of citizenship, and the state board of health has for its goal the elimina- tion of disease and the giving of every child an opportunity to grow in stature.
 The church and home are responsible for the spiritual development of child hood and youth, and all agencies CO., operating in the home are responsible for building a program of clean social life for them in every community.
 80 Per Cent Rural
 Alabama is 50 per cent rurial and the majority of boys and girls of the state are not being touched by any program of religious education because this has not been provided for in the rurial dis tricts. Their future development de- pends upon the money made on the farm; therefore the extension depart. ment of Auburn has a vital and prac- tical part in the institute. Agents from the extension department are on the programs for talks on farming, and the home demonstration agents give talks on homemaking. Experts also give practical talks on feeding the fami ly.
 During the middle of the day, one hour is given to practical demonstra. tions. The health department puts on a clinic, and through it's unit gives council to mothers with babies and mothers-to-be. Children are examined for diseases of the eyes, throat and teeth, and weights and measures are made. The clinic is conducted without cost to those who wish to take advant. age of it.
 Another part of the program is the bringing of boys 12 years old and above together with their fathers for talks on sex hygiene, and the same for girls from 12 years up and their mothers. Bible stories and health stories are told to children under F.
 The state farm bureau thinks so high ly of these programs, that it has em- ployed one of its directors, $. A. Burns, of Talladega county, to make a tour of all the counties. Mir. Burns was chairman of the agricultural committee in the last legislature, is a practical dirt" farmer, and a leading officer iu his home church.
 Through these institutes, the exten. sion department, with its corps of work. CTS, is helping farmers to farm more scientifically, and have larger produc, tion, and the farm bureau, through co. operative marketing, is making it pos. sible for farmers to get more equitable prices for their products.
 Ellzey ewes Praise
 Tom Ellzey, of Montgomery, secre. tary of the state council of Christian education, states T have had part in many kinds of programs in rural dis tricts in a number of states, but the community life institute programs seem to me to have rendered the greatest
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