Evening star., 1940-06-04

increased living comfort for all the
farm family-not the comfort that
softens a mans muscles, but the
comfort that promotes leisure and
an opportunity to plan, to think, to
sharpen the mind through intelli-
gent use of leisure.
For the boy and girl on the farm,
rural electrification means a re-
newed interest in seeking his or her
place in life, in the country-not in
the harried confines of city shop
or in the too-long line that still
leads to dismal employment Office.
These things are the real essence
of rural electrification-and the
Rural Electrification Administration
and its program are designed to
speed the sound development of
these basic Improvements for the
agricultural arm of the Nation.
AS late as 1925 the established pri-
vate power companies had extended
electric service to only about 100000
farms. At that time there were
nearly six and half million farms
in America From 1925 until 1885
service was extended to about a half
million more, but the unplanned
character of these rural extensions.
often simply short fingers reaching
out from the cities, merely SKINNED
the cream of potential rural con-
Sumers and left more than five and
a half million farms unserved.
Nine farm families in every 10 did
not have. and many of them had
forsaken the idea of ever being able
to get, electricity.
Important to Nation.
They needed it. And it was i'm
portant to the Nation as a whole
that they have it! I say it was i'm
portant to the Nation because the
efficiency and convenience of life in
the city had developed rapidly,
largely as the result of electricity.
while people who lived in the coun-
try still had to get along with old
fashioned. and for some farm work,
almost pioneer types of equipment.
Socially and economically, country
and city were thrown increasingly
out OF balance. In terms of effective
living the agricultural arm of the
Nation grew proportionately weaker
as the urban arm became stronger.
No one needs an economist to ex-
plain that such situation under
mines the strength and the compe-
tence OF our whole social and eco
nomic organism. And a situation
that did not make good economic
sense had to be remedied.
The Nation could not afford to
have five and a half million farm
families living in the era of the
kerosine lamp while the rest of the
Nation, the Nation in which they
had to live and make living, went
speeding on, geared up for the age
of electricity.
The Nation could not afford to
have more than five and a half
million farm families handicapped
for want of the modern tools for
better living and more effective pro-
duction that had become such DO
tent instruments for progress in the
city home and factory.
1t was evident that electricity
could bring the farm family. insofar
as electric service and it's attendant
advantages were concerned, into
closer social and economic parity
with the city family. And in 1895
the growing appreciation of these
facts. coupled with the need for
added stimulus to national and en-
ployment industry running in low
gear, set the stage for the timely
establishment of the Rural Electri-
fication Administration.
Activity Spreads.
Congress acted under the dynamic
intellectual and practical leadership
of such men as Senator George w.
Norris of Nebraska, Representative
Sam Rayburn of Texas and Repre-
sentative John Elliott Rankin Of
Mississippi-provided the funds for
actually building rural power lines.
Construction took the place of con-
versation And the rural electrical
ton program was under way. R. E.
A. started lending money; low-cost
electric service started to spread,
slowly, but with growing vigor, into
unserved rural areas. and the money
used to build the lines prompted new
activity. in hundred trades and
crafts.
First benefits of the new rural
electrification went to the farm
family. Electricity lit the farmers
evening-sped his completion of
dozen nightly chores. Electricity
sprang to action for the farm woman
in her kitchen pumped the
water for her many tasks and re-
tired the awkward pail that had
bent her back on countless trips to
the pump. Farm youngsters turned
to their school books with more
enthusiasm and less eyestrain.
Across the face of isolated country
sides thousands of folks thrilled to
the magic of their new found per-
feet ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS electricity
at the snap of a switch.
And across the face of industrial
America a new stimulus was felt
as the demands of rural line con-
struction piled up new orders for
wire and insulators and poles and
hardware, piled up new demands
for the services of workers in the
mines, in transportation and in
electrical equipment factories.
The new rural electriflcation built
new outlooks and new incentives
and new tools for the farm family
while 1t bolstered employment and
the pay roll Of the Nation.
Who benefits from the far.reach.