OCR Text |
Show NEEDS OF FARMER SHOWN BY COUNTRY LIFE COM MISSION REPORT. Obstacles to Be Overcome Are Point ed Out, Together with Suggestions Sugges-tions far Guidance of the National Na-tional Government. Washington. Report of the comrni& sion on country life, of especial interest inter-est to the farmers, was read tn both houses of congress. A summary follows fol-lows : To the President: The commission on country life herewith presents ita report. The commission linds that agriculture in the United States, taken together, is prosperous commercially, when measured by the conditions that have obtained in previous years, although al-though there are some reg'ions in which this is only partially true. The country people are producing vast quantities of supplies for food, shelter, clothing, and for use in the "arts. The country homes are improving in comfort, com-fort, attractiveness and healthf ulness. Not only in the material wealth that they produce, but in the supply of independent in-dependent and strong citizenship, the agricultural ag-ricultural people constitute the very foundation of our national efficiency. As agriculture is the immediate basis of country life, so it follows that the general affairs of the open country, speaking broadly, are in a condition of improvement. Most Prominent Deficiencies. Tet it Is true, notwithstanding all this progress as measured by historical his-torical standards, that agriculture is not commercially as profitable as it is entitled to be for the labor and energy that the farmer expends and the risks that he assumes, and that the social conditions in the open country are far short of their possibilities. We must measure our agricultural efficiency by the possibilities rather than by comparison com-parison with previous conditions. The farmer is almost necessarily handicapped handi-capped in the development of his business, busi-ness, because his capital is small and the volume of his transactions limited; and he usually stands practically alone against organized interests. In the general readjustment of modern life due to the great changes in manufactures manu-factures and commerce, inequalities and discriminations have arisen, and naturally the separate man suffers most. The unattached man has problems prob-lems that government should understand. under-stand. The reasons for the lack of a highly organized rural society are very many, as the full report explains. The leading lead-ing specific causes are: Lack of good training for country life in the schools; Lack of good highway facilities; The widespread continuing depletion deple-tion of soils, with the injurious effect on rural life; A general need of new and active leadership. Other causes contributing to thei general result are: Lack of any adequate ade-quate system of agricultural credit, whereby the farmer may readily secure se-cure loans on fair terms; the shortage short-age of labor, a condition that is often complicated by intemperance among workmen; lack of institutions and incentives in-centives that tie the laboring man to the soil; the burdens and the narrow life of farm women; lack of adequate supervision of public health. Nature of the Remedies. Congress can remove some of thfl handicaps of the farmer, and it can also set some kinds of work in motion such as: The encouragement of a system oi thorough-going surveys of all agricultural agricul-tural regions in order to take stock and to develop a scientifically and economically sound country life; The establishing of a nationalized system of extension work in rural communities through all the land-grant land-grant colleges with the people at thell homes and on their farms; A thorough -going investigation by experts of the middleman system oi handling farm products, coupled witb a general irrquiry into the farmer's disadvantages in respect to taxation transportation rates, co-operation organizations or-ganizations and credit, and the general gen-eral business system; An inquiry Into the control and use of the streams of the United States with the object of protecting the people peo-ple in their ownership and of saving to agricultural uses such benefits aa should be reserved for these purposes; The establishing of a highway en-gtneeringservice, en-gtneeringservice, or equivalent organization, organi-zation, to be at the call of the states in working out effective and economical econom-ical highway systems: The establishing of a .system of parcels post and postal savings banks; And providing some means or agency for the guidance of publio opinion toward the development of a real rural society that shall rest directly di-rectly on the land. Other remedies recommended for consideration by congress are: The enlargement of the United States bureau of education, to enable It to stimulate and co-ordinate the educational ed-ucational work of the nation; Careful attention to the farmers interests in legislation on the tariff, on regulation of railroads, control or regulation of corporations and of speculation, spec-ulation, legislation in respect of rivers, riv-ers, forests, and the utilization of! swamp lands: Increasing the powers of the federal fed-eral government ih respect to thfl supervision and control of the publio health; Providing such regulations as will enable the states that do not permit the sale of liquors to protect themselves them-selves from traffic from adjoining states. In setting all these forces in motion, the co-operation of the states will b necessary ; and in many cases definite state laws may greatly aid the work. Remedies of a more general nature are: A broad campaign of publicity, that must be undertaken until all the people are informed on the whole subject sub-ject of rural life, and until there is an awakened appreciation of the necessity neces-sity of giving this phase of our national na-tional development as much attention as has been given to other phases or interests; a quickened sense of responsibility, re-sponsibility, In all the country people, to the community and the state in the conserving of soil fertility, and in the necessity for diversifying forming in order to conserve this fertility and to develop a better rural society, and also in the better safe-guarding of the strength and happiness of the farm women; a more widespread conviction of the necessity of organization, not only for economic but for social purposes, pur-poses, this organization to be more or less co-operative, so that all the people may share equally in the benefits and have voice in the essential affairs of the community; a realization on the part of the farmer that he has a distinct dis-tinct natural responsibility toward the laborer in providing him with good living facilities, and in helping him in every way to be a man among men ; and a realization on the part of all tt.e people of the obligation to protect and develop the natural scenery and attractiveness of the open country. |