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Show . 1 It should and doubtless docs go without saying that David "D fjff ()n Franklin Houston, secretary of iJClLCl Vyll Vil agriculture, is interested deeply ,1 " in the solution of the problem tne rarm of how to keep the young men I of the country on the farm. 1 ITr. Houston, like many others I n" -iT h WiA. SkeaeE7 'TnT "h0 have ven careful studv I David r Houstoe by Ldward B. Clark . I I to the situation, declares that - I the cry should not be "Back tc the farm.'! but "Stay on the farm." The belief of all the government students stu-dents of agricultural conditions in the United States is that if the farming industry be made increasingly profitable and that if conditions of farm life be bettered the "Back to the farm" movement will take care of itself. In other words, the magnet will be on the farm and it will draw to itself the dwellers in the cities who are ambitious to better their condition. Secretary Houston was asked by your correspondent to give a message to those who are engaged in comprehensive plan to show the boys of their communities that it is advisable to stay on the farm instead of leaving it to go to the hurly-burly and uncertainty of city life. Mr. Houston spoke feelingly on the subject. He combined a statement of what is being done by the federal and state governments to give the farming life holding qualities, quali-ties, with a message on the growing opportunities for young men to make a signal success of agricultural occupations. "It is not so much a problem of bringing young men back to the farm as it is one of so improving agricultural conditions and rural life as to make it clear to the young men that they will be better off in the long run by staying where they are than by going elsewhere. "The great problem confronting the nation is how to make agriculture agricul-ture profitable and the rural life comfortable, attractive and healthful. "If we successfully attack that problem we shall he relieved of the necessity of talking so much about staying on the farm or of going back to the farm. All the efforts of land-grant colleges and of this department are directed to this end. The agencies are becoming consolidated in the extent and efficiency of machinery, and financial support has been forthcoming forth-coming from the states and the nation, which combined are spending at present $60,000,000 a year through the land-grant colleges and the state and federal departments of agriculture for the improvement of agricultural agricul-tural and rural life. "The aim is to increase production through plant and animal breeding, breed-ing, better cultural methods, eradication or control of plant and animal diseases which are costing hundreds of millions a year; to study newer problems in agriculture ; to improve distribution, especially marketing, and to develop community co-operation and teamwork with a view to the better standardization and handling of products and a fuller knowledge of markets mar-kets and market conditions and the transportation of products in short, a better organization of rural life. "In the interest of the young people we are organizing a large number of agricultural clubs, canning clubs, poultry clubs, corn clubs, hog clubs, and so on. The work is being promoted by the demonstration force, now a co-operative machinery under the joint support of land-grant colleges and th federal department. "In many counties throughout the country there are county agents whose duty it is to work with the farmers on the farms for the improvement improve-ment of agricultural conditions as they affect production and distribution. Under the Smith-Lever act the states and the nation together will be expending in seven years $9,000,000 yearly for this extension of agricultural agricul-tural education. "It seems reasonably clear with the natural opportunities we have and with the improvements made by the farmers supplementing these agencies, that the opportunities for young men to make a success in farming will be increased gradually, and that now outside of the actual business of farming there is a loud call for leaders of all these enterprises in rural districts. "I see no reason why an aspiring country boy should not direct his attention to the opportunities presented in this great eld of effort rather than to those of the other industrial offerings presented by city life." Secretary Houston spoke strongly of three factors of the problem of how to keep young men on the farm. They are good rural schools, first-class-country roads and a more attractive social life. Schools and a brightening bright-ening of the social life are wholly state and community problems. In the matter of the improvement of roads the federal government has a voice and power. The secretary has a heartfelt interest in the solution of the rural-school rural-school problem. He believes, as others believe with him, that the boy and girl in the country should have the same opportunities for education that are given to the boy and girl of the city. The lack of proper educational facilities in country districts, he believes, has sent many ambitious parents away from the farms to the cities in order to give their children the advantages advan-tages which the schools of the large centers afford. |