OCR Text |
Show Importance of Recreation Movement to the Farm and the Small Town By J. W. COVERDALE, American Farm Bureau Federation. WOMEX on farms are slain by drudgery at the average age of forty years. It is economic murder, which can be prevented pre-vented by giving these women the same modern home comforts com-forts made possible by electricity as are enjoyed by city women. wom-en. Electrified farms will add ten to twenty years to their lives. Electrification Elec-trification of farms is therefore inevitable, and the problem of all interested inter-ested in rural betterment is to hasten the day when each farm will have its complete electric plant. Impassioned pleas have long been made that the farms of the United States should develop a brighter, more attractive form of life and thus end the menacing drift of rural life to the big cities. It has been said the bright lights must be taken to the farm if we are to keep the farmers from coming to the bright lights. That is all correct. But first we must see that the farmer earns the price of the bright lights. This cannot be done by legislation, as some believe, but by intelligent co-operation and leadership. The future of the farm in America lies in providing recreation which will keep the boy and girl in the industry. The price of this recreation must be secured by efficiency. In the country recreation and education should go hand in hand. Where this is the case, recreation and efficiency bring each other. The importance of the recreation movement to the farm and small town cannot be overestimated. It is the binder through which the economic education can be given. Its importance is fully recognized by leaders in farm work, and the widespread good which it is already doing is indicated by the fact that 700,000 rural boys and girls are now enrolled in boys' and girls' work for education and recreation. |