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Show i vi., .Situational I :IA. '-' 'ill !'';.VjLx . USU fhJ (by J. A. M X AUGIITON) We he a.- a 6iax, deal about the tendency of the you: ser generation to leave the farms and ranches for the cities and metropolitan centers. This is a seriuus question and one worthy of thought, but it would seem ; that in practically every era the same problem has confronted agriculture and animal husbandry. In the writings writ-ings of Abraham Cowley, early in j the seventeenth century, it is pointed point-ed out that the trend of the young people was from the rural districts to the cities and this situation seems to have continued down through four i hundred years following Cowley's j time.- Cowley was a great believer in ag-1 ag-1 ricuKure and animal husbandry as the basis of all things and as he so u aptly put it: "The innocence of this ' life is the thing for which I commend lit; and if husbandmen preserve not ' that, they are much to blame, for no ! class is so free from temptations of . iniquity." In looking back to the time of the j Cowley writings it is observed that ; while during each generation the j problem of keeping the younger peo-i peo-i pie in the pursuits of agriculture has j arisen, still during all of this time I 'here has never been a period when ! there was not ample personnel avail-! avail-! able to carry on agriculture and n.nimal husbandry. Xo doubt, such a time never will come, as it is simply a case of each generation distribut- ing itself into the walks of life to which each individual is best fitted. ! A great deal has been said of the ; trend of population from the farms ! to the city but we hear very little ! of the movement of population from 1 the city to the farms and, no doubt, there is such a movement constantly under way. The selection of an occupation oc-cupation by members of families in agriculture is much the same as that of families in the metropolitan districts dis-tricts and, of course, in these selections selec-tions each individual is more or less of a law unto himself. That is, the son of the farmer may choose a position in a bank in a city, or the son of a banker in a city may choose agriculture as his work. The more general agricultural education edu-cation now available in the schools and colleges has brought about a better balance to this situation and Cowley may again be quoted in this connection as stating that he could wish that one college in each university univer-sity were dedicated as well as those to medicine, engineering, law, etc. i This has come about to a large ex- tent, and through proper training has j raised the standard of living in rural j communities to an extent which- is j much more attractive than the -aver-j age cosmopolitan surroundings. Due to this the tendency of the younger people is to remain with agriculture and in a great many instances city j bred people are turning to it and livestock husbandry as a profession. |