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60ili Consraa, 2iid Saiion SENATE Documcni No. 705 
 
 REPORT OF 
 
 THE COUNTRY UFE 
 COMMISSION 
 
 AND 
 
 SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT 
 OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 PRI^JTED FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION BY THE 
 
 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 
 
 SPOKANE. WASH. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 In printing for free distribution tlie report of the Country 
 life Commission appointed by President Roosevelt, the Spo- 
 kane Chamber of Commerce desires to meet a wide-spread 
 demand for the document, which is not available through gov- 
 ernment channels. 
 
 The request for the publication of the report came in the 
 following resolution from the Country Life Convention, which 
 met in Spokane on November 18, 1909, when the Western 
 States were largely represented by farmers and orchardists at- 
 tending the Second National Apple Show: 
 
 "Resolved, That this convention urges the Spokane Chamber 
 of Commerce to secure the approval of President Taft in the 
 publication of the report of the Country Life Commission." 
 
 In accordance with the resolutions the appended telegram 
 was sent to President Taft: 
 
 "By unanimous request of largely attended meeting on Coun- 
 try Life held today at the Second National Apple Show the 
 Spokane Chamber of Commerce consented to print for free 
 distribution, the report of the Country Life Commission ap- 
 pointed by Mr. Roosevelt. Are there any objections?" 
 
 Fred E. Carpenter, Secretary to President Taft, replied as 
 follows: 
 
 "Telegram received. The President has not the slightest ob- 
 jection to the free distribution of the report of the Country 
 Life Commission, appointed by Mr. Roosevelt. He thinks it 
 would be an excellent thing for the Spokane Chamber of Com- 
 merce to do." 
 
 Continuing its work in fostering and encouraging the agri- 
 cultural development of the country, the Spokane Chamber of 
 Commerce publishes the Commission's report, which has been 
 endorsed by the Association of American Agricultural Colleges 
 and Experiment Stations. Members of Congress have received 
 urgent calls for the report, but were unable to supply it, as 
 only a few copies were printed as a Senate document for the 
 use of the legislators while considering the subject. 
 
SPECIAL MESSAGE 
 
 To the Senate and House of Representatives: 
 
 I transmit lierewitii tlie report of the Commission on Country 
 Life. At the outset I desire to point out that not a dollar of 
 the public money has been paid to any commissioner for his 
 work on the Commission. 
 
 The report shows the general condition of farming life in 
 the open country, and points out its larger problems; it indi- 
 cates ways in which the Government, National and State, may 
 show the people how to solve some of these problems; and 
 it suggests a continuance of the worl< which the Commission 
 began. 
 
 Judging by thirty public hearings, to which farmers and farm- 
 ers' wives from forty States and Territories came, and from 
 120,000 answers to printed questions sent out by the Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture, the Commission finds that the general 
 . level of country life is high compared with any preceding time 
 or with any other land. If it has in recent years slipped down 
 in some places, it has risen in more places. Its progress has 
 been general, if not uniform. 
 
 Yet farming does not yield either the profit or the satisfac- 
 tion that it ought to yield and may be made to yield. There 
 is discontent in the country, and in places discouragement. 
 Farmers as a class do not magnify their calling, and the move- 
 ment to the towns, though, I am happy to say, less than for- 
 merly, is still strong. 
 
 Under our system, it is helpful to promote discussion of ways 
 in which the people can help themselves. There are three 
 main directions in which the farmers can help themselves; 
 namely, better farming, better business, and better living on 
 the farm. The National Department of Agriculture, which has 
 rendered services equaled by no other similar department 
 in any other time or place; the state departments of agricul- 
 ture; the state colleges of agriculture and the mechanic arts, 
 especially through their extension work; the state agricultural 
 experiment stations; the Farmers' Union; the Grange; the agri- 
 cultural press; and other similar agencies; have all combined 
 to place within the reach of the American farmer an amount 
 and quality of agricultural information which, if applied, would 
 enable him, over large areas, to double the production of the 
 farm. 
 
6 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 The object of the Commission on Country Life therefore is 
 not to help the farmer raise better crops, but to call his atten- 
 tion to the opportunities for better business and better living on 
 the farm. If country life is to become what it should be, and 
 what I believe it ultimately will be — one of the most dignified, 
 desirable, and sought-after ways of earning a living — the far- 
 mer must take advantage not only of the agricultural knowl- 
 edge which is at his disposal, but of the methods which have 
 raised and continue to raise the standards of living and of in- 
 telligence in other callings. 
 
 Those engaged in all other industrial and commercial callings 
 have found it necessary, under modern economic conditions, 
 to organize themselves for mutual advantage and for the pro- 
 tection of their own particular interests in relation to other in- 
 terests. The farmers of every progressive European country 
 have realized this essential fact and have found in the coopera- 
 tive system exactly the form of business combination they 
 need. 
 
 Now whatever the State may do toward improving the prac- 
 tice of agriculture, it is not within the sphere of any govern- 
 ment to reorganize the farmers' business or reconstruct the 
 social life of farming communities. It is, however, quite within 
 its power to use its influence and the machinery of publicity 
 which it can control for calling public attention to the needs 
 and the facts. For example, it is the obvious duty of the Gov- 
 ernment to call the attention of farmers to the growing monop- 
 olization of water power. The farmers above all should have 
 that power, on reasonable terms, for cheap transportation, for 
 lighting their homes, and for innumerable uses in the daily 
 tasks on the farm. 
 
 It would be idle to assert that life on the farm occupies as 
 good a position in dignity, desirability, and business results as 
 the farmers might easily give it if they chose. One of the 
 chief difficulties is the failure of country life, as it exists at 
 present, to satisfy the higher social and intellectual aspirations 
 of country people. Whether the constant draining away of 
 so much of the best elements in the rural population into the 
 towns is due chiefly to this cause or to the superior business 
 opportunities of city life may be open to question. But no one 
 at all familiar with farm life throughout the United States c^n 
 fail to recognize the necessity for building up the life of the 
 farm upon its social as well as upon its productive side. 
 
 It is true that country life has improved greatly in attrac- 
 tiveness, health, and comfort, and that the farmer's earnings 
 are higher than they were. But city life is advancing even more 
 rapidly, because of the greater attention which is being given 
 by the citizens of the towns to their own betterment. For just 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 7 
 
 this reason the introduction of effective agricultural coopera- 
 tion throughout the United States is of the first importance. 
 Where farnners are organized cooperatively they not only avail 
 themselves much more readily of business opportunities and 
 improved methods, but it is found that the organizations which 
 bring them together in the work of their lives are used also 
 for social and intellectual advancement. 
 
 The cooperative plan is the best plan of organization wher- 
 ever men have the right spirit to carry it out. Under this plan 
 any business undertaking is managed by a committee; every 
 man has one vote and only one vote; and everyone gets profits 
 according to what he sells or buys or supplies. It develops in- 
 •dividual responsibility and has a moral as well as a financial 
 value over any other plan. 
 
 I desire only to take counsel with the farmers as fellow- 
 citizens. It is not the problem of the farmers alone that I am 
 discussing with them, but a problem which affects every city 
 as well as every farm in the country. It is a problem which 
 the working farmers will have to solve for themselves; but it 
 is a problem which also affects in only less degree all the rest 
 of us, and therefore if we can render any help toward its solu- 
 tion, it is not only our duty but our interest to do so. 
 
 The foregoing will, I hope, make it clear why I appointed a 
 commission to consider problems of farm life which have 
 hitherto had far too little attention, and the neglect of which 
 has not only held back life in the country, but also lowered the 
 efficiency of the whole nation. The welfare of the former is 
 of vital consequence to the welfare of the whole community. 
 The strengthening of country life, therefore, is the strengthening 
 of the whole nation. 
 
 The Commission has tried to help the farmers to see clearly 
 their own problem and to see it as a whole; to distinguish 
 clearly between what the Government can do and what the 
 farmers must do for themselves; and it wishes to bring not only 
 the farmers but the Nation as a whole to realize that the grow- 
 ing of crops, though an essential part, is only a part of country 
 life. Crop growing is the essential foundation; but it is no less 
 essential that the farmer shall get an adequate return for what 
 he grows; and it is no less essential — indeed it is literally vital — 
 that he and his wife and children shall lead the right kind of 
 life. 
 
 For this reason, it is of the first importance that the United 
 States Department of Agriculture, through which as prime 
 agent the ideas the Commission stands for must reach the 
 people, should become without delay in fact a Department 
 of Country Life, fitted to deal not only with crops, but also 
 with all the larger aspects of life in the open country. 
 
8 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 From all that has been done and learned three great general 
 and immediate needs of country life stand out: 
 
 First, effective cooperation among farmers, to put them on 
 a level with the organized interests with which they do business. 
 
 Second, a new Icind of schools in the country, which shall 
 teach the children as much outdoors as indoors and perhaps 
 more, so that they will prepare for country life, and not as at 
 present, mainly for life in town. 
 
 Third, better means of communication, including good roads 
 and a parcels post, which the country people are everywhere, 
 and rightly, unanimous in demanding. 
 
 To these may well be added better sanitation; for easy pre- 
 ventable diseases hold several million country people in the 
 slavery of continuous ill health. 
 
 The Commission points out, and I concur in the conclusion, 
 that the most important help that the Government, whether 
 National or State, can give is to show the people how to go 
 about these tasks of organization, education, and communica- 
 tion with the best and quickest results. This can be done by 
 the collection and spread, of information. One community 
 can thus be informed of what other communities have done, 
 and one country of what other countries have done. Such 
 help by the people's goverment would lead to a comprehen- 
 sive plan of organization, education, and communication, and 
 make the farming country better to live in, for intellectual and 
 social reasons as well as for purely agricultural reasons. 
 
 The Government through the Department of Agriculture 
 does not cultivate any man's farm for him. But it does put 
 at his service useful knowledge that he would not otherwise 
 get. In the same way the National and State Governments 
 might put into the people's hands the new and right knowl- 
 edge of school work. The task of maintaining and developing 
 the schools would remain, as now, with the people themselves. 
 
 The only recommendation 1 submit is that an appropriation 
 of $25,000 be provided, to enable the Commission to digest 
 the material it has collected, and to collect and to digest much 
 more that is within its reach, and thus complete its work. This 
 would enable the Commission to gather in the harvest of sug- 
 gestion which is resulting from the discussion It has stirred up. 
 The Commissioners have served without compensation, and I 
 do not recommend any appropriation for their services, but 
 only for the expenses that will be required to finish the task 
 that they have begun. 
 
 To improve our system of agriculture seems to me the most 
 urgent of the tasks which lie before us. But it can not, in my 
 Judgment, be effected by measures which touch only the ma- 
 terial and technical side of the subject; the whole business 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY UFE COMMISSION. 9 
 
 and life of the farmer must also be taken into account. Such 
 considerations led me to appoint the Commission on Country 
 Life. Our object should be to help develop in the country 
 community the great ideals of community life as well as of 
 personal character. One of the most important adjuncts to this 
 end must be the country church, and I invite your attention 
 to what the Commission says of the country church and of 
 the need of an extension of such work as that of the Young 
 Men's Christian Association in country communities. Let me 
 lay special emphasis upon what the Commission says at the 
 very end of its report on personal ideals and local leadership. 
 Everything resolves itself in the end into the question of per- 
 sonality. Neither society nor government can do much for 
 country life unless there is voluntary response in the personal 
 jdeals of the men and women who live in the country. In the 
 development of character, the home should be more impor- 
 tant than the school, or than society at large. When once the 
 basic material needs have been met, high ideals may be quile 
 independent of income; but they can not be realized withoiit 
 sufficient income to provide adequate foundation; and where 
 the community at large is not financially prosperous it is inn 
 possible to develop a high average personal and community 
 ideal. In short, the fundamental facts of human nature appiy 
 to men and women who live in the country just as they apply 
 to men and women who live in the towns. Given a sufficient 
 foundation of material well being, the influence of the farm- 
 ers and farmers' wives on their childen becomes the factor 
 of first importance in determining the attitude of the next 
 generation toward farm life. The farmer should realize that 
 the person who most needs consideration on the farm is his 
 wife. I do not in the least mean that she should purchase 
 ease at the expense of duty. Neither man nor woman is 
 really happy or really useful save on conditions of doing his or 
 her duty. If the woman shirks her duty as housewife, as home 
 keeper, as the mother whose prime function it is to bear and 
 rear a sufficient number of healthy children, then she is not 
 entitled to our regard. But if she does her duty she is more 
 entitled to our regard even than the man who does his duty; 
 and the man should show special consideration for her needs. 
 I warn my countrymen that the great recent progress made 
 in city life is not a full measure of our civilization; for our 
 civilization rests at bottom on the wholesomeness, the attrac- 
 tiveness, and the completeness, as well as the prosperity, of 
 life in the country. The men and women on the farms stand 
 for what is fundamentally best and most needed in our Amer- 
 ican life. Upon the development of country life rests ulti- 
 mately our ability, by methods of farming requiring the highest 
 
lO REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 intelligence, to continue to feed and clothe the hungry na- 
 tions; to supply the city with fresh blood, clean bodies, and 
 clear brains that can endure the terrific strain of modern life; 
 we need the development of men in the open country, who 
 will be in the future, as in the past, the stay and strength of 
 the nation in time of war, and its guiding and controlling spirit 
 in time of peace. 
 
 THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 
 The White House, February 9, 1909. 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 One of the most illuminating — and incidentally one of the 
 most interesting and amusing — ^series of answers sent to the 
 Commission was from a farmer in Missouri. He stated that he 
 had a wife and 11 living children, he and his wife being each 
 52 years old; and that they owned 520 acres of land without 
 any mortgage hanging over their heads. He had himself done 
 well, and his views as to why many of his neighbors had done 
 less well are entitled to consideration. These views are ex- 
 pressed in terse and vigorous English; they can not always be 
 quoted in full. He states that the farm homes in his neighbor- 
 hood are not as good as they should be because too many of 
 them are encumbered by mortgages; that the schools do not 
 train boys and girls satisfactorily for life on the farm, because 
 they allow them to get an idea in their heads that city life is 
 better, and that to remedy this practical farming should be 
 taught. To the question whether the farmers and their wives 
 in his neighborhood are satisfactorily organized, he answers: 
 "Oh, there is a little one-horse grange gang in our locality, and 
 every darned one thinics they ought to be a i^ing." To the 
 question, "Are the renters of farms in your neighborhood mak- 
 ing a satisfactory living?" he answers: "No; because they 
 move about so much hunting a better job." To the question, 
 "Is the supply of farm labor in your neighborhood satisfac- 
 tory?" the answer is: "No; because the people have gone 
 out of the baby business;" and when asked as to the remedy 
 he answers, "Give a pension to every mother who gives birth 
 to seven living boys on American soil." To the question, "Are 
 the conditions surrounding hired labor on the farm in your 
 neighborhood satisfactory to the hired men?" he answers: 
 "Yes, unless he is a drunken cuss," adding that he would like 
 to blow up the stillhouses and root out whisky and beer. To 
 the question "Are the sanitary conditions on the farms in your 
 neighborhood satisfactory?" he answers: "No; too careless 
 about chicken yards, and the like, and poorly covered wells, 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. II 
 
 in one well on neighbor's farnn I counted 7 snakes in the wall 
 of the well, and they used the water daily, his wife dead now 
 and he is looking for another." He ends by stating that the 
 most important single thing to be done for the betterment of 
 country life is "good roads;" but in his answers he shows very 
 clearly that most important of ail is the individual equation 
 of the man or woman. 
 
 The humor of this set of responses must not blind us to the 
 shrewd common sense and good judgment they display. The 
 man is a good citizen; his wife is a good citizen; and their 
 views are fundamentally sound. Very much information of 
 the most valuable kind can be gathered if the Commission is 
 given the money necessary to enable it to arrange and classify 
 the information obtained from the great mass of similar an- 
 swers which they have received. But there is one point where 
 the testimony is as a whole in flat contradiction to that con- 
 tained above. The general feeling is that the organizations Qf 
 farmers, the granges and the like, have been of the very high- 
 est service not only to the farmers, but to the farmers' wives, 
 and that they have conferred great social as well as great in- 
 dustrial advantages. An excellent little book has recently been 
 published by Miss Jennie Buell, called "One Woman's Work 
 for Farm Women." It is dedicated "To farm women every- 
 where," and is the story of Mary A. Mayo's part in rural social 
 movements. It is worth while to read this little volume to see 
 how much the hard-working woman who lives on the farm caij 
 do for herself when once she is given sympathy, encourage- 
 ment, and occasional leadership. 
 
REPORT OF COMMISSION ON 
 COUNTRY LIFE 
 
 Washington, January 23. 1909. 
 To the President: 
 
 The Commission on Country Life herewith presents its report, cov- 
 ering the following topics : 
 
 Introductory review or summary: 
 
 I. General statement — 
 
 The purpose of the Commission. 
 Methods pursued by the Commission. 
 (Circulars, hearings, school-house meetings.) 
 
 II. The main special deficiencies in country life — 
 
 1. Disregard of the inherent rights of land workers. 
 
 (a) Speculative holding of lands, 
 (h) Monopolistic control of streams. 
 
 (c) Wastage and control of forests. 
 
 (d) Restraint of trade. 
 
 (e) Remedies for the disregard of the inherent rights of 
 the farmer. 
 
 2. Highways. 
 
 3. Soil depletion and its effects. 
 
 4. Agricultural labor. 
 
 (a) Statement of the general problem. 
 
 (b) The question of intemperance. 
 
 (c) Development of local attachments of the farm laborer. 
 
 5. Health in the open country. 
 
 6. Woman's work on the farm. 
 
 III. The general corrective forces that should be set in motion — 
 
 7. Need of agricultural or country life surveys. 
 
 8. Need of a redirected education. 
 
 9. Necessity of working together. 
 
 10. The country church. 
 
 11. Personal ideals and local leadership. 
 
 Introductory Review or Summary. 
 
 The Commission finds that agriculture in the United States, taken 
 altogether, is prosperous commercially, when measured by the condi- 
 tions that have obtained in previous years, although there are some 
 regions 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, 
 attractiveness, and healthfulness. Not only in the material wealth 
 that they produce, but in the supply of independent and strong citi- 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 13 
 
 zenship, the agricultural 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. 
 
 Many institutions, organizations, and movements are actively con- 
 tributing to the increasing welfare of the open country. The most 
 important of these are the United States Department of Agriculture, 
 the colleges of agriculture and the experiment stations in the States, 
 and the national farmers' organizations. These institutions and 
 organizations are now properly assuming leadership in country-life 
 affairs, and consequently in many of the public questions of national 
 bearing. With these agencies must be mentioned state departments 
 of agriculture, agricultural societies, and organizations of very many 
 kinds, teachers in schools, workers in church and other religious asso- 
 ciations, traveling libraries, and many other groups, all working with 
 commendable zeal to further the welfare of the people of the open 
 country. 
 
 The Most Prominent Deficiencies. 
 
 Yet it is true, notwithstanding all this progress as measured by 
 historical standards, that agriculture is not commercially as profitable 
 as it is entitled to be for the labor and energy that the farmer ex- 
 pends and the risks that he assumes, and that the social conditions in 
 the open country are far short of their possibilities. We must meas- 
 ure our agricultural efficiency by its possibilities rather than by com- 
 parison with previous conditions. The farmer is almost necessarily 
 handicapped in the development of his business, 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 
 and commerce inequalities and discriminations have arisen, and natur- 
 ally the separate man suffers most. The unattached man has problems 
 that government should understand. 
 
 The reasons for the lack of a highly organized rural society are 
 very many, as the full report explains. The leading specific causes 
 are: 
 
 A lack of knowledge on the part of farmers of the exact agricul- 
 tural conditions and possibilities of their regions ; 
 
 Lack of good training for country life in the schools ; 
 
 The disadvantage or handicap of the farmer as against the estab- 
 lished business systems and interests, preventing him from securing 
 adequate returns for his products, depriving him of the benefits that 
 would result from unmonopolized rivers and the conservation of 
 forests, and depriving the community, in many cases, of the good 
 that would come from the use of great tracts of agricultural land 
 that are now held for speculative purposes; 
 
 Lack of good highway facilities; 
 
14 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 The widespread continuing depletion of soils, with the injurious 
 effect on rural life; 
 
 A general need of new and active leadership. 
 
 Other causes contributing to the general result are: Lack of any 
 adequate system of agricultural credit, whereby the farmer may 
 readily secure loans on fair terms; the shortage of labor, a condition 
 that is often complicated by intemperance among workmen; lack of 
 institutions and incentives that tie the laboring man to the soil; the 
 burdens and the narrow life of farm women; lack of adequate super- 
 vision of public health. 
 
 The Nature of the Remedies. 
 
 Some of the remedies lie with the National Government, some of 
 them with the States and communities in their corporate capacities, 
 some with voluntary organizations, and some with individuals acting 
 alone. From the great number of suggestions that have been made, 
 covering every phase of country life, the commission now enumerates 
 those that seem to be most fundamental or most needed at the present 
 time. 
 
 Congress can remove some of the handicaps of the farmer, and it 
 can also set some kinds of work in motion, such as : 
 
 The encouragement of a system of thoroughgoing surveys of all 
 agricultural regions in order to take stock and to collect local fact, 
 with the idea of providing a basis on which to develop a scientifically 
 and economically sound country life: 
 
 The encouragement of a system of extension work of rural com- 
 munities through all the land-grant colleges with the people at their 
 homes and on their farms; 
 
 A thoroughgoing investigation by experts of the middleman system 
 of handling farm products, coupled with a general inquiry into the 
 farmer's disadvantages in respect to taxation, transportation rates, 
 cooperative organizations and credit, and the general business system ; 
 
 An inquiry into the control and use of the streams of the United 
 States with the object of protecting the people in their ownership and 
 of saving to agricultural uses such benefits as should be reserved for 
 these purposes; 
 
 The establishing of a highway engineering service, or equivalent 
 organization, to be at the call of the States in working out effective 
 and economical highway systems; 
 
 The establishing of a system of parcels posts and postal savings 
 banks ; 
 
 And providing some means or agency for the guidance of public 
 opinion toward the development of a real rural society that shall rest 
 directly 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 coordinate the educational work to the 
 nation ; 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 1$ 
 
 Careful attention to the farmers' interests in legislation on the 
 tariff, on regulation of railroads, control or regulation of corporations 
 and of speculation, legislation in respect to rivers, forests, and the 
 utilization of swamp lands; 
 
 Increasing the powers of the Federal Government in respect to the 
 supervision and control of the public health; 
 
 Providing such regulations as will enable the States that do not 
 permit the sale of liquors to protect themselves from traffic from 
 adjoining States. 
 
 In setting all these forces in motion, the cooperation of the States 
 will be 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 of rural life, and until there is an awakened 
 appreciation of the necessity of giving this phase of our national de- 
 velopment as much attention as has been given to other phases or 
 interests; a quickened sense of responsibility in all country people, 
 to the community and to the State, in the conserving of soil fertility, 
 and in the necessity for diversifying farming in order to conserve 
 this fertility and to develop a better rural society, and also in the 
 better safeguarding of the strength and happiness of the farm women ; 
 a more widespread conviction of the necessity for organization, not 
 only for economic but for social purposes, this organization to be more 
 or less cooperative, 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 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 the people of the obligation to 
 protect and develop the natural scenery and attractiveness of the open 
 
 country. 
 
 Certain remedies lie with voluntary organizations and institutions. 
 All organized forces, both in town and country, should understand that 
 there are country phases as well as city phases of our civilization, and 
 that one phase needs help as much as the other. All these agencies 
 should recognize their responsibility to society. Many existing organi- 
 zations and institutions might become practically cooperative or 
 mutual in spirit, as, for example, all agricultural societies, libraries, 
 Young Men's Christian Associations, and churches. All the organiza- 
 tions standing for rural progress should be federated, in States and 
 nation. 
 
 The Underlying Problem of Country Life. 
 
 The mere enumeration of the foregoing deficiencies and remedies 
 indicates that the problem of country life is one of reconstruction, 
 and that temporary measures and defense work alone will not solve 
 
1 6 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 it. The underlying problem is to develop and maintain on our farms 
 a civilization in full harmony with the best American ideals. To 
 build up and retain this civilization means, first of all, that the busi- 
 ness of agriculture must be made to yield a reasonable return to those 
 who follow it intelligently; and life on the farm must be made per- 
 manently satisfying to intelligent, progressive people. The work be- 
 fore us, therefore, is nothing more or less than the gradual rebuilding 
 of a new agriculture and new rural life. We regard it as absolutely 
 essential that this great general work should be understood by all the 
 people. Separate difficulties, important as they are, must be studied 
 and worked out in the light of the greater fundamental problem. 
 
 The commission has pointed out a number of remedies that are 
 extremely important; but running through all of these remedies are 
 several great forces, or principles, which must be utilized in the en- 
 deavor to solve the problems of country life. All the people should 
 recognize what those fundamental forces and agencies are. 
 
 Knowledge. — ^To improve any situation, the underlying facts must 
 be understood. The farmer must have exact knowledge of his busi- 
 ness and of the particular conditions under which he works. The 
 United States Department of Agriculture and the experiment stations 
 and colleges are rapidly acquiring and distributing this knowledge; 
 but the farmer may not be able to apply it to the best of advantage 
 because of lack of knowledge of his own soils, climate, animal and 
 plant diseases, markets, and other local facts. The farmer is entitled 
 to know what are the advantages and disadvantages of his conditions 
 and environment. A thoroughgoing system of surveys in detail of the 
 exact conditions underlying farming in every locality is now an in- 
 dispensable need to complete and apply the work of the great agri- 
 cultural institutions. As an occupation, agriculture is a means of 
 developing our internal resources; we cannot develop these resources 
 until we know exactly what they are. 
 
 Education. — There must be not only a fuller scheme of public edu- 
 cation, but a new kind of education adapted to the real needs of the 
 farming people. The country schools are to be so redirected that they 
 shall educate their pupils in terms of the daily life. Opportunities 
 for training toward agricultural callings are to be multiplied and made 
 broadly effective. Every person on the land, old or young, in school 
 or out of school, educated or illiterate, must have a chance to receive 
 the information necessary for a successful business, and for a health- 
 ful, comfortable, resourceful life, both in home and neighborhood. 
 This means redoubled efforts for better country schools, and a vastly 
 increased interest in the welfare of country boys and girls on the part 
 of those who pay the school taxes. Education by means of agricul- 
 ture is to be a part of our regular public school work. Special agricul- 
 tural schools are to be organized. There is to be a well-developed plan 
 of extension teaching conducted by the agricultural colleges, by means 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. IJ 
 
 of the printed page, face-to-face talks, and demonstration or object 
 lessons, designed to. reach every farmer and his family, at or near their 
 homes, with knowledge and stimulus in every department of country 
 life. 
 
 Organization. — There must be a vast enlargement of voluntary 
 organized effort among farmers themselves. It is indispensable that 
 farmers shall work together for their common interests and for the 
 national welfare. If they do not do this, no governmental activity, 
 no legislation, not even better schools, will greatly avail. Much has 
 been done. There is a multitude of clubs and associations for social, 
 educational, and business purposes; and great national organizations 
 are effective. But the farmers are nevertheless relatively unorgan- 
 ized. We have only begun to develop business cooperation in Amer- 
 ica. Farmers do not influence legislation as they should. They need 
 a more fully organized social and recreative life. 
 
 Spiritual Forces. — ^The forces and institutions that make for moral- 
 ity and spiritual ideals among rural people must be energized. We 
 miss the heart of the problem if we neglect to foster personal char- 
 acter and neighborhood righteousness. The best way to preserve 
 ideals for private conduct and public life is to build up the institu- 
 tions of religion. The church has great power of leadership. The 
 whole people should understand that it is vitally important to stand 
 behind the rural church and to help it to become a great power in 
 developing concrete country life ideals. It is especially important 
 that the country church recognize that it has a social responsibility 
 to the entire community as well as a religious responsibility to its 
 own group of people. 
 
 Recommendations of the Commission. 
 
 The Commission recommends all the correctives that have been 
 mentioned under the head of "The nature of the remedies." It does 
 not wish to discriminate between important measures of relief for 
 existing conditions. It has purposely avoided indorsing any particu- 
 lar bill now before Congress, no matter what its value or object. 
 
 There are, however, in the opinion of the Commission, two or three 
 great movements of the utmost consequence that should be set under 
 way at the earliest possible time, because they are fundamental to 
 the whole problem of ultimate permanent reconstruction; these call 
 for special explanation. 
 
 1. Taking Stock of Country Life.— There should be organized, as 
 explained in the main report, under government leadership, a coin- 
 prehensive plan for an exhaustive study or survey of all the condi- 
 tions that surround the business of farming and the people who live 
 in the country, in order to take stock of our resources and to supply 
 the farmer with local knowledge. Federal and state governments, 
 agricultural colleges and other educational agencies, organizations 
 of various types, and individual students of the problem should be 
 
l8 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 brought into cooperation for this great work of investigating with 
 minute care all agricultural and country life conditions. 
 
 2. Nationalized Extension Work. — Each state college of agriculture 
 should be empowered to organize as soon as practicable a complete 
 department of college extension, so managed as to reach every person 
 on the land in its State, with both information and inspiration. The 
 work should include such forms of extension teaching as lectures, 
 bulletins, reading courses, correspondence courses, demonstration, and 
 other means of reaching the people at home and on their farms. It 
 should be designed to forward not only the business of agriculture, 
 but sanitation, education, home making, and all interests of country 
 life. 
 
 3. — A Campaign for Rural Progress. — We urge the holding of local, 
 state, and even national conferences on rural progress, designed to 
 unite the interests of education, organization, and religion into one 
 forward movement for the rebuilding of country life. Rural teach- 
 ers, librarians, clergymen, editors, physicians, and others may well 
 unite with farmers in studying and discussing the rural question in 
 all its aspects. We must in some way unite all institutions, all organ- 
 izations, all individuals having any interest in country life into one 
 great campaign for rural progress. 
 
 The Call for Leadership. 
 
 We must picture to ourselves a new rural social structure, devel- 
 oped from the strong resident forces of the open country; and then 
 we must set at work all the agencies that will tend to bring this about. 
 The entire people need to be roused to this avenue of usefulness. 
 Most of the new leaders must be fanners who can find not only a 
 satisfying business career on the farm, but who will throw them- 
 selves into the service of upbuilding the community. A new race of 
 teachers is also to appear in the country. A new rural clergy is to 
 be trained. These leaders will see the great underlying problem of 
 country life, and together they will work, each in his own field, for 
 the one goal of a new and permanent rural civilzation. Upon the de- 
 velopment of this distinctively rural civilization rests ultimately our 
 ability, by methods of farming requiring the highest intelligence, to 
 continue to feed and clothe the hungry nations; to supply the city 
 and metropolis with fresh blood, clean bodies, and clear brains that 
 can endure the strain of modern urban life; and to preserve a race 
 of men in the open country that, in the future as in the past, will be 
 the stay and strength of the nation in time of war and its guiding 
 and controlling spirit in time of peace. 
 
 It is to be hoped that many young men and women, fresh from our 
 schools and institutions of learning, and quick with ambition and 
 trained intelligence, will feel a new and strong call to service. 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. I9 
 
 I. GENERAL STATEMENT. 
 
 Broadly speaking, agriculture in the United States is prosperous 
 and the conditions in many of the great farming regions are improv- 
 ing. The success of the owners and cultivators of good land, in the 
 prosperous regions, has been due partly to improved methods, largely 
 to good prices for products, and also to the general advance in the 
 price of farm lands in these regions. Notwithstanding the general 
 advance in rentals and the higher prices of labor, tenants also have 
 enjoyed a good degree of prosperity, due to fair crops, and an advance 
 in the price of farm products approximately corresponding to the 
 advance in the price of land. Farm labor has been fully employed 
 and at increased wages, and many farm hands have become tenants 
 and many tenants have become landowners. 
 
 There is marked improvement, in many of the agricultural regions, 
 in the character of the farm home and its surroundings. There is 
 increasing appreciation on the part of great numbers of country 
 people of the advantage of sanitary water supplies and plumbing, of 
 better construction in barns and all farm buildings, of good reading 
 matter, of tasteful gardens and lawns, and the necessity of good 
 education. 
 
 Many institutions are also serving the agricultural needs of the 
 open country with great effectiveness, as the United States Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture, the land-grant colleges and experiment stations, 
 and the many kinds of extension work that directly or indirectly 
 emanate from them. The help that these institutions render to the 
 country-life interests is everywhere recognized. State departments 
 of agricultural, national, state, and local organizations, many schools 
 of secondary grade, churches, libraries, and many other agencies are 
 also contributing actively to the betterment of agricultural conditions. 
 
 There has never been a time when the American farmer was as well 
 off as he is today, when we consider not only his earning power, but 
 the comforts and advantages he may secure. Yet the real efficiency 
 in farm life, and in country life as a whole, is not to be measured by 
 historical standards, but in terms of its possibilities. Considered from 
 this point of view, there are very marked deficiencies. There has been 
 a complete and fundamental change in our whole economic system 
 within the past century. This has resulted in profound social changes 
 and the redirection of our point of view on life. In some occupations 
 the readjustment to the new conditions has been rapid and complete; 
 in others it has come with difficulty. In all the great series of farm 
 occupations the readjustment has been the most tardy, because the 
 whole structure of a traditional and fundamental system has been 
 involved. It is not strange, therefore, that development is still 
 arrested in certain respects; that marked inequalities have arisen; or 
 that positive injustice may prevail even to a very marked and wide- 
 spread extent. All these difficulties are the results of the unequal 
 development of our contemporary civilization. All this may come 
 
20 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 about without any intention on the part of anyone that it should be 
 so. The problems are nevertheless just as real, and they must be 
 studied and remedies must be found. 
 
 These deficiencies are recognized by the people. We have found, 
 not only the testimony of the farmers themselves, but of all persons 
 in touch with farm life, more less serious agricultural unrest in every 
 part of the United States, even in the most prosperous regions. 
 There is a widespread tendency for farmers to move to town. It is 
 not advisable, of course, that all country persons remain in the coun- 
 try; but this general desire to move is evidence that the open country 
 is not satisfying as a permanent abode. This tendency is not peculiar 
 to any region. In difficult farming regions, and where the competi- 
 tion with other farming sections is most severe, the young people may 
 go to town to better their condition. In the best regions the older 
 people retire to town, because it is socially more attractive and they 
 see a prospect of living in comparative ease and comfort on the rental 
 of their lands. Nearly everywhere there is a townward movement 
 for the purpose of securing school advantages for the children. All 
 this tends to sterilize the open country and to lower its social status. 
 Often the farm is let to tenants. The farmer is likely to lose active 
 interest in life when he retires to town, and he becomes a stationary 
 citizen, adding a social problem to the town. He is likely to find his 
 expenses increasing and is obliged to raise rents to his tenant, thereby 
 making it more difficult for the man who works on the land. On his 
 death his property enriches the town rather than the country. The 
 withdrawal of the children from the farms detracts from the interest 
 and efficiency of the country school and adds to the interest of the 
 town school. Thus the country is drained of the energy of youth on 
 the one hand and the experience and accumulation of age on the 
 other, and three problems more or less grave are created — a problem 
 for the town, a problem for the public school, and also a problem of 
 tenancy in the open country. 
 
 The farming interest is not, as a whole, receiving the full rewards 
 to which it is entitled, nor has country life attained to anywhere near 
 its possibilities of attractiveness and comfort. The farmer is neces- 
 sarily handicapped in the development of social life and in the con- 
 duct of his business because of his separateness, the small volume of 
 his output, and the lack of capital. He often begins with practically 
 no capital, and expects to develop his capital and relationships out of 
 the annual business itself; and even when he has capital with which 
 to set up a business and operate it the amount is small when com- 
 pared with that required in other enterprises. He is not only handi- 
 capped in his farming, but is disadvantaged when he deals with other 
 business interests and with other social groups. It is peculiarly nec- 
 essary, therefore, that Government should give him adequate consid- 
 eration and protection. There are difficulties of the separate man 
 hvmg quietly on his land, that government should understand. 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 21 
 
 The Purpose of the Commission. 
 The Commission is requested to report on the means that are "now 
 available for supplying the deficiencies which exist" in the country 
 life of the United States and "upon the best methods of organized 
 permanent effort in investigation and actual work" along the lines of 
 betterment of rural conditions. 
 
 The President's letter appointing the Commission is as follows: 
 
 Oyster Bay, N. Y., August 10, 1908. 
 
 My Dear Professor Bailey: No nation has ever achieved permanent 
 greatness unless this greatness was based on the wellbeing of the great 
 farmer class, the men who live on the soil; for It Is upon their welfare, 
 material and moral, that the welfare of the rest of the nation ultimately 
 rests. In the United States, disregarding certain sections and taking the 
 nation as a whole, I believe it to be true that the farmers in general are 
 better off today than they ever were before. We Americans are making 
 great progress in the development of our agricultural resources. But it is 
 equally true that the social and economic institutions of the open country 
 are not keeping pace with the development of the nation as a whole. The 
 farmer is, as a rule, better off than his forbears; but his increase in well- 
 being has not kept pace with that of the country as a whole. While the 
 condition of the farmers in some of our best farming regions leaves little to 
 be desired, we are far from having reached so high a level in all parts of 
 the country. In portions of the South, for example, where the Department 
 of Agriculture, through the farmers' cooperative demonstration work of 
 Doctor Knapp, is directly instructing more than 30,000 farmers in better 
 methods of farming, there is nevertheless much unnecessary suffering and 
 needless loss of eflaciency on the farm. A physician, who is also a careful 
 student of farm life in the South, writing to me recently about the enormous 
 percentage of preventable deaths of children, due to unsanitary condition 
 of southern farms, said: 
 
 "Personally, from the health point of view, I would prefer to see my own 
 daughter, 9 years old, at work in a cotton mill than have her live as tenant 
 on the average southern tenant one-horse farm. This apparently extreme 
 statement is based upon actual life among both classes of people." 
 
 I doubt if any other nation can bear comparison with our own in the 
 amount of attention given by the Government, both Federal and State, to 
 agricultural matters. But practically the whole of this effort has hitherto 
 been directed toward increasing the production of crops. Our attention has 
 been concentrated almost exclusively on getting better farming. In the 
 beginning this was unquestionably the right thing to do. The farmer must 
 first of all grow good crops in order to support himself and his family. But 
 when this has been secured the effort for better farming should cease to 
 stand alone, and should be accompanied by the effort for better business and 
 better living on the farm. It is at least as important that the farmer should 
 get the largest possible return in money, comfort, and social advantages 
 from the crops he grows as that he should get the largest possible return In 
 crops from the land he farms. Agriculture is not the whole of country life. 
 The great rural interests are human interests, and good crops are of little 
 value to the farmer unless they open the door to a good kind of life on the 
 farm. 
 
22 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 This problem of country life is in the truest sense a national problem. 
 In an address delivered at the semicentennial of the founding of agricultural 
 colleges in the United States a year ago last May, I said: 
 
 "There is but one person whose welfare is as vital to the welfare of the 
 whole country as is that of the wage-worker who does manual labor, and 
 that is the tiller of the soil — the farmer. If there is one lesson taught by 
 history, it is that the permanent greatness of any State must ultimately 
 depend more upon the character of its country population than upon any- 
 thing else. No growth of cities, no growth of wealth can make up for loss 
 in either the number or the character of the farming population." 
 
 "The farm grows the raw material for the food and clothing of all our 
 citizens; it supports directly almost half of them; and nearly half the 
 children of the United States are born and brought up on the farms. How 
 can the life of the farm family be made less solitary, fuller of opportunity, 
 freer from drudgery, more comfortable, happier, and more attractive? Such 
 a result is most earnestly to be desired. How can life on the farm be kept 
 on the highest level, and, where it is not already on that level, be so 
 improved, dignified, and brightened as to awaken and keep alive the pride 
 and loyalty of the farmer's boys and girls, of the farmer's wife, and of the 
 farmer himself? How can a compelling desire to live on the farm be 
 aroused in the children that are born on the farm? All these questions are 
 of vital importance not only to the farmer but to the whole nation. 
 
 "We hope ultimately to double the average yield of wheat and com per 
 acre; it will be a great achievement; but it is even more important to- 
 double the desirability, comfort, and standing of the farmer's life." 
 
 It is especially important that whatever will serve to prepare country 
 children for life on the farm and whatever will brighten home life in the 
 country and make it richer and more attractive for the mothers, wives and 
 daughters of farmers should be done promptly, thoroughly, and gladly. 
 There is no more important person, measured in influence upon the life of 
 the nation, than the farmer's wife, no more important home than the coun- 
 try home, and it is of national importance to do the best we can for both. 
 
 The farmers have hitherto had less than their full share of public atten- 
 tion along the lines of business and social life. There is too much belief 
 among all our people that the prizes of life lie away from the farm. I am 
 therefore anxious to bring before the people of the United States the ques- 
 tion of securing better business and better living on the farm, whether by 
 cooperation between farmers for buying, selling, and borrowing; by pro- 
 moting social advantages and opportunities in the country; or by any other 
 legitimate means that will help to make country life more gainful, more 
 attractive, and fuller of opportunities, pleasures, and rewards for the men, 
 women, and children of the farms. 
 
 I shall be very glad indeed if you will consent to serve upon a commis- 
 sion on country life, upon which I am asking the following gentlemen to acf 
 Professor L. H. Bailey, New York State College of Agriculture, Ithaca N 
 Y., chairman; Mr. Henry Wallace, Wallace's Farmer, Des Moines Iowa- 
 President Kenyon L. Butterfield, Massachusetts Agricultural College Am'- 
 herst, Mass.; Mr. Gifford Pinchot, United States Forest Service; Mr Walter 
 H. Page, editor of The World's Work, New York. 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 23 
 
 My immediate purpose in appointing this Commission is to secure from 
 it such information and advice as will enable me to make recommendations 
 to Congress upon this extremely imp'ortant matter. I shall be glad it the 
 Commission will report to me upon the present condition of country life, 
 upon what means are now available for supplying the deficiencies which 
 exist, and upon the best methods of organized permanent effort in investiga- 
 tion and actual work along the lines I have indicated. You will doubtless 
 also find it necessary to suggest means for bringing about the redirection 
 or better adaptation of rural schools to the training of children for life on 
 the farm. The national and state agricultural departments must ultimately 
 join with the various farmers and agricultural organizations in the effort to 
 secure greater efiiciency and attractiveness in country life. 
 
 In view of the pressing importance of this subject I should be glad to 
 have you report before the end of next December. For that reason the Com- 
 mission will doubtless find it impracticable to undertake extensive investiga- 
 tions, but will rather confine itself to a summary of what is already known, 
 a statement of the problem, and the recommendation of measures tending 
 toward its solution. With the single exception of the conservation of our 
 natural resources, which underlies the problem of rural life, there is no 
 other material question of greater Importance now before the American 
 people. I shall look forward with the keenest interest to your report. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 PROF. L. H. BAILEY, THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 
 
 New York State College of Agriculture, Ithaca, N. Y. 
 
 Subsequently Charles S. Barrett, of Georgia, and William A. Beard, 
 of California, were added to the Commission. 
 
 The means that may be suggested for amelioration of country life 
 fall under one or more of three general classes: (a) Definite recom- 
 mendations for executive or legislative action by the Federal Gov- 
 ernment; (b) suggestions for legislative enactment on the part of 
 States; (c) suggestions or recommendations to the public at large 
 as to what the Commission thinks would be the most fruitful lines of 
 action and policy on the part of individuals, communities, or States. 
 
 The problem before the Commission is to state, with some fullness 
 of detail, the present conditions of country life, to point out the 
 causes that may have led to its present lack of organization, to sug- 
 gest methods by which it may be redirected, the drift to the city 
 arrested, the natural rights of the farmer maintained, and an organ- 
 ized rural life developed that will promote the prosperity of the whole 
 nation. 
 
 We are convinced that the forces that make for rural betterment 
 must themselves be rural. We must arouse the country folk to the 
 necessity for action, and suggest agencies which, when properly em- 
 ployed, will set them to work to develop a distinctly rural civilization. 
 
 In making its inquiries, the Commission has had constantly in 
 mind the relation of the farmer to his community and to society in 
 general. It has made no inquiry into problems of technical farming 
 except as they may have bearing on general welfare and public 
 questions. 
 
24 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 The Commission has not assumed that country-life conditions are 
 either good or bad, nor is it within its province to compare country 
 conditions with city conditions; but it has assumed that we have not 
 yet arrived at that state of society in which conditions may not be 
 bettered. 
 
 It is our place, therefore, to point out the deficiencies rather than 
 the advantages and the progress. In doing this we must be distinctly 
 understood as speaking only in general terms. The conditions that 
 we describe do not, of course, apply equally in all parts of the coun- 
 try, and we have not been able to make studies of the problems of 
 particular localities. 
 
 Before discussing the shortcomings more fully, we may explain 
 how the Commission undertook its work. 
 
 Methods Pursued by the Commission. 
 
 The field of inquiry has been the general social, economic, sanitary, 
 educational, and labor conditions of the open country. Within the 
 time at its disposal, the Commission has not been able to make scien- 
 tific investigations into any of these questions, but, following the 
 suggestion of the President, has endeavored to give "a summary of 
 what is already known, a statement of the problem, and the recom- 
 mendation of measures looking toward its solution." We have been 
 able to make a rather extensive exploration or reconnoissance of the 
 field, to arrive at a judgment as to the main deficiencies of country 
 life in the United States today, and to suggest some of the means 
 of supplying these deficiencies. 
 
 The Commission and its work have met with the fullest cooperation 
 and confidence on the part of the farmers and others, and the interest 
 in the subject has been widespread. The people have been frank in 
 giving information and expressing opinions, and in stating their 
 problems and discouragements. There is every evidence that the 
 people in rural districts have welcomed the Commission as an agency 
 that is much needed in the interest of country life, and in many of 
 the hearings they have asked that the Commission be continued in 
 order that it may make thorough investigations of the subjects that 
 it has considered. The press has taken great interest in the work, 
 and in many cases has been of special service to the Commission in 
 securing direct information from country people. 
 
 The activities of the Commission have been directed mainly along 
 four lines: The issuing of questions designed to bring out a state- 
 ment of conditions in all parts of the United States; correspondence 
 and inquiries by different members of the Commission, so far as time 
 would permit, each in a particular field; the holding of hearings in 
 many widely separated places; discussions in local meetings held in 
 response to a special suggestion by the President. 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 25 
 
 The Circular of Questions. 
 
 As a means of securing the opinions of the people themselves on 
 some of the main aspects of country life, a set of questions was dis- 
 tributed, as follows: 
 
 I. Are the farm homes in your neighborhood as good as they 
 should be under existing conditions? 
 
 II. Are the schools in your neighborhood training boys and girls 
 
 satisfactorily for life on the farm? 
 
 III. Do the farmers in your neighborhood get the returns they rea- 
 
 sonably should from the sale of their products? 
 
 rv. Do the farmers in your neighborhood receive from the rail- 
 roads, highroads, trolley lines, etc., the services they reason- 
 ably should have? 
 V. Do the farmers in your neighborhood receive from the United 
 States postal service, rural telephones, etc., the service they 
 reasonably should expect? 
 
 VI. Are are farmers and their wives in your neighborhood satis- 
 factorily organized to promote their mutual buying and sell- 
 ing interest? 
 VII. Are the renters of farms in your neighborhood making a satis- 
 factory living? 
 VIII. Is the supply of farm labor in your neighborhood satisfactory? 
 
 DC. Are the conditions surrounding hired labor on the farms in your 
 neighborhood satisfactory to the hired man? 
 
 X. Have the farmers in your neighborhood satisfactory facilities 
 
 for doing their business in banking, credit, insurance, etc.? 
 
 XI. Are the sanitary conditions of farms in your neighborhood sat- 
 
 isfactory? 
 XII. Do the farmers and their wives and families in your neighbor- 
 hood get together for mutual improvement, entertainment, 
 and social intercourse as much as they should? 
 What, in your judgment, is the most important single thing to be done for 
 the general betterment of country life? 
 
 (NOTE. — ^Following each question are the subquestions : (a) Why? 
 (b) What suggestions have you to make?) 
 
 About 550,000 copies of the circular questions were sent to names 
 supplied by the United States Department of Agriculture, state ex- 
 periment stations, farmers' societies, women's clubs, to rural free de- 
 liverymen, country physicians and ministers, and others. To these 
 inquiries about 115,000 persons have now replied, mostly with much 
 care and with every evidence of good faith. Nearly 100,000 of these 
 circulars have been arranged and some of the information tabulated 
 in a preliminary way by the Census Bureau. In addition to the re- 
 plies to the circulars, great numbers of letters and carefully written 
 statements have been received, making altogether an invaluable body 
 of information, opinion, and suggestion. 
 
 The Hearings. 
 
 Hearings were held at 30 places by the whole Commission, or part 
 of it, between November 9 and December 22, 1908; and frequently 
 two or more long sessions were held. Very full notes were taken of 
 
26 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 the proceedings. They were attended by good audiences, in some in- 
 stances overflowing the hall. At several, especially in the Northwest, 
 delegates were in attendance representing associations and communi- 
 ties in the vicinity, who were anxious to present their views and needs. 
 Speeches were numerous and usually short and pithy, and represented 
 every sort of person concerned with rural life, including many 
 women, who contributed much to the domestic and educational as- 
 pects of the subject. The governors and principal officials of the 
 States were often present; and also the presidents and professors of 
 institutions of learning, clergymen, physicians, librarians, and others, 
 but the bulk of the speakers and audiences was country people. No 
 attempt was made to follow a definite programme of questioning, but 
 general discussions proceeded, with an occasional show of hands or 
 outburst of applause to signify general assent to the speaker's words. 
 The hearings were held as follows : 
 
 November 9. — College Park, Md. 
 
 10. — Richmond, Va. 
 
 11. — Raleigh, N. C, and Athens, Ga. 
 
 12. — Spartanburg, S. C. 
 
 13. — Knoxville, Tenn. 
 
 14. — Lexington, Ky. 
 16-18.— Washington, D. C. 
 19-21. — Dallas, Tex. 
 22-23.— EI Paso, Tex. 
 
 24. — Tucson, Ariz. 
 25-26.— Los Angeles, Cal. 
 27-28.— Fresno, Cal. 
 28-29. — San Francisco, Cal. 
 
 30. — Sacramento, Cal. 
 December 1. — Reno, Nev. 
 
 2.— Portland, Oreg. 
 
 2-3.— Salt Lake City, Utah. 
 
 4-5. — Spokane, Wash, (and at Opportunity, near by). 
 5. — Cheyenne, Wyo. 
 6. — ^Bozeman, Mont. 
 
 7-8.— Denver, Colo. 
 9-10. — Omaha, Nebr. 
 
 10. — Council Bluffs, Iowa. 
 
 11. — Minneapolis,. Minn. (St. Anthony Park). 
 
 12. — Madison, Wis. 
 
 14. — Champaign, 111. 
 
 16.— Ithaca, N. Y. 
 
 17.— Springfield, Mass. 
 
 18. — Boston, Mass. 
 
 22.— Washington, D. C. 
 
 The Schoolhouse Meetings. 
 The suggestion of the President that the country people of the 
 United States come together in their district schoolhouses to discuss 
 country-life questions under consideration by the Commission was 
 officially transmitted by the Commission to the state and county su- 
 perintendents of schools of every State and Territory. A great part 
 of the press of the country quoted the suggestion in full, often printing 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 2/ 
 
 with it the original list of questions issued by the Commission. 
 School officials, ministers of country churches, and other persons 
 concerned in the advancement of country matters contributed their 
 active efforts for organizing such meetings. Reports of meetings 
 have already come in from almost every State, and we have notice 
 of many meetings still to be held. Separate States have set specific 
 days for simultaneous meetings in all their country schoolhouses, 
 notably Nebraska and Missouri. The States of Washington, Oregon, 
 Montana, and Idaho, by concerted arrangement, held meetings De- 
 cember 5, the date suggested by the President. Suggestion has come 
 from many parts of the country for the regular establishment of- such 
 meetings for annual national observance by the country people as an 
 inventory-taking day and for planning community advancement for 
 the ensuing year. 
 
 11. The Main Special Defficiencies in Country Life. 
 
 The numbers of problems and suggestions that have been pre- 
 sented to the Commission in the hearings and through the corre- 
 spondence are very great. We have chosen for special discussion 
 those that are most significant and that seem most to call for imme- 
 diate action. The main single deficiency is, of course, lack of the 
 proper kind of education, but inasmuch as the redirection of educa- 
 tional methods is also the main remedy for the shortcomings of 
 country life, as also of any other life, the discussion of it may be re- 
 served for Part III. 
 
 1. Disregard of the Inherent Rights of Land Workers. 
 
 Notwithstanding an almost universal recognition of the importance 
 of agriculture to the maintenance of our people there is nevertheless 
 a widespread disregard of the rights of the men who own and work 
 the land. This results directly in social depression, as well as in 
 economic disadvantage. 
 
 The organized and corporate interests represented in mining, manu- 
 facturing, merchandising, transportation, and the like, seem often to 
 hold the idea that their business may be developed and exploited 
 without regard to the farmers, who should, howevei:, have an equal 
 opportunity for enjoyment of the land, forests, and streams and of 
 the right to buy and sell in the open markets without prejudice. 
 
 The question of the moral intention of the consolidated interests is 
 not involved in these statements. The present condition has grown 
 up, and without going into the reasons it is imperative that we rec- 
 ognize these disadvantages to country-life interests and seek to correct 
 them. The way in which discriminating conditions may arise is well 
 illustrated in the inequalities of taxation of farm property. It is 
 natural that visible and stationary property should be taxed freely 
 under our present system; it is equally natural that invisible and 
 changeable property should tend to evade taxation. The inevitable 
 
28 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 result is that the farmer's property bears an unjust part in taxation 
 schemes. 
 
 Nor is this disregard of the inherent rights of the land worker con- 
 fined to corporations and companies or to the recognized inequalities 
 of taxation. It is often shared by cities. Instead of taking care of 
 their own undesirables, they often turn them off on the country dis- 
 tricts. The "fringe" of a city thereby becomes a low-class or even 
 vicious community, and its influence often extends far into the coun- 
 try districts. The Commission hears complaints that hoboes are 
 driven from the cities and towns into the country districts, where 
 there is no machinery for controlling them. 
 
 The subjects to which we are here inviting attention are, of course, 
 not confined to country life alone. They express an attitude toward 
 public questions in general. We look for the development of a sen- 
 timent that will protect and promote the welfare of all the people 
 whenever there is a conflict with the interests of a small or particular 
 class. 
 
 The handicaps that we now have specially in mind may be stated 
 under four heads : Speculative holding of lands ; monopolistic control 
 of streams; wastage and monopolistic control of forests; restraint of 
 trade. 
 
 (a) Speculative Holding of Lands. 
 
 Certain landowners procure large areas of agricultural land in the 
 most available location, sometimes by questionable methods, and 
 hold it for speculative purposes. This not only withdraws the land 
 itself from settlement, but in many cases prevents the development of 
 an agricultural community. The smaller landowners are isolated 
 and unable to establish their necessary institutions or to attract the 
 attention of the market. The holding of large areas by one party 
 tends to develop a system of tenantry and absentee farming. The 
 whole development may be in the direction of social and economic 
 ineffectiveness. In parts of the West and South this, evil is so pro- 
 nounced that persons have requested the Commission to recommend 
 measures of relief by restricting, under law, the size of speculative 
 holdings of agricultural lands. 
 
 A similar problem arises in respect to the utilization of the swamp 
 lands of the United States. According to the reports of the United 
 States Geological Survey, there are more than 75,000,000 acres of 
 swamp land in this country, the greater part of which are capable 
 of reclamation at probably a nominal cost as compared to their value. 
 It is important to the development of the best type of country life 
 that the reclamation of the lands in rural regions proceed under con- 
 ditions insuring their subdivision into small farm units and their 
 settlement by men who would both own them and till them. Some 
 of these lands are near the centers of population. They become a 
 menace to health, and they often prevent the development of good 
 social conditions in very large areas of country. As a rule, they are 
 extremely fertile. They are capable of sustaining an agricultural 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 29 
 
 population numbering many millions, and the conditions under which 
 these millions must live are properly a matter of national concern. 
 In view of these facts, the Federal Government should act to the 
 fullest extent of its constitutional powers in securing the reclamation 
 of these lands under proper safeguards against speculative holding 
 and landlordism. It may be that in the case of those lands ceded to 
 the States for the purpose of reclamation, the greater part of which 
 are unreclaimed, there exists a special authority on the part of the 
 Federal Government by reason of failure to comply with the terms of 
 the grant; and there should be a vigorous legal inquiry into the pres- 
 ent rights of the Government with respect to them, followed, if the 
 status warrants it, by legal steps to rescind the grants and to begin 
 the practical work of reclamation. 
 
 (b) Monopolistic Control of Streams. 
 
 The legitimate farming interests of the whole country would be 
 vastly benefited by a systematic conservation and utilization, under 
 the auspices of the State and Federal Governments, of our water- 
 ways, both great and small. Important advantages of these water- 
 ways are likely to be appropriated in perpetuity and without adequate 
 return to the people by monopolistic interests that deprive the perma- 
 nent agricultural inhabitants of the use of them. 
 
 The rivers are valuable to the farmers as drainage lines, as sources 
 of irrigation supply, as carriers and equalizers of transportation rates, 
 as a readily available power resource, and for the raising of food 
 fish. The wise development of these and other uses is important to 
 both agricultural and other interests; their protection from monopoly 
 is one of the first responsibilities of government. The streams belong 
 to the people; under a proper system of development their resources 
 would remain an estate of all the people, and become available as 
 needed. A broad constructive programme involving coordinate de- 
 velopment of the many uses of streams, under conditions insuring 
 their permanent control in the interest of the people themselves, is 
 urgently needed, and none should be more concerned in this than the 
 farmers. 
 
 River navigation affords the best and cheapest transportation of 
 farm products of a nonperishable nature. The rivers afford the best 
 means of competition with railroads, because river carriage is cheap, 
 and because the rivers once opened by the Government for navigation 
 are open to all, and monopoly of their use should be an impossibility- 
 Interest in river improvement for the purpose of navigation is very 
 keen among the farmers who actually use river transportation and 
 to some extent among farmers who enjoy advantages in railway 
 rates due to parallel water lines; but the great mass of farmers, while 
 complaining of what they affirm to be unjust and exorbitant railway 
 rates, have given too little thought to the means of relief with which 
 nature has favored them. This is probably due to lack of knowledge 
 
30 keport of the country life commission. 
 
 of the actual economies of river transportation. For example, one 
 community located 200 miles from a former head of navigation ships 
 wheat by rail to a market that is 1,033 miles distant, at a cost of 21 
 cents per bushel, yet it showed no interest in the reopening of the 
 channel that would reduce the train haul to less than one-fifth the 
 distance. 
 
 This failure to consider the waterways is probably due very largely 
 to the high rates per ton-mile charged by railroads for short hauls. 
 Under the present methods of fixing the railway tariffs, local rates 
 are often almost or quite as great as between points far distant, and 
 there is small inducement to use cheap river freights because of the 
 cost of reaching the river banks. The remedy for this lies in two 
 directions: It must come either from a rearrangement of freight 
 schedules, which may involve a complete change in the present policy 
 of the railway companies with reference thereto, or by means of 
 competition by independent or local companies. 
 
 It must be remembered, also, that no interests inimical to the public 
 welfare should be allowed to acquire permanent control of the stream 
 banks. Facilities for ready and economical approach are practically 
 as important as the channels themselves. 
 
 River transportation is not usually antagonistic to railway interests. 
 Population and production are increasing rapidly, with correspond- 
 ing increase in the demands made on transportation facilities. It 
 may be reasonably expected that in the evolution of the transporta- 
 tion business, the rivers will eventually carry a large part of the 
 freight that does not require prompt delivery, while the railways 
 will carry that requiring expeditious handling. This is already fore- 
 seen by leading railway men; and its importance to the farmer is 
 such that he should encourage and aid, by every means in his power, 
 the movement for large use of the rivers. The country will produce 
 enough business to tax both streams and railroads to their utmost. 
 
 In many regions the streams afford facilities for the development, 
 of power, which, since the successful inauguration of electrical trans- 
 mission, is available for local rail lines and offers the best solution of 
 local transportation problems. In many parts of the country local 
 and interurban lines are providing transportation to farm areas, 
 thereby increasing the facilities for moving crops and adding to the 
 profit and convenience of farm life. Notwithstanding this develop- 
 ment, however, there seems to be a very general lack of appreciation 
 on the part of farmers of the possibilities of this water-power re- 
 source as a factor in governing transportation costs. 
 
 The streams may also be used as a source of small water power on 
 thousands of farms. This is particularly true of the small streams. 
 Much of the manual labor about the house and barn can be performed 
 from transmission of power from small water wheels running on the 
 farms themselves or in the neighborhood. This power could be used 
 for electric lighting and for small manufacture. It is more impor- 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 3I 
 
 tant that small power be developed on the farms of the United States 
 than that we harness Niagara. 
 
 Unfortunately, the tendency of the present laws is to encourage the 
 acquisition of these resources on easy terms, or on their own terms, 
 by the first applicants, and the power of the streams is rapidly being 
 acquired under conditions that lead to the concentration of owner- 
 ship in the hands of monopolies. This state of things constitues a 
 real and immediate danger, not to the country-life interests alone, but 
 to the entire nation, and it is time that the whole people become 
 aroused to it. 
 
 The laws under which water is appropriated or flowage rights 
 secured for power were enacted prior to the introduction of electrical 
 transmission, and, consequently, before there was any possibility of 
 water power becoming of more than local importance or value. Mo- 
 nopoly of water power was practically impossible while the sources 
 and uses were alike isolated, but the present ability to concentrate the 
 power of streams and to develop transportation, manufacturing, heat- 
 ing, and lighting on a vast scale invites monopolization. 
 
 It appears as a result of governmental investigation that practically 
 in the last five years there has been a very significant concentration 
 of water powers; that this concentration has now placed about 33 per 
 cent of the total developed water powers of the country under the 
 control of a group of 13 companies or interests; that there are very 
 strong economic and technical reasons forcing such concentration. 
 The rapid concentration already accomplished, together with the 
 obvious technical reasons for further control and the financial advan- 
 tages to be gained by a substantial monopoly, justifies the fear that 
 the concentration already accomplished is but the forerunner of a far 
 greater degree of monopoly of water power. Unless the people be- 
 come aroused to the danger to their interests, there will probably be 
 developed a monopoly greater than any the world has yet seen. 
 
 The development of power plants and of industries using this 
 power ought to be encouraged by every legitimate and proper means. 
 It should not be necessary, however, to grant perpetual rights in 
 order to encourage this development. There should be no perpetual 
 grant of water-power privileges. On the contrary, the ownership of 
 the people should be perpetually maintained, and grants should be in 
 the nature of terminable franchises. 
 
 The irrigation water should be protected. Farm life in the irri- 
 gated regions is usually of an advanced type, due principally to the 
 small size of farms and the resulting social and educational ad- 
 vantages and to intensive agriculture. Because of these facts the 
 development of the arid regions by irrigation may be a distinct con- 
 tribution to the improvement of the country life of the nation. In 
 the use of streams for irrigation, as in other uses, monopoly should 
 be discouraged. The ownership of water for irrigation is no less 
 
32 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 important than the ownership of land; "waterlordism" is as much to 
 be feared as landlordism. In the irrigated regions the water is more 
 valuable than the land to which it is applied; the availability of the 
 water supply often gives to the land all the value that it has, and 
 when this is true it must follow that the farmer must own both the 
 water and the land if he is to be master of his own fortunes. One of 
 the very best elements of any population is the independent home- 
 owning farmer, and the tendency of government, so far as may be 
 practicable, should be toward securing the ownership of the land by 
 the man who lives on it and tills it. It should seek to vest in the 
 farmer of the irrigated region the title to his water supply and to 
 protect his tenure of it. The national reclamation act, under which 
 large areas of arid land are now being placed under irrigation, is 
 commended as a contribution to the development of a good country 
 life in the West, not alone because it renders available for settlement 
 large areas of previously worthless land, but still more because it 
 insures to settlers the ownership of both the land and the water. 
 
 The need to utilize the streams is to be considered in the East as 
 well as in the West. 
 
 The Commission suggests that a special inquiry be made of the con- 
 trol and stream resources of the United States, with the object of pro- 
 tecting the people in their ownership and of reserving to agricultural 
 uses such benefits as should be reserved for these purposes. 
 
 (c) Wastage and Control of Forests. 
 
 The forests have been exploited for private gain until not only has 
 the timber been seriously reduced, but until streams have been ruined 
 for navigation, power, irrigation, and common water supplies and 
 whole regions have been exposed to floods and disastrous soil erosion. 
 Probably there has never occurred a more reckless destruction of 
 property that of right should belong to all the people. These devas- 
 tations are checked on the government lands, but similar devastation 
 in other parts of the country is equally in need of attention. The 
 Commission has heard strong demands from farmers for the estab- 
 lishment of forest reservation in the White Mountains and the South- 
 ern Appalachian region to save the timber and to control the sources 
 of streams, and no statements in opposition to the proposal. Meas- 
 ures should be enacted creating such reservations. The forests as 
 welj as the streams should be saved from monopolistic control. 
 
 The conservation of forests and brush on watershed areas is impor- 
 tant to the farmer along the full length of streams, regardless of the 
 distance between the farm and these areas. The loss of soil in de- 
 nuded areas increases the menace of flood, not alone because of the 
 more rapid run-off, but by the filling of channels and the greater ero- 
 sion of stream banks when soil matter is carried in suspension. 
 
 Loss of soil by washing is a serious menace to the fertility of the 
 American farm. A high authority on this subject recently made the 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 33 
 
 Statement that soil wash is "the heaviest impost borne by the Ameri- 
 can farmer." 
 
 The wood-lot property of the country needs to be saved and in- 
 creased. Wood-lot yield is one of the most important crops of the 
 farm, and is of great value to the public in controlling streams, 
 saving the run-off, checking winds, and in adding to the attractive- 
 ness of the region. In many regions, where poor and hilly lands 
 prevail, the town or county could well afford to purchase forest land, 
 expecting thereby to add to the value of the property and eventually 
 to make the forests a source of revenue. Such communal forests in 
 Europe yield revenue to the cities and towns by which they are 
 owned and managed. 
 
 (d) Restraint of Trade. 
 
 The Commission has heard much complaint, in all parts of the 
 country and by all classes of farmers, of injustice, inequalities, and 
 discrimination on the part of transportation companies and middle- 
 men. These are the most universal direct complaints that have been 
 presented to the Commission. If the statements can be trusted, the 
 business of farming as a whole is greatly repressed by lack of mutual 
 understanding and good faith in the transportation and marketing of 
 agricultural produce. 
 
 Without expressing an opinion on these questions, we feel that 
 there should be a free understanding between transportation com- 
 panies and farmers in respect to their mutual business. We find 
 that farmers who have well-informed opinions on tariff, education, 
 and other public questions are yet wholly uninformed in respect to 
 the transportation man's point of view on freight rates and express 
 rates that may be in dispute. A disposition on the part of all parties 
 to discuss the misunderstandings fairly would probably accomplish 
 much. 
 
 The whole matter of railway freight rates should be made more 
 understandable. There should be a simplifying or codifying of rates 
 that will enable the farmer or a group of farmers or of other citizens 
 who use the railways to ascertain readily from the published tariffs 
 the actual rate on any given commodity between two points. Rail- 
 way rate making is fundamentally a matter of public importance. 
 The rates are a large factor in the development of population; in 
 many instances the railway rates determine both the character of the 
 population and the development of industry. The railway companies, 
 by their rates, may decide where the centers of distribution shall be, 
 what areas shall develop manufactures, and other special industries. 
 To the extent that they do this they exercise a purely public func- 
 tion, and for this reason alone, if for no other, the Government 
 should exercise a wise supervision over the making and publication 
 of rates. Favoritism to large shippers has been one of the principal 
 abuses of the transportation business and has contributed to the 
 growth of monopolies of trade. While rebating is largely discon- 
 
34 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 tinued, it is very generally believed that this favoritism is still prac- 
 ticed, in various forms, to an extent that works a hardship on the 
 small shipper and the unorganized interests. Complaint is not con- 
 fined to steam roads alone, but is directed toward the trolley lines 
 as well. There is a feeling that trolley systems should be feeders to 
 the steam roads, and that these systems, which are rapidly being 
 extended through rural districts, should afford to farmers a freight 
 service that is ready, rapid, and cheap. It is charged that this is 
 not done; that steam lines discourage the use of the trolleys for 
 freight, or absorb them and eliminate competition, to the detriment 
 of the farm population which they should most benefit. 
 
 The Interstate Commerce Commission exercises a most valuable 
 governmental function. It is a body to which complaint may be 
 made of any rate considered to be unreasonable. It has been of great 
 benefit to the farmers of the country. What is needed now is a 
 careful study of the railway situation with a view to reaching and 
 correcting abuses and practices still in existence that operate against 
 the unorganized and the rural interests. 
 
 In this connection attention is invited to the fact that many States 
 have railway commissions charged with the duty of protecting the 
 public from paying exorbitant freight rates, and the farmers who 
 feel that they are charged more than is fair should see to it, first, that 
 their state railway commissions are composed of men who do their 
 duty; and second, that these men are sustained in honest efforts to 
 do their duty with fairness to all concerned. The charge is frequently 
 made that these commissions are not effective; but as they are a 
 part of the machinery of the State, it would seem that the farmers 
 have here an excellent opportunity to serve their interests by active 
 devotion to a plain political duty. 
 
 Dissatisfaction with the prevailing systems of marketing is very 
 general. There is a widespread belief that certain middlemen con- 
 sume a share of agricultural sales out of all proportion to the services 
 they render, either to the consumer or the producer, making a larger 
 profit — often without risk — in the selling of the product than the 
 farmer makes in producing it. We have no desire to condemn mid- 
 dlemen as a class. We have no doubt that there are many businesses 
 of this kind that are conducted on a square-deal basis, but we are 
 led to believe that grave abuses are practiced by unscrupulous per- 
 sons and firms, and we recommend a searching inquiry into the 
 methods employed in the sale of produce on commission. 
 
 (e) Remedies for the Disregard of the Inherent Rights of the Farmer. 
 
 We need, in the first place, as a people, to recognize the necessary 
 rights of the individual farmer to the use of the native resources and 
 agencies that go with the utilization of agricultural lands and to pro- 
 tect him from hindrance and encroachment in the normal develop- 
 ment of his business. If the farmer suffers because his business is 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 35 
 
 small, isolated, and unsyndicated, then it is the part of the govern- 
 ment to see that he has a natural opportunity among his fellows and 
 a square deal. 
 
 In the second place, we need such an attitude of government, both 
 state and national, as will safeguard the separate and individual 
 rights of the farmer, in the interest of the public good. As a con- 
 tribution toward this attitude, we commend the general policy of the 
 present administration to safeguard the streams, forests, coal lands, 
 and phosphate lands, and in endeavoring to develop a home-owning 
 settlement in the irrigated regions. 
 
 At the moment, one of the most available and effective single 
 means of giving the farmer the benefit of his natural opportunities is 
 the enlargement of government service to the country people through 
 the postoffice. We hold that a parcels post and a postal savings bank 
 system are necessities; and as rapidly as possible the rural free de- 
 livery of mails should be extended. Everywhere we have found the 
 farmers demanding the parcels post. It is opposed by many mer- 
 chants, transportation organizations, and established interests. We 
 do not think that the parcels post will injure the merchant in the 
 small town or elsewhere. Whatever will permanently benefit the 
 farmer will benefit the country as a whole. Both town and country 
 would readjust themselves to the new conditions. We recognize the 
 great value of the small town to the country districts and would not 
 see it displaced or crippled; but the character of the open country 
 largely makes or unmakes the country town. 
 
 In order that fundamental correctives may be applied, we recom- 
 mend that a thoroughgoing study or investigation be made of the 
 relation of business practices and of taxation to the welfare of the 
 farmer, with a view to ascertaining what discriminations and de- 
 ficiencies may exist, whether legislation is needed, and to give pub- 
 licity to the entire subject. This investigation should include the 
 entire middleman system, farmjsrs' cooperative organizations, trans- 
 portation rates and practices, taxation of agricultural property, meth- 
 ods of securing funds on reasonable conditions for agricultural uses, 
 and the entire range of economic questions involved in the relation 
 of the farmer to the accustomed methods of doing business. 
 
 We find that there is need of a new general attitude toward legisla- 
 tion, in the way of safeguarding the farmer's natural rights and in- 
 terests. It is natural that the organized and consolidated interests 
 should be strongly in mind in the making of legislation. We recom- 
 mend that the welfare of the farmer and countryman be also kept 
 in mind in the construction of laws. We specially recommend that his 
 interests be considered and safeguarded in any new legislation on the 
 tariff, on regulation of railroads, control or regulating of corporations 
 and of speculation, river, swamp, and forest legislation, and public- 
 health regulation. At the present moment it is especially important 
 that the farmer's interests be well considered in the revision of the 
 
36 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 tariff. One of the particular needs is such an application of the 
 reciprocity principle as to open European markets for our flour, 
 meats, and live cattle. One of the great economic problems of our 
 agriculture is how to feed the corn crop and other grains profitably, 
 for it must be fed if the fertility of the land is to be maintained; to 
 dispose of the crop profitably requires the best markets that can be 
 secured. 
 
 2. Highways. 
 
 The demand for good highways is general among the farmers of 
 the entire United States. Education and good roads are the two 
 needs most frequently mentioned in the hearings. Highways that 
 are usable at all times of the year are now imperative not only for 
 the marketing of produce, but for the elevation of the social and in- 
 tellectual status of the open country and the improvement of health 
 by insuring better medical and surgical attendance. 
 
 The advantages are so well understood that arguments for better 
 roads are not necessary here. Our respondents are now concerned 
 largely with the methods of organizing and financing the work. 
 With only unimportant exceptions, the farmers who have expressed 
 themselves to us on this question consider that the Federal Govern- 
 ment is fairly under obligation to aid in the work. 
 
 We hold that the development of a fully serviceable highway sys- 
 tem is a matter of national concern, coordinate with the development 
 of waterways and the conservation of our native resources. It is 
 absolutely essential to our internal development. The first thing nec- 
 essary is to provide expert supervision and direction and to develop 
 a national plan. All the work should be cooperative between the 
 Federal Government and the States. The question of federal appro- 
 priation for highway work in the States may well be held in abey- 
 ance until a national service is provided and tested. We suggest that 
 the United States Government establish a highway engineering serv- 
 ice, or equivalent organization, to be at the call of the States in work- 
 ing out effective and economical highway systems. 
 
 3. Soil Depletion and Its Effects. 
 
 A condition calling for serious comment is the lessening productive- 
 ness of the land. Our farming has been largely exploitational, con- 
 sisting of mining the virgin fertility. On the better lands this primi- 
 tive system of land exploitation may last for two generations with- 
 out results pernicious to society, but on the poorer lands the limit of 
 satisfactory living conditions may be reached in less than one gen- 
 eration. 
 
 The social condition of any agricultural community is closely re- 
 lated to the available fertility of the soil. "Poor land, poor people," 
 and "rough land, rough people" have long since passed into proverbs. 
 Rich land well farmed does not necessarily mean high ideals or good 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 37 
 
 society. It may mean land greed and dollar worship; but. on the 
 other hand, high ideals can not be realized without at least a fair 
 degree of prosperity, and this can not be secured without the mainte- 
 nance of fertility. 
 
 When the land begins to yield with difficulty the farmer may move 
 to new land, develop a system of self-sustaining agriculture (becom- 
 ing thereby a real farmer), or be driven into poverty and degrada- 
 tion. The first of these results has been marked for many years, but 
 it is now greatly checked because most of the available lands have 
 been occupied. The second result — the evolution of a really scientific 
 and self-perpetuating agriculture — is beginning to appear here and 
 there, mostly in the long-settled regions. The drift to poverty and 
 degradation is pronounced in many parts of the country. In every 
 region a certain class of the population is forced to the poor lands, 
 becoming a handicap to the community and constituting a very dif- 
 ficult social problem. 
 
 There are two great classes of farmers — those who make farming 
 a real and active constructive business, as much as the successful 
 manufacturer or merchant makes his effort a business; and those 
 who merely passively live on the land, often because they can not 
 do anything else, and by dint of hard work and the strictest economy 
 manage to subsist. Each class has its difficulties. The problems of 
 the former class are largely those arising from the man's relation to 
 the whole at large. The farmer of the latter class is not only power- 
 less as against trade in general, but is' also more or less helpless in 
 his own farming problems. In applying corrective measures, we must 
 recognize these two classes of persons. 
 
 When no change of system has followed the depletion of the virgin 
 fertility, the saddest results have followed. The former owners have 
 often lost the land, and a system of tenantry farming has gradually 
 developed. This is marked in all regions that are dominated by a 
 one-crop system of agriculture. In parts of the Southern States this 
 loss of available fertility is specially noticeable, particularly where 
 cotton is the main if not the only crop. In some parts of the country 
 this condition and the social results are pathetic, and particularly 
 where the farmers, whether white or black, by reason of poverty and 
 lack of credit and want of experience in other kinds of farming, are 
 compelled to continue to grow cotton. Large numbers of southern 
 farmers are still obliged to mortgage their unplanted crop to secure 
 the means of living while it is growing; and, as a matter of course, 
 they pay exorbitant prices for the barest necessities of life. The 
 only security that the man can give, either to the banker or the mer- 
 chant, is cotton, and this forces the continued cultivation of a crop 
 that decreases the soil fertility in a country of open winters where 
 the waste by erosion is necessarily at the maximum. The tenants 
 have little interest in the land, and move from year to year in the 
 vain hope of better luck. The average income of the tenant-farmer 
 
38 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 family growing cotton is about $150 a year; and the family usually 
 does not raise its poultry, meat, fruit, vegetables, or breadstuffs. The 
 landlords in large sections are little better off than the tenants. The 
 price of the product is manipulated by speculators. The tenant far- 
 mer, and even the landlord, is preyed upon by other interests, and is 
 practically powerless. The effect of the social stratification into land- 
 lord, tenant, and money-lending merchant still further complicates a 
 situation that in some regions is desperate and that demands vigorous 
 treatment. 
 
 The recent years of good prices for cotton have enabled many far- 
 mers to get out of debt and to be able to handle their own business. 
 These farmers are then free to begin a new system of husbandry. 
 The problems still remain, however, of how to help the man who is 
 still in bondage. 
 
 While these conditions are specially marked in the cotton-growing 
 States, they are arising in all regions of a single-crop system, except, 
 perhaps, in the case of fruit regions and vegetable regions. They 
 are beginning to appear in the exclusive wheat regions, where the 
 yields are constantly growing less and where the social life is usually 
 monotonous and barren. The hay-selling system of many parts of 
 the Northeastern States presents similar results, as does also the ex- 
 clusive corn growing for the general market when stock raising is 
 not a part of the business. 
 
 The loss of fertility in the Northern States is less rapid because of 
 the climatic conditions that arrest the winter waste; fewer landlords, 
 and these for the most part retired farmers who live near their farms 
 and largely control the methods of cultivating the land; and a differ- 
 ent kind of agriculture and a different social structure. It is, how- 
 ever, serious enough even in the Northern States, and especially in 
 the Mississippi Valley, particularly when lands are held as an invest- 
 ment by capitalists who know nothing about farming and care only 
 for annual returns, and also when held by speculators in the hope 
 of harvesting the unearned increment, which has been large of late 
 years, due probably to some world-wide cause which it is beyond our 
 province to discuss. In any case, whether North or South, it has 
 become a matter of very serious concern, whether farmers are to. 
 continue to dominate and direct the policy of the people as they do 
 now in large part in the more prosperous agricultural sections, or 
 whether because of soil deterioration they shall become a dependent 
 class or shall be tenants in name but laborers in fact and working for 
 an uncertain wage. 
 
 Fortunately, there is abundant evidence on every hand both North 
 and South, that the fertility of the soil can be maintained, or where 
 It has been greatly decreased can be restored at least approximately 
 to Its virgin fertility. The hope of the future lies in the work of the 
 public mstitutions that are devoted to the new agriculture The 
 United States Department of Agriculture, experiment stations, col- 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 39 
 
 leges of agriculture, and other agencies are making great progress 
 m correcting these and other deficiencies, and these institutions de- 
 serve the sympathetic support of all the people. The demonstration 
 work of the Department of Agriculture in the Southern States is a 
 marked example of the good that can be done by teaching the people 
 how to diversify their farming and to redeem themselves from the 
 bondage of an hereditary system. Similar work is needed in many 
 parts of the United States, and it is already under way. in various 
 forms, under the leadership of the land-grant institutions. 
 
 The great agricultural need of the open country is a system of 
 diversified and rotation farming, carefully adapted in every case to 
 the particular region. Such systems conserve the resources of the 
 land and develop diversified and active institutions. Nor is this 
 wastage of soil resources peculiar to one-crop systems, although it is 
 more marked in such cases. It is a general feature of our agriculture. 
 due to a lack of appreciation of our responsibility to society to protect 
 and save the land. Although we have reason to be proud of our 
 agricultural achievements, we must not close our eyes to the fact that 
 our soil resources are still being lost through poor farming. 
 
 This lessening of soil fertility is marked in every part of the United 
 States, even in the richest lands of the prairies. It marks the pioneer 
 stage of land usage. It has now become an acute national danger, 
 and the economic, social, and political problems arising out of it must 
 at once receive the best attention of statesmen. The attention that 
 has been given to these questions is wholly inadequate to the urgency 
 of the dangers involved. 
 
 4. Agricultural Labor. 
 
 There is a general, but not a universal, complaint of scarcity of 
 farm labor. This scarcity is not an agricultural difficulty alone, but 
 one phase for expression of the general labor-supply problem. 
 
 So long as the United States continues to be a true democracy it 
 will have a serious labor problem. As a democracy, we honor labor, 
 and the higher the efficiency of the labor the greater the honor. The 
 laborer, if he has the ambition to be an efficient agent in the develop- 
 ment of the country, will be anxious to advance from the lower to the 
 higher forms of effort, and from being a laborer himself he becomes 
 a director of labor. If he has nothing but his hands and brains, he 
 aims to accumulate sufficient capital to become a tenant, and event- 
 ually to become the owner, of a farm home. A large number of our 
 immigrants share with the native-born citizen this laudable ambition. 
 Therefore there is a constant decrease of efficient farm labor by these 
 upward movements. 
 
 At the same time, there is a receding column of farm owners who, 
 through bad management, have become farm tenants, and who from 
 farm tenants may become farm laborers. While the percentage of 
 this class is small, there are, nevertheless, some who fail to mako 
 
40 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 good, and if they are tenants farm for a living rather than as a busi- 
 ness, and if laborers become watchers of the sun rather than efficient 
 workers. 
 
 (a) Statement of the General Farm Problem. 
 
 The farm labor problem, however, is complicated by several special 
 conditions, such as the fact that the need for labor is not continuous, 
 the lack of conveniences of living for the laborer, long hours, the 
 want of companionship, and in some places the apparently low wages. 
 Because of these conditions the necessary drift of workmen is from 
 the open country to the town. On the part of the employer the prob- 
 lem is complicated by the difficulty of securing labor, even at the 
 relatively high prices now prevailing, that is competent to handle 
 modern farm machinery and to care for live stock and to handle the 
 special work of the improved dairy. It is further complicated in all 
 parts of the country by the competition of railroads, mines, and fac- 
 tories, which, by reason of shorter hours, apparently higher pay, and 
 the opportunities for social diversion and often of dissipation, attract 
 the native farm hand to the towns and cities. 
 
 The difficulty of securing good labor is so great in many parts of 
 the country that farmers are driven to dispose of their farms, leaving 
 their land to be worked on shares by more or less irresponsible ten- 
 ants, or selling them outright, often to foreigners. All absentee and 
 proxy farming (which seems to be increasing) creates serious social 
 problems in the regions thus affected. There is not sufficient good 
 labor available in the country to enable us to farm our lands under 
 present systems of agriculture and to develop our institutions effect- 
 ively. Our native labor supply could be much increased by such 
 hygienic measures as would lessen the unnecessary death rate among 
 country children and insure better health to workmen. 
 
 So long as the labor supply is not equal to the demand the country 
 can not compete with the town in securing labor. The country must 
 meet the essential conditions offered by the town or change the kind 
 of farming. 
 
 The most marked reaction to the labor difficulty is the change in 
 modes of farm management, whereby farming is slowly adapting 
 itself to the situation. In some cases this change is in the nature of 
 more intensive and businesslike methods whereby the farmer becomes 
 able to secure a better class of labor and to employ it more contin- 
 uously. More frequently, however, the change is in the nature of a 
 simplification of the business and a less full and active farm life. In 
 the sod regions of the Northeast the tendency is toward a simple or 
 even a primitive nature farming, with the maximum of grazing and 
 meadow and the minimum of hand labor. In many States the more 
 difficult lands are being given up and machinery farming is extend- 
 ing. This results in an unequal development of the country as a 
 whole, with a marked shift in the social equilibrium. The only real 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 4I 
 
 solution of the present labor problem must lie in improved methods 
 of farming. These improvements will be forced by the inevitable 
 depletion of soil fertility under any and all one-crop systems in every 
 part of the country, and realized by the adoption on the part of in- 
 telligent, progressive farmers of a rotation of crops and a system of 
 husbandry that will enable them to employ their labor by the year 
 and thereby secure a higher type of workman by providing him a 
 home with all its appurtenances. The development of local industries 
 will also contribute to the solution of the problem. 
 
 The excessive hours of labor on farms must be shortened. This 
 will come through the working out of the better farm scheme just men- 
 tioned and substituting planning for some of the muscular work. 
 Already in certain regions of well-systematized diversified farming 
 the average hours of labor are less than ten. 
 
 There is a growing tendency to rely on foreigners for the farm 
 labor supply, although the sentiment is very strong in some regions 
 against immigration. It is the general testimony that the native 
 American labor is less efficient and less reliable than much of the 
 foreign labor. This is due to the fact that the American is less 
 pressed by the dire necessity to labor and to save, and because the 
 better class of laborers is constantly passing on to land ownership on 
 their own account. Because of their great industry and thrift cer- 
 tain foreigners are gradually taking possession of the land in some 
 regions, and it seems to be only a question of time until they will 
 drive out the native stock in those regions. 
 
 The most difficult rural labor problem is that of securing house- 
 hold help on the average farm. The larger the farm the more 
 serious the problem becomes. The necessity of giving a suitable 
 education to her children deprives the farm woman largely of home 
 help; while the lure of the city, with its social diversions, more reg- 
 ular hours of labor, and its supposed higher respectability, deprives 
 her of help bred and born in the country. Under these circum- 
 stances she is compelled to provide the food that requires the least 
 labor. This simple fact explains much of the lack of variety, in the 
 midst of the greatest possible abundance, so often complained of on 
 the farmer's table. The development of the creamery system over 
 large sections of the country has relieved the farmer's wife of a 
 heavy burden. This gives the hint for further improvement. The 
 community laundering and other work could be done in an establish- 
 ment connected with the creamery. Labor-saving appliances in the 
 future will greatly lighten the burdens of those who are willing to 
 use them. With the teaching of home subjects in the schools, house- 
 hold labor will again become respectable as well as easier and more 
 interesting. 
 
 There is widespread conviction that the farmer must give greater 
 attention to providing good quarters to laborers and to protect them 
 from discouragement and from the saloon. The shortage of labor 
 
42 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 seems to be the least marked where the laborer is best cared for. It 
 is certain that farming itself must be so modified and organized as 
 to meet the labor problem at least half way. While all farmers feel 
 the shortage of help, the Commission has found that the best farmers 
 usually complain least about the labor difficulty. 
 
 (b) The Question of Intemperance. 
 
 The liquor question has been emphasized to the Commission in all 
 parts of the country as complicating the labor question. It seems to 
 be regarded as a burning country life problem. Intemperance is 
 largely the result of the barrenness of farm life, particularly of the 
 lot of the hired man. The Commission has made no inquiry into 
 intemperance as such, but it is impressed, from the testimony that 
 has accumulated, that drunkenness is often a very serious menace to 
 country life, and that the saloon is an institution that must be ban- 
 ished from at least all country districts and rural towns if our agri- 
 cultural interests are to develop to the extent to which they are 
 capable. The evil is specially damning in the South, because it seri- 
 ously complicates the race problem. Certain States have recently 
 adopted prohibitory regulations, but liquor is shipped into dry terri- 
 tory from adjoining regions, and the evil is thereby often increased. 
 Dry territories must rouse themselves to self-preservation in the face 
 of this grave danger, and legislation must be enacted that will protect 
 them. When a State goes dry, it should be allowed to keep dry. 
 
 There is most urgent need for a quickened public sentiment on this 
 whole question of intoxication in rural communities in order to re- 
 lieve country life of one of its most threatening handicaps. At the 
 same time it is incumbent on every person to exert his best effort to 
 provide the open country with such intellectual and social interests 
 as will lesson the appeal and attractiveness of the saloon. 
 
 (c) Developing the Local Attachments of the Farm Laborer. 
 
 The best labor, other things being equal, is resident labor. Such 
 reorganization of agriculture must take place as will tend more and 
 more to employ the man the year round and to tie him to the land. 
 The employer bears a distinct responsibility to the laborer, and also 
 to society, to house him well and to help him to contribute his part 
 to the community welfare. 
 
 Eventually some kind of school or training facilities must be pro- 
 vided for the farm laborer to cause him to develop skill and to in- 
 terest him intellectually in his work. 
 
 Some kind of simple saving institution should also be developed in 
 order to encourage thrift on the part of the laborer. It would be 
 well, also, to study systems of life insurance in reference to farm 
 workmen. The establishment of postal savings banks should con- 
 tribute toward greater stability of farm labor. 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 43 
 
 The development of various kinds of cooperative buying and sell- 
 ing associations might be expected to train workmen in habits of 
 thrift, if the men were encouraged to join them. 
 
 5. Health in the Open Country. 
 
 Theoretically the farm should be the most healthful place in which 
 to live, and there are numberless farm-houses, especially of the farm- 
 owner class, that possess most excellent modern sanitary conven- 
 iences. Still it is a fact that there are also numberless other farm- 
 houses, especially of the tenant class, and even numerous rural school- 
 houses, that do not have the rudiments of sanitary arrangement. 
 Tltaith conditions in many parts of the open country, therefore, are 
 in urgent need of betterment. There are many questions of nation- 
 wide importance, such as soil, milk, and water pollution; too much 
 visiting in case of contagious diseases; patent medicines, advertising 
 quacks, and intemperance; feeding of offal to animals at local slaugh- 
 terhouses and general unsanitary conditions of those houses not 
 under federal or other rigid sanitary control; in some regions un- 
 wholesome and poorly prepared and monotonous diet; lack of recrea- 
 tion; too long hours of work. 
 
 Added to these and other conditions, are important regional ques- 
 tions, such as the extensive spread of the hook-worm disease in the 
 large Gulf-Atlantic States, the prevalence of typhoid fever and 
 nialaria, and other difficiflties due to neglect in the localities. 
 
 In general, the rural population is less safeguarded by boards of 
 health than is the urban population. The physicians are farther 
 apart and are called in later in case of sickness, and in some districts 
 medical attendance is relatively more expensive. The necessity for 
 disease prevention is therefore self-evident, and it bcomes even more 
 emphatic when we recall that infection may be spread from farms 
 to cities in the streams and also in the milk, meat, and other farm 
 products. Quite aside from the humanitarian point of view, the 
 aggregate annual loss to the nation from unsanitary conditions on 
 the farms must, when expressed in money values, reach an enormous 
 sum, and a betterment of these conditions is a nation-wide obligation. 
 
 There is great need for the teaching of the simplest and com- 
 monest laws of hygiene and sanitation in all the schools. The people 
 need knowledge, and no traditions should prevent them from having 
 it. How and what to eat, the nature of disease, the importance of 
 fresh air, the necessity of physical training even on the farm, the 
 ineffectiveness or even the danger of nostrums, the physical evils of 
 intemperance, all should be known in some useful degree to every 
 boy and girl on leaving school. 
 
 Some of the most helpful work in improving rural sanitary con- 
 ditions and in relieving suffering is now proceeding from women's 
 organizations. This work should be encouraged in every way. We 
 especially commend the suggestion that such organizations, and other 
 
44 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 interests, provide visiting nurses for rural communities when they 
 are needed. 
 
 We find urgent need for better supervision of public health in 
 rural communities on the part of States and localities. The control 
 is now likely to be exercised only when some alarming condition pre- 
 vails. We think that the Federal Government should be given the 
 right to send its health officers into the various States on request of 
 these States, at any time, for the purpose of investigating and con- 
 trolling public health; it does not now have this right except at quar- 
 antine stations, although it may attend to diseases of domestic ani- 
 mals. It should also engage in publicity work on this subiect. 
 
 6. Woman's Work on the Farm. 
 
 Realizing that the success of country life depends in very large 
 degree on the woman's part, the Commission has made special effort 
 to ascertain the condition of women on the farm. Often this condi- 
 tion is all that can be desired, with home duties so organized that 
 the labor is not excessive, with kindly cooperation on the part of 
 husbands and sons, and with household machines and conveniences 
 well provided. Very many farm homes in all parts of the country 
 are provided with books and periodicals, musical instruments, and 
 all the necessary amenities. There are good gardens and attractive 
 premises and a sympathetic love of nature and of farm life on the 
 part of the entire family. • 
 
 On the other hand, the reverse of these conditions often obtains, 
 sometimes because of pioneer conditions and more frequently because 
 of lack of prosperity and of ideals. Conveniences for outdoor work 
 are likely to have precedence over those for household work. 
 
 The routine work of woman on the farm is to prepare three meals 
 a day. This regularity of duty recurs regardless of season, weather, 
 planting, harvesting, social demands, or any other factor. The only 
 differences in different seasons are those of degree rather than of 
 kind. It follows, therefore, that whatever general hardships, such as 
 poverty, isolation, lack of labor-saving devices, may exist on any 
 given farm, the burden of these hardships falls more heavily on the 
 farmer's wife than on the farmer himself. In general, her life is 
 more monotonous and the more isolated, no matter what the wealth 
 or the poverty of the family may be. 
 
 The relief to farm women must come through a general elevation 
 of country living. The women must have more help. In particular 
 these matters may be mentioned : Development of a cooperative spirit 
 in the home, simplification of the diet in many cases, the building of 
 convenient and sanitary houses, providing running water in the house 
 and also more mechanical help, good and convenient gardens, a less 
 exclusive ideal of money getting on the part of the farmer, provid- 
 ing better means of communication, as telephones, roads, and read- 
 ing circles, and developing of women's organizations. These and 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 45 
 
 Other agencies should relieve the woman of many of her manual bur- 
 dens on the one hand and interest her in outside activities on the 
 other. The farm woman should have sufficient free time and strength 
 so that she may serve the commuinty by participating in its vital 
 iffairs. 
 
 We have found good women's organizations in some country dis- 
 tiicts, but as a rule such organizations are few or even none, or where 
 they exist they merely radiate from towns. Some of the stronger 
 central organizations are now pushing the country phase of their 
 work with vigor. Mothers' clubs, reading clubs, church societies, 
 home economics organizations, farmers' institutes, and other associa- 
 tions can accomplish much for farm women. Some of the regular 
 farmers' organizations are now giving much attention to domestic 
 subjects, and women participate freely in the meetings. There is 
 much need among country women themselves of a stronger organiz- 
 ing sense for real cooperative betterment. It is important also that 
 all rural organizations that are attended chiefly by men should dis- 
 cuss the home-making subjects, for the whole difficulty often lies with 
 the attitude of the men. 
 
 1 ] ere is the most imperative need that domestic, household, and 
 heath questions be taught in all schools. The home may well be 
 made the center of rural school teaching. The school is capable of 
 changing the whole attitude of the home life and the part that women 
 should play in the development of the best country living. 
 
 III. The General Corrective Forces that Should Be Set in Motion. 
 
 The ultimate need of the open country is the development of com- 
 munity effort and of social resources. Here and there the Commission 
 has found a rural neighborhood in which the farmers and their wives 
 come together frequently and effectively for social intercourse, but 
 these instances seem to be infrequent exceptions. There is a general 
 lack of wholesome societies that are organized on a social basis. In 
 the region in which the Grange is strong this need is best supplied. 
 
 There is need of the greatest diversity in country life affairs, but 
 there is equal need oi a social cohesion operating among all these 
 affairs and tying them all tOfeCther. This life must be developed, as 
 we have said, directly from native or resident forces. It is neither 
 necessary nor d'jsirable that an exclusive hamlet system be brought 
 about in order to secure these ends. The problem before the Commis- 
 sion is to suggest means whereby this development may be directed 
 and hastened directly from the land. 
 
 The social disorder is usually unrecognized. If only the farms 
 are financially profitable, the rural condition is commonly pronounced 
 good. Country life must be made thoroughly attractive and satis- 
 fying, as well as remunerative and able to hold the center of interest 
 throughout one's lifetime. With most persons this can come onl;^ 
 with the development of a strong community sense of feeling. The 
 first condition of a good country life, of course, is good and profit- 
 
46 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 able farming. The farmer must be enabled to live comfortably. 
 Much attention has been given to better farming, and the progress 
 of a generation has been marked. Small manufacture and better 
 handicrafts need now to receive attention, for the open country needs 
 new industries and new interests. The schools must help to bring 
 these things about. 
 
 The economic and industrial questions are, of course, of prime im- 
 portance, and we have dealt with them; but they must all be studied 
 in their relations to the kind of life that should ultimately be estab- 
 lished in rural communities. The Commission will fail of its pur- 
 pose if it confines itself merely to providing remedies or correctives 
 for the present and apparent troubles of the farmer, however urgent 
 and important these troubles may be. All these matters must be 
 conceived of as incidents or parts in a large constructive programme. 
 We must begin a campaign for rural progress. 
 
 To this end local government must be developed to its highest 
 point of efficiency, and all agencies that are capable of furthering 
 a better country life must be federated. It will be necessary to set 
 the resident forces in motion by means of outside agencies, or at least 
 to direct them, if we are to secure the best results. It is specially 
 necessary to develop the cooperative spirit, whereby all people partic- 
 ipate and all become partakers. 
 
 The cohesion that is so marked among the different classes of farm, 
 folk in older countries can not be reasonably expected at this period 
 in American development, nor is it desirable that a stratified society 
 should be developed in this country. We have here no remnants 
 of a feudal system, fortunately no system of entail, and no clearly 
 drawn distinction between agricultural and other classes. We are as 
 yet a new country with undeveloped resources, many faraway past- 
 ures which, as is well known, are always green and inviting. Our 
 farmers have been moving, and numbers of them have not yet be- 
 come so well settled as to speak habitually of their farm as "home." 
 We have farmers from every European nation and with every phase 
 of religious belief often grouped in large communities, naturally 
 drawn together by a common language and a common faith, and 
 yielding but slowly to the dominating and controlling forces of 
 American farm life. Even where there was once social organization, 
 as in the New England town (or township), the competition of the 
 newly settled West and the wonderful development of urban civiliza- 
 tion have disintegrated it. The middle-aged farmer of the Central 
 States sells the old homestead without much hesitation or regret and 
 moves westward to find a greater acreage for his sons and daughters. 
 The farmer of the Middle West sells the old home and moves to 
 the Mountain States, to the Pacific coast, to the South, to Mexico, or 
 to Canada. 
 
 Even when permanently settled, the farmer does not easily com- 
 bine with others for financial or social betterment. The training of 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 47 
 
 generations has made him a strong individualist, and he has been 
 obhged to rely mainly on himself. Self-reliance being the essence 
 of his nature, he does not at once feel the need of cooperation for 
 business purposes or of close association for social objects. In the 
 inain, he has been prosperous, and has not felt the need of coopera- 
 tion. If he is a strong man, he prefers to depend on his own ability. 
 If he is ambitious for social recognition, he usually prefers the 
 society of the town to that of the country. If he wishes to educate 
 his children, he avails himself of the schools of the city. He does 
 not as a rule dream of a rural organization that can supply as com- 
 pletely as the city the four great requirements of man— health, edu- 
 cation, occupation, society. While his brother in the city is striving 
 by moving out of the business section into the suburbs to get as much 
 as possible of the country in the city, he does not dream that it is 
 possible to have most that is best of the city in the country. 
 
 The time has come when we must give as much attention to the 
 constructive development of the open country as we have given to 
 other affairs. This is necessary not only in the interest of the open 
 country itself, but for the safety and progress of the nation. 
 
 It is impossible, of course, to suggest remedies for all the short- 
 comings of country life. The mere statement of the conditions, as 
 we find them, ought of itself to challenge attention to the needs. 
 We hope that this report of the Commission will accelerate all the 
 movements that are now in operation for the betterment of country 
 life. Many of these movements are beyond the reach of legislation. 
 The most important thing for the Commission to do is to apprehend 
 the problem and to state the conditions. 
 
 The philosophy of the situation requires that the disadvantages 
 and handicaps that are not a natural part of the farmer's business 
 shall be removed, and that such forces shall be encouraged and set 
 in motion as will stimulate and direct local initiative and leadership. 
 
 The situation calls for concerted action. It must be aroused and 
 energized. The remedies are of many kinds, and they must come 
 slowly. We need a redirection of thought to bring about a new 
 atmosphere, and a new social and intellectual contact with life. This 
 means that the habits of the people must change. The change will 
 come gradually, of course, as a result of new leadership; and the 
 situation must develop its own leaders. 
 
 Care must be taken in all the reconstructive work to see that local 
 initiative is relied on to the fullest extent, and that federal and even 
 state agencies do not perform what might be done by the people 
 in the communities. The centralized agencies should be stimulative 
 and directive, rather than mandatory and formal. Every effort must 
 be made to develop native resources, not only of material things, but 
 also of people. 
 
48 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 It is necessary to be careful, also, not to copy too closely the recon- 
 structive methods that have been so successful in Europe. Our con- 
 ditions and problems differ widely from theirs. We have no his- 
 torical, social peasantry, a much less centralized form of govern- 
 ment, unlike systems of land occupancy, wholly different farming 
 schemes, and different economic and social systems. Our country 
 necessities are peculiarly American. 
 
 The correctives for the social sterility of the open country are 
 already in existence or under way, but these agencies all need to be 
 strengthened and especially to be coordinated and federated; and the 
 problem needs to be recognized by all the people. The regular agri- 
 cultural departments and institutions are aiding in making farming 
 profitable and attractive, and they are also giving attention to the 
 social and community questions. There is a widespread awakening 
 as a result of this work. This awakening is greatly aided by the 
 rural free delivery of mails, telephones, the gradual improvement of 
 highways, farmers' institutes, cooperative creameries and similar 
 organizations, and other agencies. 
 
 The good institutions of cities may often be applied or extended 
 to the open country. It appears that the social evils are in many 
 cases no greater in cities in proportion to the number of people than 
 in country districts; and the very concentration of numbers draws 
 attention to the evils in cities and leads to earlier application of reme- 
 dies. Recently much attention has been directed, for example, to the 
 subject of juvenile crime, and the probation system in place of jail 
 sentences for young offenders is being put into operation in many 
 places. Petty crime and immorality are certainly not lacking in 
 rural districts, and it would seem that there is a place for the exten- 
 sion of the probation system to towns and villages. 
 
 Aside from the regular churches, schools, and agricultural socie- 
 ties, there are special organizations that are now extending their 
 work to the open country, and others that could readily be adapted 
 to country work. One of the most promising of these newer agencies 
 is the rural library that is interested in its community. The libraries 
 are increasing, and they are developing a greater sense of responsi- 
 bility to the community, not only stimulating the reading habit and 
 directing it, but becoming social centers for the neighborhood. A 
 library, if provided with suitable rooms, can afford a convenient 
 meeting place for many kinds of activities and thereby serve as a 
 coordinating influence. Study clubs and traveling libraries may 
 become parts of it. This may mean that the library will need itself 
 to be redirected so that it will become an active rather than a passive 
 agency ; it must be much more than a collection of books. 
 
 Another new agency is the county work of the Young Men's 
 Christian Association, which, by placing in each county a field secre- 
 tary, is seeking to promote the solidarity and effectiveness of rural 
 social life, and to extend the larger influence of the country church. 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 49 
 
 The Commission has met the representatives of this county work at 
 the hearmgs. and is impressed with the purpose of the movement to 
 act as a coordinating agency in rural life. 
 
 The organizations in cities and towns that are now beginning to 
 agitate the development of better play, recreation, and entertain- 
 ment offer a suggestion for country districts. It is important that 
 recreation be made a feature of country life, but we consider it to be 
 important that this recreation, games and entertainment, be devel- 
 oped as far as possible from native sources rather than to be trans- 
 planted as a kind of theatricals from exotic sources. 
 
 Other organizations that are helping the country social life, or that 
 might be made to help it, are women's clubs, musical clubs, reading 
 clubs, athletic and playground associations, historical and literary 
 societies, local business men's organizations and chambers of com- 
 merce, all genuinely cooperative business societies, civic and village 
 improvement societies, local political organizations, granges and 
 other fraternal organizations, and all groups that associate with the 
 church and school. 
 
 There is every indication, therefore, that the social life of the open 
 country is in process of improvement, although the progress at the 
 present moment has not been great. The leaders need to be encour- 
 aged by an awakened public sentiment, and all the forces should be 
 so related to each other as to increase their total effectiveness while 
 not interfering with the autonomy of any of them. 
 
 The proper correctives of the underlying structural deficiencies of 
 the open country are knowledge, education, cooperative organiza- 
 tions, and personal leadership. These we may now discuss in more 
 detail. 
 
 7. Need of Agricultural or Country Life Surveys. 
 
 The time has now come when we should know in detail what our 
 agricultural resources are. We have long been engaged in making 
 geological surveys, largely with a view to locating our mineral wealth. 
 The country has been explored and mapped. The main native re- 
 sources have been located in a general way. We must now know what 
 are the capabilities of every agricultural locality, for agriculture is 
 the basis of our prosperity and farming is always a local business. 
 We can not make the best and most permanent progress in the de- 
 veloping of a good country life until we have completed a very care- 
 ful inventory of the entire country. 
 
 This inventory or census should take into account the detailed 
 topography and soil conditions of the localities, the local climate, the 
 whole character of streams and forests, the agricultural products, 
 the cropping systems now in practice, the conditions of highways, 
 markets, facilities in the way of transportation and communication, 
 the institutions and organizations, the adaptability of the neighbor- 
 hood to the establishment of handicrafts and local industries, the 
 general economic and social status of the people and the character of 
 
50 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY UFE COMMISSION. 
 
 the people themselves, natural attractions and disadvantages, his- 
 torical data, and a collation of community experience. This would 
 result in the collection of local fact, on which we could proceed to 
 build a scientifically and economically sound country life. 
 
 Beginnings have been made in several states in the collection of 
 these geographical facts, mostly in connection with the land-grant 
 colleges. The United States Department of Agriculture is begin- 
 ning by means of soil surveys, study of farm management, and other 
 investigations, and its demonstration work in the Southern States is 
 in part of this character. These agencies are beginning the study 
 of conditions in the localities themselves. It is a kind of extension 
 work. All these agencies are doing good work ; but we have not yet, 
 as a people, come to an appreciation of the fact that we must take 
 account of stock in detail as well as in the large. We are working 
 mostly around the edges of the problem and feeling of it. The larger 
 part of the responsibility of this work must lie with the different 
 States, for they should develop their internal resources. The whole 
 work should be coordinated, however, by federal agencies acting with 
 the States, and some of the larger relations will need to be studied 
 directly by the Federal Government itself. We must come to a 
 thoroughly, nationalized movement to understand what property we 
 have and what uses may best be made of it. This in time will call for 
 large appropriations by State and nation. 
 
 In estimating our natural resources we must not forget the value 
 of scenery. This is a distinct asset, and it will be more recognized 
 as time goes on. It will be impossible to develop a satisfactory coun- 
 try life without conserving all the beauty of landscape and develop- 
 ing the people to the point of appreciating it. In parts of the East 
 a regular system of parking the open country of the entire State is 
 already begun, constructing the roads, preserving the natural fea- 
 tures, and developing the latent beauty in such a way that the whole 
 country becomes part of one continuing landscape treatment. This 
 in no way interferes with the agricultural utilization of the land, but 
 rather increases it. The scenery is, in fact, capitalized, so that it 
 adds to the property values and contributes to local patriotism and to 
 the thrift of the commonwealth. 
 
 8. Need of a Redirected Education. 
 
 The subject of paramount importance in our correspondence and 
 in the hearings is education. In every part of the United States there 
 seems to be one mind, on the part of those capable of judging, on 
 the necessity of redirecting the rural schools. There is no such 
 unanimity on any other subject. It is remarkable with what simi- 
 larity of phrase the subject has been discussed in all parts of the 
 country before the Commission. Everywhere there is a demand that 
 education have relation to living, that the schools should express the 
 daily life, and that in the rural districts they should educate by means 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY UFE COMMISSION. 51 
 
 °Lf^''^."^*"''^ ^°^ <=°"'itn' life subjects. It is recognized that all 
 difficulties resolve themselves in the end into a question of education. 
 
 Ihe schools are held to be largely responsible for ineffective farm- 
 ing, lack of ideals, and the drift to town. This is not because the rural 
 schools, as a whole, are declining, but because they are in a state of 
 arrested development and have not yet put themselves in consonance 
 with all the recently changed conditions of life. The very forces 
 that have built up the city and town school have caused the neglect 
 of the country school. It is probable that the farming population will 
 willingly support better schools as soon as it becomes convinced that 
 the schools will really be changed in such a way as to teach persons 
 how to live. 
 
 The country communities are in need of social centers— places 
 where persons may naturally meet, and where a real neighborhood 
 interest exists. There is difference of opinion as to where this 
 center should be, some persons thinking it should be in the town 
 or village, others the library, others the church or school or grange 
 hall. It is probable that more than one social center should develop 
 in large and prosperous communities. Inasmuch as the school is 
 supported by public funds, and is therefore an institution connected 
 with the government of the community, it should form a natural 
 organic center. If the school develops such a center, it must concern 
 itself directly with the interests of the people. It is difficult to make 
 people understand what this really means, for school-teaching is 
 burdened with tradition. The school must express the best coopera- 
 tion of all social and economic forces that make for the welfare of 
 the community. Merely to add new studies will not meet the need, 
 although it may break the ground for new ideas. The school must be 
 fundamentally redirected, until it becomes a new kind of institution. 
 This will require that the teacher himself be a part of the community 
 and not a migratory factor. 
 
 The feeling that agriculture must color the work of rural public 
 schools is beginning to express itself in the interest in nature study, 
 in the introduction of classes in agriculture in high schools and else- 
 where, and in the establishment of separate or special schools to 
 teach farm and home subjects. These agencies will help to bring 
 about the complete reconstruction of which we have been speaking. 
 It is specially important that we make the most of the existing public- 
 school system, for it is this very system that should serve the real 
 needs of the people. The real needs of the people are not alone the 
 arts by which they make a living, but the whole range of their cus- 
 tomary activities. As the home is the center of our civilization, so the 
 home subjects should be the center of every school. 
 
 The most necessary thing now to be done for public school educa- 
 tion in terms of country life is to arouse all the people to the necessity 
 of such education, to coordinate the forces that are beginning to 
 operate, and to project the work beyond the schools for youth into 
 
52 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 continuation schools for adults. The schools must represent and 
 express the community in which they stand, although, of course, 
 they should not be confined to the community. They should teach 
 health and sanitation, even if it is necessary to modify the customary 
 teaching of physiology. The teaching should be visual, direct, and 
 applicable. Of course the whole tendency of the schools will be 
 ethical if they teach the vital subjects truthfully; but particular care 
 should be taken that they stand for the morals of the pupils and o^ 
 the communities. 
 
 We find a general demand for federal encouragement in educa- 
 tional propaganda, to be in some way cooperative with the States. 
 The people realize that the incubus of ignorance and inertia is so 
 heavy and so widespread as to constitute a national danger, and that 
 it should be removed as rapidly as possible. It will be increasingly 
 necessary for the national and state governments to cooperate to 
 bring about the results that are needed in agricultural and other indus- 
 trial education. 
 
 The consideration of the educational problem raises the greatest 
 single question that has come before the Commission, and which the 
 Commission has to place before the American people. Education 
 has now come to have vastly more significance than the mere estab- 
 lishing and maintaining of schools. The education motive has been 
 taken into all kinds of work with the people, directly in their homes 
 and on their farms, and it reaches mature persons as well as youths. 
 Beyond and behind all educational work there must be an aroused 
 intelligent public sentiment; to make this sentiment is the most im- 
 portant work immediately before us. The whole country is alive with 
 educational activity. While this activity may all be good, it neverthe- 
 less needs to be directed and correlated, and all the agencies should 
 be more or less federated. 
 
 The arousing of the people must be accomplished in terms of their 
 daily lives or of their welfare. For the country people this means 
 that it must be largely in terms of agriculture. Some of the colleges 
 of agriculture are now doing this kind of work effectively, although 
 on a pitiably small scale as compared with the needs. This is exten- 
 sion work, by which is meant all kinds of educational effort directly 
 with the people, both old and young, at their homes and on their 
 farms; it comprises all educational work that is conducted away from 
 the institution and for those who can not go to schools and colleges. 
 The best extension work now proceeding in this country — if measured 
 by the effort to reach the people in their homes and on their own 
 ground — is that coming from some of the colleges of agriculture and 
 the United States Department of Agriculture. Within the last five or 
 ten years the colleges of agriculture have been able to attack the 
 problem of rural life in a new way. This extension work includes 
 such efforts as local agricultural surveys, demonstrations on farms, 
 nature study, and other work in schools, boys' and girls' clubs of many 
 
REPORT OF'^HE country LIFE COMMISSION. 53 
 
 kinds, crop organizations, redirection of rural societies, reading clubs 
 library extension, lectures, traveling schools, farmers' institutes in- 
 spections of herds, barns, crops, orchards, and farms, publications 
 of many kinds, and similar educational effort directly in the field. 
 
 To accomplish these ends, we suggest the establishment of a nation- 
 wide extension work. The first, or original, work of the agricultural 
 branches of the land-grant colleges was academic in the old sense; 
 later there was added the great field of experiment and research; 
 there now should be added the third coordinate branch, comprising 
 extension work, without which no college of agriculture can ade- 
 quately serve its State. It is to the extension department of these 
 colleges, if properly conducted, that we must now look for the most 
 effective rousing of the people on the land. 
 
 In order that all public educational work in the United States may 
 be adequately studied and guided, we also recommend that the United 
 States Bureau of Education be enlarged and supported in such a way 
 that it will really represent the educational activities of the nation. 
 becoming a clearing house, and a collecting, distributing, and investi- 
 gating organization. It is now wholly inadequate to accomplish these 
 ends. In a country in which education is said to be the national re- 
 ligion, this condition of our one expressly federal educational agency 
 is pathetic. The good use already made of the small appropriations 
 provided for the bureau shows clearly that it can render a most im- 
 portant service if sufficient funds are made available for its use. 
 
 9. Necessity of Working Together. 
 
 It is of the greatest consequence that the people of the open country 
 should learn to work together, not only for the purpose of forward- 
 ing their economic interests and of competing with other men who 
 are organized, but also to develop themselves and to establish an 
 effective community spirit. This effort should be a genuinely cooper- 
 ative or common effort in which all the associated persons have a voice 
 in the management of the organization and share proportionately 
 in its benefits. Many of the so-called "cooperative" organizations are 
 really not such, for they are likely to be controlled in the interest 
 of a few persons rather than for all, and with no thought of the good 
 of the community at large. Some of the societies that are cooperative 
 in name are really strong centralized corporations or stock companies 
 that have no greater interest in the welfare of the patrons than other 
 corporations have. 
 
 At present the cooperative spirit works itself out chiefly in busi- 
 ness organizations devoted to selling and buying. So far as possible, 
 these business organizations should have more or less social uses ; but 
 even if the organizations can not be so used, the growth of the coop- 
 erative spirit should of itself have great social value, and it should 
 give the hint for other cooperating groups. There is great need of 
 associations in which persons cooperate directly for social results. 
 
54 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE § ^MISSION. 
 
 The primary cooperation is social and should arise in the home, be- 
 tween all members of the family. 
 
 The associations that have an educational purpose are very numer- 
 ous, such as the common agricultural societies and clubs devoted to 
 stock raising, fruit growing, grain growing, poultry keeping, flori- 
 culture, bee culture, and the like, mostly following the lines of occu- 
 pation. These are scarcely truly cooperative, since they usually do 
 not effect a real organization to accomplish a definite end, and they 
 may meet only once or twice a year ; they hold conventions, but usual- 
 ly do not maintain a continuous activity. These societies are of the 
 greatest benefit, however, and they have distinct social value. No 
 doubt a great many of them could be so reorganized or developed as 
 to operate continuously throughout the year and become truly coop- 
 erative in effort, thereby greatly increasing their influence and im- 
 portance. 
 
 A few great farmers' organizations have included in their declara- 
 tions of purposes the whole field of social, educational, and economic 
 work. Of such, of national scope, are Patrons of Husbandry and the 
 Farmers' Union. These and similar large societies are effective in 
 proportion as they maintain local branches that work toward specific 
 ends in their communities. 
 
 While there are very many excellent agricultural cooperative or- 
 ganizations of many kinds, the farmers nearly everywhere complain 
 that there is still a great dearth of association that really helps them 
 in buying and selling and developing their communities. Naturally 
 the effective cooperative groups are in the most highly developed com- 
 munities ; the general farmer is yet insufficiently helped by the socie- 
 ties. The need is not so much for a greater number of societies as 
 for a more complete organization within them and for a more con- 
 tinuous active work. 
 
 Farmers seem to be increasingly feeling the pressure of the organ- 
 ized interests that sell to them and buy from them. They complain 
 of business understandings or agreements between all dealers, from 
 the wholesaler and jobber to the remote country merchants, that pre- 
 vent farmers and their organizations from doing an independent busi- 
 ness. 
 
 The greatest pressure on the farmer is felt in regions of undi- 
 versified one-crop farming. Under such conditions he is subject to 
 great risk of crop failure; his land is soon reduced in productiveness; 
 he usually does not raise his home supplies, and is therefore depend- 
 ent on the store for his living, and his crop, being a staple and pro- 
 duced in enormous quantities, is subject to world prices and to specu- 
 lation, so that he has no personal market. In the exclusive cotton 
 and wheat regions the hardships of the farmer and the monotony of 
 rural life are usually very marked. Similar conditions are likely to 
 obtain in large-area stock ranging, hay raising, tobacco growing, and 
 the like. In such regions great discontent is likely to prevail and 
 
REPORT 6 ..HE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 55 
 
 economic heresies to breed. The remedy is diversification in farming 
 on one hand and organization on the other. 
 
 The Commission has found many organizations that seem to be 
 satisfactorily handhng the transporting, distributing, and marketing 
 of farm products. They are often incorporated stock companies, in 
 which the cooperators have the spur of money investment to hold 
 them to their mutual obligations. In nearly all cases the most suc- 
 cessful organizations are in regions that are strongly dominated by 
 similar products, as fruit, dairy, grain, or live stock. 
 
 Two principles may be applied in these business societies: In one 
 class the organization is in the nature of a combination, and attempts 
 to establish prices and perhaps to control the production: in the other 
 class the organization seeks its results by studying and understanding 
 the natural laws of trade and taking advantage of conditions and reg- 
 ulating such evils as may arise, in the same spirit as a merchant 
 studies them, or as a good farmer understands the natural laws of 
 fertility. 
 
 With some crops, notably cotton and the grains, it is advantageous 
 to provide cooperative warehouses in which the grower may hold his 
 products till prices rise, and also in which scientific systems of grad- 
 ing of the products may be introduced. In certain fruit regions 
 community packing houses have proved to be of the greatest benefit. 
 In the meantime the cotton or grain in the warehouse becomes, for 
 business purposes, practically as good as cash (subject to charge for 
 insurance) in the form of negotiable warehouse receipts. This form 
 of handling products is now coming to be well understood, and, com- 
 bined with good systems of farming, it is capable of producing most 
 satisfactory results. 
 
 Organized effort must come as the voluntary expression of the peo- 
 ple; but it is essential that every State should enact laws that will 
 stimulate and facilitate the organization of such cooperative associa- 
 tions, care being taken that the working of the laws be not cumber- 
 some. These laws should provide the associations with every legal 
 facility for the transaction of the business in which they are to en- 
 gage. They are as important to the State as other organizations of 
 capital and should be fostered with as much care, and their members 
 and patrons be adequately safeguarded. It is especially important 
 that these organizations be granted all the powers and advantages 
 given to corporations or other aggregations of capital, to the end that 
 they may meet these corporations on equal legal ground when it is 
 necessary to compete with them. Such laws should not only protect 
 the cooperative societies, but should provide means that will allow 
 the societies to regulate themselves, so that they may be safeguarded 
 from becoming merely commercial organizations through the pur- 
 chase or control of the stock by dealers in the products that they 
 handle. It is not unlikely that federal laws may also be needed to 
 encourage cooperation. 
 
56 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE (fOJCMISSION. 
 
 Organized associative effort may take on special forms. It is prob- 
 able, for example, that cooperation to secure and to employ farm labor 
 would be helpful. It may have for its object the securing of tele- 
 phone service (which is already contributing miich to country life, 
 and is capable of contributing much more), the extension of electric 
 lines, the improvement of highways, and other forms of betterment. 
 Particular temporary needs of the neighborhood may be met by com- 
 bined effort, and this may be made the beginning of a broader per- 
 manent organization. 
 
 A method of cooperative credit would undoubtedly prove of great 
 service. In other countries credit associations loan money to theij 
 members on easy terms and for long enough time to cover the mak- 
 ing of a crop, demanding security not on the property of the borrower 
 but on the moral warranty of his character and industry. The 
 American farmer has needed money less, perhaps, than land workers 
 in some other countries, but he could be greatly benefited by a differ- 
 ent system of credit, particularly where the lien system is still in 
 operation. It would be the purpose of such systems, aside from pro- 
 viding loans on the best terms and with the utmost freedom consistent 
 with safety, to keep as much as possible of the money in circulation in 
 the open country where the values originate. The present banking 
 systems tend to take the money out of the open country and to loan 
 it in town or to town-centered interests. We suggest that the national- 
 bank examiners be instructed to determine, for a series of years, what 
 proportion of the loanable funds of rural banks is loaned to the 
 farmers in their localities, in order that data may be secured on this 
 question. All unnecessary drain from the open country should be 
 checked, in order that the country may be allowed and encouraged 
 to develop itself. 
 
 It is essential that all rural organizations, both social and economic, 
 should develop into something like a system, or at least that all the 
 efforts be known and studied by central authorities. There should 
 be, in other words, a voluntary union of associative effort, from the 
 localities to the counties. States, and the nation. Manifestly, gov- 
 ernment in the United States can not manage the work of voluntary 
 rural organization. Personal initiative and a cultivated cooperative 
 spirit are the very core of this kind of work; yet both State and 
 National Government, as suggested, might exert a powerful influence 
 toward the complete organization of rural affairs. 
 
 Steps should be taken whereby the United States Department of 
 Agriculture, the State departments of agriculture, the land-grant col- 
 leges and experiment stations, the United States Bureau of Education, 
 the normal and other schools, shall cooperate in a broad programme 
 for aiding country life in such a way that each institution may do its 
 appropriate work at the same time that it aids all the others and 
 contributes to the general effort to develop a new rural social life. 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 57 
 
 10. The Country Church. 
 This Commission has no desire to give advice to the institutions of 
 rehgion nor to attempt to dictate their policies. Yet any considera- 
 tion of the problem of rural life that leaves out of account the func- 
 tion and the possibilities of the church, and of related institutions, 
 would be grossly inadequate. This is not only because in the last 
 analysis the country life problem is a moral problem, or that in the 
 best development of the individual the great motives and results are 
 religious and spiritual, but because from the pure sociological point 
 of view the church is fundamentally a necessary institution in 
 country life. In a peculiar way the church is intimately related to 
 the agricultural industry. The work and the life of the farm are 
 closely bound together, and the institutions of the country react on 
 that life and on one another more intimately than they do in the 
 city. This gives tne rural church a position of peculiar difficulty 
 and one of unequaled opportunity. The time has arrived when the 
 church must take a larger leadership, both as an institution and 
 through its pastors, in the social reorganization of rural life. 
 
 The great spiritual needs of the country community just at present 
 are higher personal and community ideals. Rural people need to 
 have an aspiration for the highest possible development of the com- 
 munity. There must be an ambition on the part of the people them- 
 selves constantly to progress in all of those things that make the 
 community life wholesome, satisfying, educative, and complete. 
 There must be a desire to develop a permanent environment for the 
 country boy and girl, of which they will become passionately fond. 
 As a pure matter of education, the countryman must learn to love 
 the country and to have an intellectual appreciation of it. More 
 than this, the spiritual nature of the individual must be kept 
 thoroughly alive. His personal ideals of conduct and ambition must 
 be cultivated. 
 
 Of course the church has an indispensable function as a con- 
 servator of morals. But from the social point of view, it is to hold 
 aloft the torch of personal and community idealism. It must be a 
 leader in the attempt to idealize country life. 
 
 The country church doubtless faces special difficulties. As a rule, 
 it is a small field. The country people are conservative. Ordinarily 
 the financial support is inadequate. Often there are too many 
 churches in a given community. Sectarian ideas divide unduly and 
 unfortunately. While there are many rural churches that are effect- 
 ive agents in the social evolution of their communities, it is true that 
 as a whole the country church needs new direction and to assume new 
 responsibilities. Few of the churches in the open country are pro- 
 vided with resident pastors. They are supplied mostly from the 
 neighboring towns and by a representative of some single denomina- 
 tion. Sometimes the pulpit is supplied by pastors of different de- 
 nominations in turn. . Without a resident minister the church work 
 
58 REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 is likely to be confined chiefly to services once a week. In many 
 regions there^ is little personal visitation except in cases of sickness, 
 death, marriage, christening, or other special circumstance. The 
 Sunday school is sometimes continued only during the months of 
 settled weather. There are young people's organizations, to some 
 extent, but they are often inactive or irregular. The social activity 
 of the real country church is likely to be limited to the short informal 
 meetings before and after services and to suppers that are held for 
 the purpose of raising funds. Most of the gatherings are designed 
 for the church people themselves rather than for the community. 
 The range of social influence is therefore generally restricted to the 
 families particularly related to the special church organization, and 
 there is likely to be no sense of social responsibility for the entire 
 community. 
 
 In the rural villages there are generally several or a number of 
 churches of different denominations, one or more of which are likely 
 to be weak. The salaries range from $400 to $1,000. Among Prot- 
 estants there is considerable denominational competition and conse- 
 quent jealousy or even conflict. United efforts for cooperative activity 
 is likely to be perfunctory rather than sympathetic and vital. The 
 pastor is often overloaded with station work in neighboring commu- 
 nities. 
 
 It is not the purpose of the Commission to discuss the difficulties of 
 the rural church at this time nor to present a solution for them, but 
 in the interests of rural betterment it seems proper to indicate a few 
 considerations that seem to be fundamental. 
 
 1. In New England and in some other parts of the North the 
 tremendous drawback of denominational rivalry is fairly well rec- 
 ognized and active measures for church federation are well under 
 way. This does not mean organic union. It means cooperation for 
 the purpose of trying to reach and influence every individual in the 
 community. It means that "some church is to be responsible for 
 every square mile." When a community is overchurched, it means 
 giving up the superfluous church or churches. When a church is 
 needed, it means a friendly agreement on the particular church to be 
 placed there. This movement for federation is one of the most prom- 
 ising in the whole religious field, because it does not attempt to break 
 down denominational influence or standards of thought. It puts 
 emphasis, not on the church itself, but on the work to be done by the 
 church for all men — churched and unchurched. It is possible that 
 all parts of the country are not quite ready for federation, although 
 a national church federation movement is under way. But it hardly 
 seems necessary to urge that the spirit of cooperation among churches, 
 the diminution of sectarian strife, the attempt to reach the entire 
 community, must become the guiding principles everywhere if the 
 rural church is long to retain its hold. 
 
 The rural church must be more completely than now a social center. 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LJFE COMMISSION. 59 
 
 This means not so mucti a place for holding social gatherings, al- 
 though this is legitimate and desirable, but a place whence con- 
 stantly emanates influendes that go to build up the moral and spirit- 
 ual tone of the whole community. The country church of the future 
 is to be held responsible for the great ideals of community life as 
 well as of personal character. 
 
 2. There should be a large extension of the work of the Young 
 Men's Christian Association into the rural communities. There is 
 apparently no other way to grip the hearts and lives of the boys ahd 
 young men of the average country neighborhood. This association 
 must regard itself as an ally of the church, with a special function 
 and a special field. 
 
 3. We must have a complete conception of the country pastorate. 
 The country pastor must be a community leader. He must know 
 the rural problems. He must have S3mipathy with rural ideals and 
 aspirations. He must love the country. He must know country life, 
 the difficulties that the farmer has to face in his business, some of the 
 great scientific revelations made in behalf of agriculture, the great 
 industrial forces at work for the making or the unmaking of the 
 farmer, the fundamental social problems of the life of the open 
 country. 
 
 Consequently, the rural pastor must have special training for his 
 work. Ministerial colleges and theological seminaries should unite 
 with agricultural colleges in this preparation of the country clergy- 
 man. There should be better financial support for the clergyman. 
 In many country districts it is pitiably small. There is little incen- 
 tive for a man to stay-in a country parish, and yet this residence is 
 just what must come about. Perhaps it will require an appeal to the 
 heroic young men,, but we must have more men going into the coun- 
 try pastorates, not as a means of getting a foothold, but as a perma- 
 nent work. The clergyman has an excellent chance for leadership 
 in the country. In some sections he is still the dominating person- 
 ality. But everywhere he may become one of the great community 
 leaders. He is the key to the country church problem. 
 
 II. Personal Ideals and Local Leadership. 
 
 Everything resolves itself at the end into a question of personality. 
 Society or government can not do much for country life unless there 
 is voluntary response in the personal ideals of those who live in the 
 country. Inquiries by the Commission, for example, find that one rea- 
 son for the shift from the country to town is the lack of ideals in many 
 country homes and even the desire of the countryman and his wife 
 that the children do not remain on the farm. The obligation to keep 
 as many youths on the farms as are needed there rests on the home 
 more than on the school or on society. 
 
 It is often said that better rural institutions and more attractive 
 homes and yards will necessarily follow an increase in profitableness 
 
6o REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 
 
 of farming; but, as a matter of fact, high ideals may be quite inde- 
 pendent of income, although they can not be realized without suffi- 
 cient income to provide good support. Many of the most thrifty 
 farmers are the least concerned about the character of the home and 
 school and church. One often finds the most attractive and useful 
 farm homes in the difficult farming regions. On the other hand, 
 some of the most prosperous agricultural regions possess most unat- 
 tractive farm premises and school buildings. Many persons who 
 complain most loudly about their incomes are the last to improve 
 their home conditions when their incomes are increased; they are 
 more likely to purchase additional land and thereby further empha- 
 size the barrenness of home life. Land hunger is naturally strongest 
 in the most prosperous regions. 
 
 When an entire region or industry is not financially prosperous, it 
 is impossible, of course, to develop the best personal and community 
 ideals. In the cotton-growing States, for example, the greatest social 
 and mental development has been apparent in the years of high 
 prices for cotton; and the same is true in exclusive wheat regions, 
 hay regions, and other large areas devoted mainly to one industry. 
 
 While it is of course necessary that the farmer receive good remu- 
 neration for his efforts, it is nevertheless true that the money consid- 
 eration is frequently too exclusively emphasized in farm homes. 
 This consideration often obscures every other interest, allowing little 
 opportunity for the development of the intellectual, social, and moral 
 qualities. The open country abounds in men and women of the finest 
 ideals ; yet it is necessary to say that other ends in life than the mak- 
 ing of more money and the getting of more goods are much needed in 
 country districts; and that this, more than ansrthing else, will correct 
 the unsatisfying nature of rural life. 
 
 Teachers of agriculture have placed too much relative emphasis 
 on the remuneration and production sides of country life. Money 
 hunger is as strong in the open country as elsewhere, and as there are 
 fewer opportunities and demands for the expenditure of this money 
 for others and for society, there often develops a hoarding and a 
 lack of public spirit that is disastrous to the general good. So com- 
 pletely does the money purpose often control the motive that other 
 purposes in farming often remain dormant. The complacent con- 
 tentment in many rural neighborhoods is itself the very evidence of 
 social incapacity or decay. 
 
 It must not be assumed that these deficiencies are to be charged as 
 a fault against the farmer as a group. They are rather to be looked 
 on as evidence of an uncorrelated and unadjusted society. Society is 
 itself largely to blame. The social structure has been unequally 
 developed. The townsman is likely to assume superiority and to 
 develop the town in disregard of the real interests of the open coun- 
 try or even in opposition to them. The city exploits the country; the 
 country does not exploit the city. The press still delights in archaic 
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION. 6l 
 
 cartoons of the farmer. There is as much need of a new attitude 
 on the part of the townsman as on the part of the farmer. 
 
 This leads us to say that the country ideals, while derived largely 
 from the country itself, should not be exclusive; and the same applies 
 to city and village ideals. There should be more frequent social inter- 
 course on equal terms between the people of the country and those of 
 the city or village. This community of interests is being accom- 
 plished to a degree at present, but there is hardly yet the knowledge 
 and sympathy and actual social life that there should be between 
 those who live on the land and those who do not. The business men's 
 organizations of cities could well take the lead in some of this work. 
 The country town in particular has similar interests with the open 
 country about it; but beyond this, all people are bettered and broad- 
 ened by association with those of far different environment. 
 
 We have now discussed some of the forces and agencies that will 
 aid in bringing about a new rural society. The development of the 
 best country life in the United States is seen, therefore, to be largely 
 a question of guidance. The exercise of a wise advice, stimulus, 
 and direction from some central national agency, extending over a 
 series of years, could accomplish untold good, not only for the open 
 country, but for all the people and for our institutions. 
 
 In the communities themselves, the same kind of guidance is 
 needed, operating in good farming, in schools, churches, societies, 
 and all useful public work. The great need everjnvhere is new and 
 young leadership, and the Commission desires to make an appeal to 
 all young men and women who love the open country to consider this 
 field when determining their careers. We need young people of 
 quality, energy, capacity, aspiration, and conviction, who will live 
 in the open country as permanent residents on farms, or as teachers, 
 or in other useful fields, and who, while developing their own business 
 or affairs to the greatest perfection, will still have unselfish interest 
 in the welfare of their communities. The farming country is by 
 no means devoid of leaders, and is not lost or incapable of helping 
 itself, but it has been relatively overlooked by persons who are seek- 
 ing great fields of usefulness. It will be well for us as a people if 
 we recognize the opportunity for usefulness in the o^en country and 
 consider that there is a call for service.. 
 
 L. H. BAILEY. 
 HENRY WALLACE. 
 , KENYON L. BUTTERFIELD. 
 WALTER H. PAGE, 
 GIFFORD PINCHOT, 
 C. S. BARRETT, 
 W. A. BEARD. 
 
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