THE LURE OF THE CITY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6871, 15 July 1909, Page 3

THE LURE OF THE CITY.

ONB OF ROOSEVELT’S GREAT ACTS, A LESSON FOB' NEW ZEALAND. Probably the greatest problem o£ tlia *ge is that of making agncolture a more attractive calling and thereby counteracting the lure of the city—to give to the industries of the soil their rightful dignity and importance and providing the mail on the land with some of the privi. leges and social advantages of the citydweller. The" country making the most earnest endeavour- to solve this great problem is the United States of America, end the man who is in the forefront of tho campaign is Theodore Roosevelt, one of the, most rugged and disinterested characters in American history. _ Recently brief reference was made in these tolnmns to tho eventful commission set up by the late American President on “Country Life’’—something of the knowledge gained of it by Mr Edwin Hall, of Auckland, during a visit to tho world centres of agricultural progress. We are cow favoured by Mr Hall with, a more complete account of this great movement. Mr Ball writes:

THE FARMER THE TRUE CITIZEN. Ex-President Roosevelt recently showed a visitor to. the White House a drawing of an old grey-haired, shaggy farmer reading by lamplight, his feet in home, spun stockings resting on a chair; an idyll of the hard-working, earnest pioneer of the forming country; and as the President looked lovingly at the drawing ho said "That's the old boy I’m working for in the White House; I’m working for him all the time. The future of this nation rests with him; he will never ask to have the laws sets aside; he will never use dynamite; he's tho true American.” A MAN OP ACTION.

President Roosevelt did not content himself - with merely talking about the farmer. Shortly before his term of office closed ho appointed a special "Commission on Country Life" to report upon the conditions of tho farm homo. While in Washington I attended a sitting of this commission, at which a number of agricultural experts from all parts of tho States and Canada wore invited to mako suggestions as to the best means to bo adopted to render the farmer's lifo freer from drudgery and to mako it happier and more attractive. The purpose of tho commission was uct to merely help the former to raise better crops, .but to call, his attention to op-

porttxnitics for making « ral m moro efficient and jurai life more deable. The commissioners were requested to take evidence as to how life on the farm can bo kept on the highest level, and where it is not already on that level to be so improved, dignified and bright, ened as to awaken and keep alive the pride and loyalty of the tanners, the farmers’ wives and the farmers bop and girls; and to ascertain how the a«--eiro to live on the farm can bo aroused in the children who are born on. the farm. THE VITAL PROBLEM. President Roosevelt said, that with the single exception of the conservation ot natural resources (which really underlies the problem of rural life), there wa- no other material question ot greater importance before tho American people, and he urged uj>on Congress the necessity of improving by every avail, able means *tho condition of the farming population, as tho problem that was of vital importance, not only to ffie farmer, but to tho whole nation. He said, “Wo hope ultimately to double the average yield of wheat j>er acre*; it will bo a great achievement, but it is even more important to double the desirability, comfort, and standing of the farmer’s life."

Dean L. H. Bailey presided at the meeting I attended, and gave an outline of the objects and methods adopted by the commission. On my return to New Zealand I wrote to America for fuller information about the Country Life inquiry, and have received details of the reports, which are interesting to New Zealanders who are facing the same XH’oblems. THE PROBLEM ANSWERED.

The commission found that while in a general way the American farmer was never more prosperous or better off than he is to-day, ‘‘agriculture is not commercially as profitable as it is entitled to be, considering the labour and energy that the farmer expends and the risks he assumes," and "the* social conditions in tlio open country are ■ far short of tteir possibilities." The-leading specific reasons for this condition are stated to be: “A lack of knowledge on the part of farmers of the exact agricultural 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 established business systems and interests, preventing him from securing adequate returns for his products. "Lack of good highway facilities. "The widespread continuing depletion of soils, with the injurious effect on rural life. “A general need of new and active leadership/’’ The three great, general, and immediate needs of country life, as summarised by the President from the findings of the commission, are; —• (1) Effective co-operation • among farto put them on a level with the organised interests with which they do business, (2) A new kind of schools in the country, which shall teach the children as much outdoors as indoors, and perhaps J ? ore f.f o "that they will prepare for country life, and not, as at present, mainly for life in the town. (3) 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 he added better sanitation; for easily preventable diseases hold several million country peoP the slavery of continuous ill 'health. EDUCATION THE ESSENTIAL, summing up, the commission states that the subject of paramount importance as developed by the inquiries of the commission is education. Everywhere there is a demand that education shall have more relation to living, that the schools should express the daily life, and that in the ruraf distucts they should educate by means of agriculture and country life subjects. i.f^r°E imiS ! lon r the r efore suggests the establishment of nation-wide, extension work,_ the • investigation of' agricultural conditions on a comprehensive plan under Government leadership, and the holding pt conferences to unite the agricultural organisations. ■ ■