It is not wise to stop the education of a boy or a girl with the body,
and to neglect the mind and the spirit. But we have done the equivalent
of that in dealing with farm life. Along the line of better crops we
have done more for the farmer, and have done it more effectively, than
any other Nation. Hut we have done little, and far less than many other
Nations, for better business and better living on the farm. Hereafter we
shall need in State and Nation not only the work of Departments of
Agriculture such as we have now, but we shall need to have added to
their functions such duties as will make them departments of rural
business and rural life as well. Our Departments of Agriculture should
cover the whole field of the farmer's life. It is not enough to touch
only one of the three great country problems, even though that is the
first in time and perhaps in importance.
Of course we all realize that the growing of crops is the great
foundation on which the well-being not only of the farmer but of the
whole Nation must depend. First of all we must have food. But after that
has been achieved, is there nothing more to be done? It seems to me
clear that farmers have as much to gain from good organization as
merchants, plumbers, carpenters, or any of the other trades and
businesses of the United States.
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