l life must be developed. The rural community must
be socialized and the country school must really fit for rural life. The
lot of the farm mothers and daughters must be made easier and happier.
Scientific farming must worthily appeal to the boys as a genuine
profession, not a mere matter of luck with the weather, and the farm boy
must no longer be treated as a slave but a partner in the firm.[8]

_The Folly of Exploiting the Country Boy_

An eminent Western lawyer addressing a rural life conference in Missouri a
few weeks ago explained thus his leaving the farm: "When I was a boy on
the farm we were compelled to rise about 4 o'clock every morning. From the
time we got on our clothes until 7:30 we fed the live stock and milked the
cows. Then breakfast. After breakfast, we worked in the field until 11:30,
when, after spending at least a half hour caring for the teams we went to
dinner. We went back to work at 1 o'clock and remained in the field until
7:30 o'clock. After quitting the fields we did chores until 8:30 or 9
o'clock, and then we were advised to go to bed right away so that we would
be able to do a good day's work on the morrow."

No wonder the boy rebelled! This story harks back to the days when a
father owned his son's labor until the boy was twenty-one, and could
either use the boy on his own farm or have him "bound out" for a term of
years for the father's personal profit. Such harsh tactlessness is seldom
found today; but little of it will be found in the new rural
civilization.[9] Country boys must not be exploited if we expect them to
stay in the country as community builders. Many of them will gladly stay
if given a real life chance.

_The City's Dependence upon the Country_

The country is the natural source of supply for the nation. The city has
never yet been self-sustaining. It has always drawn its raw materials and
its population from the open country. The country must continue to produce
the food, the hardiest young men and women, and much of the idealism and
best leadership of the nation. All of these have proven to be indigenous
to country life. Our civilization is fundamentally rural, and the rural
problem is a national problem, equally vital to the city and the whole
country. The cities should remember that they have a vast deal at stake in
the welfare of the rural districts.

The country for centuries got along fairly well without the city, and
could continue to do so; but the city c