The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 17, 1917, Page 10

nt of the , info intere and as business men. Consolidation and the Common Life BY CHARLES G. CARLSON T has been said that no com- munity will long support an institution that does not set its claws deep down into the common life—and hang on. If this be true, we know then that con- solidation will receive support only as it reaches down into the common life —and renders service. Consolidation is no longer an experiment. It is no longer meeting with the doubt and op- position that was common ten Yyears ago. And the reason is that it is really reaching into the common life. Does it pay? Take a look at the faces of these young people in the pictures. Do you see¢ anything peasant- Bke about them? Hardy, bright, in- telligent, up-to-date, good looking Americans, every one of them; efficient mentally and physically. Yet these boys and .girls live out in the open country, eleven miles from town. They were all born in the country. It is a safe guess that they do not see town once in two weeks or a month on the average. Consolidation, however, has brought to them all the advantages of the city schools, including high school work, and many social advantages without the disadvantages involved in city life. After all, the best crop North Dakota has is its boys and girls. Does consolidation pay? Take another look at the pictures. ONLY THE COUNTRY CAN UNDERSTAND ITSELF Barnes County, North Dakota, (where these pictures were taken) is proud of its fifteen consolidated schools and the fact that a majority of these schools are away out in the open country. The open country is the logical place for a school of this type. Space does not permit giving reasons for that statement except to say that when it comes to solving rural probh- lems, the consolidated school located in town will never do much of the solving. The environment is wrong. To solve country problems, you have to “think country” and where do you think country? Surely not in the lit- tle towns. The eyes of the town are cityward and that is where the-eyes of the school children will be also. This is not to imply that all the boys and girls born in the country and attend- ing the open country schools, must re- main in the open country. Perish the thought. It is just as absurd to re- quire city-born children never to stir from the city. Nevertheless, let me re- peat, the town environment is wrong for the fullest and best development of the country child. One important way that consolida- tion “connects up with” the common life, is by giving the boys and girls preparation such as can be used as a basis for an ideal country life. That is done by adequate vocational courses; especially agricultural courses. respect In this agriculture should not be “Nothing peasant-like about these - faces,’ says Charles G. Carlson, prin- cipal of the Noltimier consolidated school, Valley City, N. D., where these girls are getting more than a “coun- try school” education. B = e e e e S s Rural Pupils of the Northwest Enjoy the City’s Advantages in the terms of dollars and The prime object after all is an intelligent class of agricultural citizens. Let the financial part always occupy second place. Agriculture is a big, wonderful subject; life itself. If prop- erly taught, it has cultural value sec- ond only to few other subjects—cul- tural as well as vocational in one. It is true that often the things that are nearest us are the least appreciated. This may be true of agriculture in the taught cents. minds of many boys and girls. How- ever, this idea of the commonness of agriculture can easily be overcome. BIG PROBLEMS LOOM FOR RURAL LADS Of course mention should be made also of the financial side of farm life. I mean, by.the above paragraph; that agriculture as a study should not have too much of the financial in it Economics, and especially farm Athletics go hand in hand with study of farming, and of books in the modern consolidated schools that are becoming popular throughout the West. This is the boys’ basket ball team at a North Dakota consolidated school, 11 miles from town. Shall the Livestock BY HOMER DIXON HERE has been a decrease in the production of meat ani- mals in the United States in the last 16 years with the number of sheep falling from 60,000,000 to about 49,000,000 and the number of beef cattle from 45,000,000 to 39,000,000.” This is from a circular sent out by the food production and conservation committee of Minnesota. This statement makes us feel as if we should hold onto the stock which we have, especially purebred stock, as it is almost certain that there is going to be a good market for purebred stock at the close of the war. Europe has been bled of its stock, according to many writers during the fierce struggle which has been raging, and doubtless some of the greatest blood lines in horses and cattle have had to pay their toll. Western Canada is developing into a great livestock country and North Dakota, Minnesota and Montana are the states to which breeders will go for. their foundation stock when the time comes to replen- ish the depleted herds. It is even likely that buyers will come from across the ocean in an endeavor to buy back some of the blood which has made sections of Europe famous. In view of these facts it seems that breeding stock of every kind should be retained on the farms. Don’t let the high prices of- fered for meat take good breeding stock if you can avoid it. If we are going to make our soil produce to its utmost we will need the fertility fur- nished by the livestock manure. Good pastures are an important considera- tion, because they reduce the cost of producing meat, by eliminating the use of cereals in such great quantities, This applies especially to pork pro- duction. Grow clover with all grain crops whenever this is possible, to help retain the fertility of the soil and to furnish late pastures. Following are some of the recom- mendations sent out by the Minnesota committee on food production and con- servation. “The raising of fall litters of pigs, and whenever possible the leaving of gilts on the farm for fall production. “An increased corn acreage to supply, in addition to the regular feeds, larger amounts of corn by-products. “The retention of the entire lamb crop until spring of 1918 for the sake of the wool ¢tlip and a large mutton return. “The use of ewe lambs for breeding stock where good growth and develop- ment have been made. “Discouragement of the shlppmg of immature animals, especially of beef cattle for slaughter, because such cattle could use a large amount of waste feeds during the coming season. “Discouragement of the purchase of breeding stock from other states, on Emergency To the farmers and seed growers of North Dakota: During the last few Yyears, you have-been making much progress toward freeing your lands from noxious weeds and toward grow- ing farm seeds of high quality to be used on the lands which are cleaned by careful cultivation and crop rota- tion. It would be a step backward if in this emergency you allow your lands to be seeded with any sort of weed infested seed and mixtures of varieties. Some years ago certain counties of the state were short of seed. An semergency existed; county commis- sioners made contracts and furnished seed to farmers, under the seed lien emergency act, which filled whole counties of new land full of wild oats and bad weeds. At this time when the government and all are asking you to sow as much as you can and some of you are short TEN economics, has a place for the finan< cial viewpoint. Why should not the study of economic problems begin when the boy or girl is in the last half of his country high school course. Just as soon as the pupil steps out into the world of work he meets these economic problems. Generally the pupil of high school age is mature enough to figure out why his farmer father gets a third for his products while somebody else grabs off the two- thirds. And there are plenty of other problems along co-operative and grange lines for the youthful mind to dwell upon. Consolidation does another thing for boys and girls and men and women too—it gets them acquainted and helps overcome the isolation of the country, life. Man is by nature gregarious. If he hasn’t the opportunity for social intercourse, he is going to become nar- row and worst of all, suspicious. This suspicion among country folks has done more than anything else to make them misunderstand each other. Farm- ers are like barbed wire, you know; all have their good points. The trouble is that if we are isolated we begin to see only our own good points; the other fellow apparently hasn’t so many. So consolidation brings folks together, especially the young folks;| then lo and behold, the foundation for a new rural civilization is laid just from this meeting. Let me make a plea for the consoli= dated school and parent leagues. There is no agency that can exercise a great- er influence for good in school and community life than a progressive league. It lightens the burdens of the teachers, eliminates friction, brings about good - fellowship, straightens tangles—yes, what can not a live league do? No school can come into its own in the fullest sense of the word without this valuable school auxiliary. Consolidation does reach down into our common life and it will hang on. It is doing, and will continue to do, a world of good for country folk, old and young. Perish? account of the danger of importing dis= eases. y “Greater horse production throughe out the state to meet the present shorte age and demand for good animals. ““The building of silos.” Right here I want to add that the silo is about the only building which should be built this year if the erection of that building calls for a loan. I make this statement because I believe that the silo is necessary to the best interests of economic food production. It will cost little more so far as labor is concerned to fill a silo this year than it has in the past, and the feed- ing value of the silage will be much greater as it will be, compared with $40 shorts and $1.50 corn and with other grains correspondingly high. As soon as silage is all gone the milk flow faJls‘ off, even when there is an ine crease in the grain fed. This is not se true of either clover or grain. Seed Grain of seed, all sorts of agencies- are springing up to provide you with tha.t seed. You alone can protect your purse and your ground. If you wish to protect yourself, you should take care to examine the seed by sample before you buy it, and particularly be- fore you sow it. After you have sowed the seed, you wm probably not be able to get redress. Under the seed law “uncleaned seed” sold for sowing purposes should be labeled ‘“uncleaned seed,” but it is as much your duty to see that it is so labeled as the dealer. or seed- provlding organizations con- tract to deliver seed of the quality a.nd purity which you Specify and as repre- sented by the samples with which they provide you. If you buy just ordinary grain or “uncleaned seed” you will not be in position to complain after you (Continued on page 13) Have the dealer