=Child Labor.=--A good child-labor law is absolutely essential to the welfare of the children for whom it has been enacted; nevertheless, there has been a great omission in not providing that idle children shall do some work. Even in large cities there are probably more children who do not work enough than there are who are made to work too hard. In our zeal we sometimes forbid children to work, when some work would be the very best thing for them. It is true that on the farm as well as in the factory ignorant and mercenary parents make dollars out of the sweat of their children, when these should be going to school or engaged in physical and mental recreation and development. It is unfortunate that society is not able to see to it, that, as in Plato"s Republic, every child and every person engage in the work or study for which he is best fitted, and to the extent that is best for him. Then the hundreds of thousands of children who are idling would be engaged in some kind of occupation, and those who are working too hard would be given lighter tasks; and all would have the privilege of an appropriate education.
=The Finest Life on Earth.=--In view of such circ.u.mstances and opportunities, life in the country should be, and _could be made_, the best and most complete life possible to a human being. Country life is the best cradle of the race. To have a good home and rear a family in the heart of a great city is well-nigh impossible for the average laboring man. The struggle for existence is too fierce and the opportunity, in childhood and youth, for self-expression and initiative is too meager. The environment is too vast, complex, and overwhelming, with nothing worth while for the child to do. "Individuals may stand, but generations will slip" on such an inclined plane of life. From this point of view it can be truly said, we think, that "G.o.d made the country while man made the town."
The real, vital possibilities of country life are without number. The surface attractions of the city are most alluring. A focusing of the public mind upon the problem, its _pros_ and _cons_, will, it is to be hoped, turn the scales without delay in favor of country life and its substantial benefits.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following bibliography is submitted as affording information and suggestive helps to those who are interested in the problems herein discussed. Although the books and references have been selected with care, it is not to be inferred that the list includes any considerable portion of the vast and still increasing output of literature in this field of investigation. But it will prove to be a fairly comprehensive list from which the reader may select such articles or books as make a favorable appeal to him. The works referred to are all of recent date, and express the current trend of thought upon the problems discussed in this little volume.
BOOKS
American Academy of Political and Social Science. Philadelphia, 1912.
Vol. XL, No. 129, "Country Life": b.u.t.terfield, "Rural Sociology as a College Discipline"; Cance, "Immigrant Rural Communities"; Carver, "Changes in Country Population"; Coulter, "Agricultural Laborers"; Davenport, "Scientific Farming"; Dixon, "Rural Home"; Eyerly, "Cooperative Movements among Farmers"; Foght, "The Country School"; Gillette, "Conditions and Needs of Country Life"; Gray, "Southern Agriculture"; Hartman, "Village Problems"; Hamilton, "Agricultural Fairs"; Henderson, "Rural Police"; Hibbard, "Farm Tendency"; Kates, "Rural Conferences"; Lewis, "Tramp Problem"; Marquis, "The Press"; Mumford, "Education for Agriculture"; Parker, "Good Roads"; Pearson, "Chautauquas"; Roberts and Israel, "Y.M.C.A."; Scudder, "Rural Recreation"; True, "The Department of Agriculture"; Van Norman, "Conveniences"; Watrous, "Civic Art"; Washington, B.
T., "The Rural Negro Community"; Wilson, "Social Life"; Wells, "Rural Church".
Bailey, L. H.: _The Country Life Movement in the U. S._ (1912) 220 pp.
Macmillan Co., New York. _Cyclopedia of American Agriculture._ 4 vols. $20.00. Macmillan Co., New York. _The State and the Farmer._ (1911) 177 pp. Macmillan Co., New York. _The Training of Farmers._ (1909) 263 pp. Century Co., New York.
Betts, George H.: _New Ideals in Rural Schools._ (1913) 127 pp. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.
Brown, H. A.: _Readjustment of a Rural High School to the Needs of a Community._ (1912) Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 20.
Buell, Jennie: _One Woman"s Work for Farm Women._ 50c. Whitcomb & Barrows, Boston.
Burnham, Ernest: _Two Types of Rural Schools._ (1912) 129 pp. Teachers College, Columbia, New York.
b.u.t.terfield, K. L.: _Chapters in Rural Progress._ $1.00. Univ. of Chicago Press. _The Country Church and the Rural Problem._ (1911) 165 pp. Univ. of Chicago Press.
Carney, Mabel: _Country Life and the Country School._ (1912) 405 pp.
Row, Peterson & Co., Chicago.
Conference on Rural Education--_Proceedings._ (1913) 45 pp. Wright & Potter, Boston.
Coulter, John Lee: _Cooperation Among Farmers._ (1911) 75c. Sturgis & Walton Co., New York.
Cubberly, E. P.: _The Improvement of the Rural School._ (1912) 75 pp.
Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. _Rural Life and Education._ Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.
Curtis, Henry S.: _Play and Recreation for the Open Country._ (1914) 265 pp. Ginn & Co., Boston.
Davenport, Mrs. E.: _Possibilities of the Country Home._ (Bulletin.) University of Illinois, Urbana.
Dodd, Helen C.: _The Healthful Farm House; by a Farmer"s Wife._ (1911) 69 pp. Whitcomb & Barrows, New York.
Eggleston, J. D., and Bruere, R. W.: _The Work of the Rural School._ (1913) 287 pp. Harpers.
Fiske, G. W.: _The Challenge of the Country._ (1912) 283 pp. a.s.sociation Press, New York.
Foght, H. W.: _The American Rural School._ (1910) 361 pp. Macmillan Co., New York.
F. T.: _The Country School of To-morrow._ (1913) 15 pp. General Education Board, New York.
Gillette, J. M.: _Constructive Rural Sociology._ (1913) 301 pp. Sturgis & Walton, New York.
Haggard, H. R.: _Rural Denmark and its Lessons._ (1911) $2.25. Longmans, Green & Co., New York.
Hutchinson, F. K.: _Our Country Life._ (1912) 316 pp. A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago.
Kern, O. J.: _Among Country Schools._ (1906) 366 pp. Ginn & Co., Boston.
Macdonald, N. C.: _The Consolidation of Rural Schools in North Dakota._ (1913) 35 pp. State Board of Education, Bismarck, N. D.
McKeever, Wm. A.: _Farm Boys and Girls._ (1912) 326 pp. Macmillan Co., New York.
Monahan, A. C.: _The Status of Rural Education in the U. S._ Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C.
Page, L. W.: _Roads, Paths, and Bridges._ (1912) $1.00. Sturgis & Walton Co., New York.
Pennsylvania Rural Progress a.s.sociation: _Proceedings, Rural Life Conference._ (1912) 227 pp. Julius Smith, Secretary, Pennsdale, Pa.
Plunkett, Sir Horace C.: _Rural Problem in the U. S._ (1910) 174 pp.
Report of National Commission on Rural Life. Doc. No. 705. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.
Schmidt, C. C.: _Consolidation of Schools._ University of North Dakota.
Seerley, H. H.: _The Country School._ (1913) 218 pp. Scribner"s Sons, New York. _Rural School Education._ (1912) 84 pp. University of Texas.
Wray, Angelina: _Jean Mitch.e.l.l"s School._ $1.00. Public School Pub. Co., Bloomington, Ind.
ARTICLES IN REPORTS AND PERIODICALS
Allman, L. J.: _Teachers for Rural Schools._ Report, N. E. A. (1910) pp.
280 and 575.
Bailey, L. H.: _Why Boys Leave the Farm._ Century, 72: 410-16 (July, 1906).
Barnes, F. R.: _Present Defects in the Rural Schools._ Report N. D. E.
A. (1909) pp. 259-266.
Bruere, Martha Bensley: _The Farmer and His Wife._ Good Housekeeping Mag., June, 1914, p. 820, New York.
Conference for Education in the South; _Proceedings, 1909._ Foster, Webb, and Parkes, Nashville, Tenn.