Probably the proportion of wheat and flour to total exports will increase in similar ratio for another decade.
What I have said regarding the part which education and organization have played in the advancement of agriculture refers mainly to what has been done for the adult population by Government agencies, voluntary associations of farmers and others, the agricultural press, lectures, and the example of excellent farmers. Not much has been done in the rural schools as yet to educate the children towards aptitudes, inclination, and ability for deriving satisfaction as well as material prosperity from the occupations of rural life. A widespread feeling exists that something more ought to be done to bring rural schools into closer touch with the practical needs of country life. A large number of us believe that the public schools of Canada have played a great part in raising the general level of intelligence to a comparatively high plane. In our appreciation of that, we do not conclude that they are doing all they could do, or all they should do, for the children in rural districts at the present time. The school systems and schools of the towns and cities of the Dominion are unquestionably excellent as compared with those of other countries. The opportunities for education in rural districts in Canada are not more meagre than they are in some other parts of the world, but they are not worthy of Canadians at this time in their history and prosperity.
The neglect of the rural schools has not been from the poverty of the people. Canada is increasing in wealth perhaps faster than any country with a similar proportion of its population depending upon rural employments. The fault has been in the lack of appreciation of the real worth of education to the community. That apathy has left the rural schools in 80 per cent. of the cases in the hands of young women comparatively inexperienced as teachers. There are in round figures some 746,000 children from five to fourteen years of age in the rural districts, and about 450,000 of the same ages
