Medford mail tribune., November 29, 1959, Image 34

The youths meeting in Chicago
this week can do anything from raising
cattle to remodeling furniture
but, best of all, they show
the way to good citizenship
by DR. MMES H. HILTON
Pretioear, lowj State Uaivertity
of Science tad Tecaaotofy
l
TMOSE AMAZON
4-H'er$ all, and the projects earn
ing them the respect of their com
munities: Sylvia Fahrenkrog in
the room she decorated; Billy
Hackman and the corn he grew;
Elwood White and prize toma
toes; Tom Hess and top lamb.
IN Raymond, miss., a girl named Meianie Matthews
and a handful of friends decided more people
ought to go to the polls on election day. So they
tacked up posters, baby-sat, and drove voters to and
from their homes in autos. Dozens of persons who
otherwise might not have voted did so.
In Tipton, Okla., Andrea Seuter made 150 radio
talks and wrote 60 newspaper stories on aspects of
home and community safety. In Clayton, N. M.,
Dwight Walker not only stirred up interest in voter
registration with a series of broadcasts, but also
acted regularly as a student preacher in two mission
churches.
This was good citizenship at its best, and these
youths were among many who won national recog
nition for it last year. More will be honored this
week. For a stirring national convention is about
to begin in Chicago, the 38th annual congress of one
of the most remarkable youth groups in the country
the 4-H Clubs.
To many, 4-H may have connotations of some
kind of homespun, semi-isolated existence on a
farm. Indeed, the group that founded 4-H in 1919
did have rural youth essentially in mind. But times
have changed. The 4-H still serves farm areas but
nearly half of its 2.2 million members now are city
or rural nonfarm youngsters. .
It's amazing what these boys and girls their
ages range from 10 to 21 accomplish. They're
junior leaders in local, state, and national improve
ment efforts. By their dedication to wholesome,
stimulating, educational activity, they're virtually
delinquency-proof. Also, through their drive for
self-improvement, they're builders of a better way
of life at home, whether rural or urban.
Any who have observed 4-ITers (or are 4-H
"alumni" like myself) never cease to marvel at their
ambition and ingenuity. Ronnie Gollehon of House,
N. M., for example, made enough money on 4-H
livestock-raising projects to buy a car and make a
down payment on a farm. Sylvia Fahrenkrog, whose
parents live on a 155-acre farm near Davenport,
Iowa, remodeled some old walnut furniture and
replanned her bedroom and did so well her suite
won a national 4-H home-improvement award and
a featured-exhibit ranking at the Iowa State Fair.
Imagine trying to raise livestock in a metropolis
such as Chicago. Yet several hundred "city" 4-H
youths are doing just that; by special arrangement,
they keep their animals in a restricted corner of the
immense Chicago Stockyards.
Originally the 4-H Clubs were launched as an
extension service by the U. S. Department of
Agriculture, state colleges, and counties. They pro
vided the financial support Now our largest corpor
ations have joined in, contributing hundreds of
thousands of dollars to encourage 4-H work. There
are 4-H'ers in some 40 countries (some under dif
ferent names), all devoted to developing the four
ITs: Head (learning), Heart (character), Hands
(skills), and Health.
Credit for many accomplishments is due 4-H
not the least of them helping spread the miracles of
modern farming. But most often, I think in terms of
its never-failing ability to broaden an individual's
horizons.
Last year, national achievement winner Robert
Etter of Bradford, Mass., revealed how 4-H had led
to his enrolling in a college engineering course he
once worked on an electrical project I well know
its influence in my own case. As a 4-H youth in
Catawba County, N. C, I won a Duroc hog. This
directed my interest into the science of animal hus
bandry, which resulted in my attending four col
leges and choosing education as a career.
Not long ago, someone began listing a few promi
nent Americans who once were 4-H'ers. The group
included Senators Herman Talmadge of Georgia and
the late W. Kerr Scott of North Carolina, former
Governors Raymond Gary of Oklahoma and Dan
Thornton of Colorado, and a number of U. S.
Congressmen.
It also included businessmen in many fields,
journalists, career officials at all levels of govern
ment, doctors (among them the director of Harvard
University's health service), a movie star (Roy
Rogers), a former Mrs. America (Mrs. Carl Deite
meyer of Lincoln, Neb.), and hundreds of educa
tors, including Presidents Ben F. Hilbun of Missis
sippi State. College, Hilton M. Briggs of South
Dakota State, and R. R. Renne of Montana State.
You could only begin to make a complete list of
important "alumni." For the qualities of initiative
and leadership which 4-H activity develops are
required not only by various major institutions ano
organizations, but also for the building of successful
homes and communities which, after all, are the
things that make our nation great
An outstanding Oklahoma 4-H girl probably ex
pressed this best a few years ago. Explaining why
she joined 4-H, she said:
"I knew a high-school girl who belonged to 4-H.
She was the most ideal girl I had ever known. If 4-H
could do for me what it had done for her, I wanted
to be part of it"
Some 20 million Americans have been part of it
And we'll never forget it
4 Family Weekly. November 2. Its