Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1869-04-01
AGAsGs'a.Ta MI = HORTlCUL
rlKEANU d. AESIlC
ECONOMY.
Why l. Want the BOY. 10 Learn
Farming.

Every pursuit or calling that minis
GERS to The sustcnance, comfort or en-
nyhtenn eat ot m, nklnd is honorable
ind laudable. That is a narrow AMI
essentially false conception w"lch re-
ri. ds III. farmer rs more y b,netacto
han a beneficiary, and stigmat zcs rs
,roncs and dcrmonants all who do not
l,rectiy contribute to the production
md increase of material wealth. The
upright, abe lawyer, the etudious,
,kllul physician, the pious, loving
clergyman, are working men, as truly
and quite rs nobly AS though they
were wood choppers or breckiayers.
lie who, by whatever means, helps to
diminish the fearful aggregate OF ig-
norance, sin and suffering III the world,
and detiis. instead knowledge, virtue
and happiness, is worthy of all honor,
and tar from me be the wish to dis
courage and degrade him. And yet
old it the duty of every father to
look well to the physical and indus
trial training of his sons and daugh-
ters--to see that each Of them is early
Injured to some form OF manual labor,
and thoroughly trained to efficiency in
some pursuit which ministers directly
to the material or physical needs OF
mankind. My :easoLs tor this conv;c-
ton are summed up as follows:
The demand tor intellectual labor
or its products, and even tor mcrcan-
tile capacity is exceedingly caprlcious
In season of commercial prosperity
great city affords employment to
thousands as clerks, book keepers,
teachers OF music, languages, etc., ETC.,
who will nearly al be lett high and
dry Ly the ebb OF tide War, pestll-
encc. 4 bad harvest, q business rcvul-
sion. throws them suddenly out OF en-
ployment, and no merit or excellence
on their part can avert the catastrophe.
would have every one 80 armed and
g Ripped tor the battle Of lite that If
$ .ddcnly endorsed, he can fight on
9 ficientIy aud unilsmayedly OH for
The professions are tearfu.ly over
c crowded. A Western village is half
peoped by doctors, lawyers, and cler.
yymen, who have rushed in ahead OF
the expected flood Of immigration
Like miners liz the Sierra Nevada or
Rocky Mountains, they have scverally
s.aked out their claims, and are wait.
ing Tor others to come in and held
develop and work them to mutual
profit. But while the grass grows, the
steed starves.' Whatever may be
their fortune ten or twenty years
hence-anl events ale constantly IN
tcrposing to blast their sangulne hopes
doctor, lawyer, minister, are often
winning but meagre precarious sup
port tor the present. i connot dig;
to beg l am ashamed. is the complaint
which many would utter if they could
afford to be frank and outspoken.-
Thousands suffer :and stagger on, op-
pressed by want and ever increasing
debt, who would gladly take refuge in
productive industry, it they had been
trained TO familiarity with pitchforks
andplow- handles, they would outgrow
Their present embarrassment il it were
not tor the new doctors, lawyers and
clergymen annually ground out to
compete with them tor practice or
parishes, and whose training is as help
lessly one sided AS their own. would
qualify the professional men who shall
hencetorth be trainei tor broader
and more assured usefulness than that
OF their elder brethren
New York city swarms with hur-
CRY, needy shivering, covering, cring-
my fellow mortals, all in eager, i'm
ploring, hopeless quest of something
to do. 10 the reproach Of what pass
es tor education, I must say that a
majority OF ,ese have had consider
able money spent in schooling them
tor usefulness. They are qualified Il
presumed to keep books or copy man
uscrirts, or teach languages, or act as
goveinesses, or follow some other OF
the trightiulIy over-stockcd vocatious.
But when say to one OF them, 'Ihe
york you seek is positively not to be
had, since ten want to do it where one
wants it done; you must strike off INTO
the broad, free country, and ask tar
mel after tsrmer to give you work till
you find it., the general response, i
know nothing OF farming strikes on
my ear like knell. Even at seasons
when the farmers were intensely hur'
ried by Their summer harvest, and
ready to pay largely for any help that
was not hindrance, I have known our
city to be thronged with weary, sad
petitioners tor something to do. Il
our current education were not 8
plumber or fraud, this would not be
Horace Greeley, in Hearth and Home