The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1870-12-22
AGRICULTURE.
Can ~ Edaeasesl Man Ges u Living
~ Haraiog.

Can nm k00G0ee0 NAN eiSo - us1Nn0G
~ Farming.
From the Hearth and Home
Other things being equal, an educated man
can pillow and sow, reap, NOW, dig potatoes,
and hlisk corn, or perform any other Of the
various farm operations well and as rap
idly as an uneducated one. He can make
as much money; but can he make as good a
living? What is wealth to the one might he
poverty to the other. The one has a wife
that will milk the COWS, chrirn the butter,
rear the calves feed the pigs, plant, hoe, and
dig the potatoes, and do her own work in
the house; while the other bciDg an educated
man has an educated wife, who cannot and
ought not to he expected To do more than
make his home the abode Of comfort and re-
finement for herself, her husband, and her
children. The family Of the one helps him
to make money; that Of the other no, only
does not do this, but requires mere money
for its support, and for the education Of the
children and for the qualification Of their
tastes. Can such a man compete with the
other, and, if 50, how?
We have endeavOred 10 stale the question
fairly. In the other industrial arts, We see
men Of intelligence, education, and energy
competing with and leaving far behind those
not possessing these advantages. We see Il
blacksmith gradually rise tn the head Of an
establishment employing a thousand men;
shoemakes who report an income Of humid
red thousand a year; and graduate Of Yale
College commence a small establishment for
the manufacture Of scythes, that ultimately
made millionaires Of all Connected with it
the success of the whole being due TO the in
telligence and business energy Of this one ed
ucated man.
Notwithstanding some failures, il Is an
with ignorance in the manufacture Of every
thing except farm products. II is because
tact and judgment are required in selling
manufactured articles, and in making such
as are adapted to the market; while farmers
raise only such things as require no effort on
their part to dispose Of, and which must be
sold at such prices as those who can raise
them the cheapest, or who can live the most
economically, or Of those who know nothing
Of the cost Of production, are willing to take?
A recent number Of the London Mark
Lnne Express, after slluding TO the fact that
English wheat is now being sent to countries
that usually export wheat to England, with
France devastated by war, Germany with n
short crop Of inferior quality, and Russia
waiting for better times to send forward her
stores, adds: "America alone in her prices
seems to meet our demands" Those Of us
who pay from two to three bushels Of wheat
for a days work to a man who only six
months ago got twenty-five cents day in
Germany or Ireland, If We do not fully I'M
destand, can at least feel the meaning Of the
above sentence. II means that as long a.
America Is willing to send wheat from Iowa
to England, and sell it cheaper than it can
be raised anywhere else in the whole world
an educated man cannot get an adequate
compensation for his time, capital, and labor
in raising wheat.
Must We then abandon the whole field Of
agriculture to the uneducated class-to men
who do their own work, and live in the
plainest way, and are satisfied with one or
two hundred dollars annual income?
The railroads and other public works are
paying men from $1.25 to S1.75 per day.
Farmers have to do the same. We are pay
ing men $3.50 year, and furnish house,
fre-wood, and garden, with more or les
apples and milk besides. Such men are do
ing better than great many farmers, and do
not work nearly rs hard nor as many hours.
They have no care nor anxiety, no interest
money nor taxes to pay, and no animals to
sicken and die.
This state of things cannot Last. One of
three things must happen; u) Wages will
be lower; or (2), prices must advance; or
(3), We must learn how to make labo: more
efficient.
The prosperity of the nation depends
largely, If not wholly, on the prosperity of
the farmers, and on Others employed in
farming. And scarcely any greater calamity
could befall Us than for e1ncafed men and
women to be compelled TO abandon agri-
cultural pursuits. Where farming does not
pay, nothing else will long continue to pay.