Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1877-11-21

earnestness having any opposition to :
better class of education for farmers; bu
he still insists that we insultcd our brother
farmers when we wrole-in discussing tht
imperfections of our common schools-aS
follows:
"Three-qnarters, at least of the men and women to
day engaged i'll rural labor in Vermont are unaware
aud are so lll-edurated that they cannot be mad'
of the simple, primary facts aud conditions Of
which successful farming depends. There IS 10 posi-
bic way of each their minds with thest tacts pc
and instruction by which alone the human mind II
fitted to receive and make use OF knowledge"
We can see (and Brother Tfnkham evil
IDENTIFY saw plainly that this paragraph
separated from the rest Of the article, and
commented upon rs he comments upon it.
can be made to appear disrespectful to our
fellow workingmen and women upon the
farms of Vermont Bro her rinkham, for
IL farmer, is pretty skillful lawyer, and
quite able to make an antagonist appear
badly in the eyes of the iary, especially
when they hear only his plea. Why ht
should want to misreprCscnt us in order
to make us appear badly, we do not I'M
drrstand, for we have always been his per
sona friend Perhaps he thinks that, be
ing engaged upon different papers, we
ought TO quarrel II little, just for fun, and
to make things lively. His attack upon us
was certainly unprovoked. and we do moi
think 50 poorly OF his intelligence AS to be-
lieyr that it was not in entionaIly unfair
or ihat he really misunderstood our ar9u'
mtnt.
That argument was simply and only this
that our common schools, upon which
more tnan three quarters of our farmers
and farmers wives depend for all the edu-
cation they get, are not up with the times,
ano do not give an education sufficient to
enable the average farmer to understand
the scientific principles upon which sue
cessiul farming is based. In the early
times, before the primitive fertility of the
land had been exhausted, good crops were
raised without this knowledge But now,
when the census statistics and every ones
observation agree in showing Il steady de-
crease in the average productiveness of
the soil, the case is very different. Mr..
Tlnkham does not deny this decrease. But
he says we insult the farmers when we say
it is due to their ignorance of the cause
and the remedy, though snch ignorance
is not lheiI fault. being chargeablc only to
the tact that our common schools are not
up with he times. We might, with much
more justice, charge that he insults lhe
farmers by saying that thpy 10 Know
enough enough to prevent such falling off
OF productlveness, but VIII not use Their
knowledge to do it.
Inc la mers, we repeat are not to blame
Tor his wan OF knowledge OF how to re-
store exhausted land. 1t has never been
any part OF their education, Ell her al
school on ON the lalm we are bNI Just
confronted with this great problem. The
last generation ionhd the land rlrl ms
generation hnds IL poor ana growing poor
en- There Is way to prevent 1t, ana to
restore me Iand IT, more than It's early prof.
llablenessi and that way, as regards lis
simple pruning facts and conditions
can he taught IN the common schools, and
we say that II ought to be- Taught there
when we say So Brother lInklom ftlohs
that we insult The farmers. But The farm
ers themselves don agree with HIM We
have Stood up before large audiences OF
farmers IN more IMAM nall inc counties OF
the state, and SAID Just TINS thing, ana
they have loudly applauded lis Tor saying
II We have hapn inviipd tn rpnpnt surh
an address by farmers from town distant
from tne p''co VI '9 l'Sl ut',te,y' ou tll
and wanted to brar If we hnd of14rrJ
thnn ~ i"snlt ,bav womb no, bavn done
that. And believing that Brother Tmkham
is just us intelligent as those men were, we
are ooIlseu 10 OelleVe tnaC me- 100 hnew
aloYn, in Tho "" .,,inlo which bo on1 1
70 n,rvprt
We know that the farmers, like every
other class, are educated anu lhteiIlgtntt
Jus' "o1"'"!'s ~ ',', ''''' ''i''
taos AS anv other class We seek IL stir
them up To the fact that their chi dren are
not now having the advantages they need
IN lLe lli"Vter OF eoucatI"n' lhey see 1t
orons ,r in,"ros, ,hnn, IN t9.o"'.l to
the Improvement of their schools and also
in regard to IL special education for farm
ers why any one should want 10 dis ract
Ca aI r ,h i,o ,o rmV ,, "''o' ~ a'aoa',
udice AGAINST a fellow. worker in the field
of progress, Brother Tnkham can tell BET
ter than we can
FULLY recognizing the justice OF the prln-
cIple which gives the jury both sides OF the
case and though the DR.. doesn't give u
word oil what we wrote we give above
nearly all oil Dr. l1OsklnS reply IN the