Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1885-08-13

AZ was uist IN the
held at every new point Of settlement
and each OF you have been exert,ug
all your powers of persuasion to in.
duce farmers to come bere; Won have
written boom editions which have
been sprinkled thick as snowfiakes all
over the east and south, and throupb-
out the dominion of Canada. pictnr-
ing to the farmer the opportniti rs for
comfort and competence, here; Won
nave returned to the homes from
winch You emigrated, and talked to
your farmer friends there about Da-
kota until you were hoarse. and all TO
induce them to make Dakota their
nome and aid in transforming its lin
itless and unfruitful waste into fruit.
tul helds, cereal kingdom capable of
feeding half the millions of the earth.
The farmers read with ayidity your
boort papers, studied the documents
sent to them, read with anxious care
your letters, listened to your intelli
gent and earnest appeals, and believ-
ed you. They left the homes of their
childhood and maturer years, turned
their backs upon home, kindred,
friends and the graves of their dead
aud came here; came by hundreds,
and thousands, and tens of thousands,
until their homes dot all the plain
from Minnesota to the Missouri river.
Why did you want them here, and
for what purpose did you labor so
hard, and spend so much money to in
duce them to emigrate 10 Dakota, and
why are you laboring still to increase
by emigration the number of farm
ers? 1t Is because You know that
your towns and cities cannot exist
without them; that you might as we'll
expect AN engine torun without steam
or mill without any motive power,
or vegetation to grow and mature
without rain and sunshine, or a man
TO live without blood, as for any me-
chanical, commercial, manufacturing,
or professional industry or pursuit,
to even exist, much less to be profit
able without farmers, whose hard
labor T'''>t garner from the soil the
wealth that shall support themselves
and all other industries aud pursuits.
As in the human economy the body
must be first furnished with blood,
and from whatever of surplus there
may be the BRAIN can only be sup
piled, which we see illustrated by in
stances Of a well formed head and
perfect brain, entirely inactive and
idiotic, because the blood maBGFtpa
turing power of its body is barely suf-
ficient to furnish blood 10 keep the
body alive, leaving no support what
ever for the brain; so the farmer, who
is to all other pursuits what the steam
is TO the engine, the motive power to
the rlill aud the blood to human life
and intelligence, must first have his
food, and from whatever of surplus
he may have the wealth OF all others
must come il it be obtained at ALL
When the farmer prospers, the nv
chanic has labor, the merchant
for his goods and the manufactu
for his wares; but cripple the farI
by whatever process you may n
he has barely enough 10 keep life
his own body, and he will have
surplus with which to contrib
toward the support of other pursn
and as an inevitable result the
chanics shop will close its doors,
anvil will cease to ring and the 81
dies to hum, the merchants goods
moulder on his shelves, bank
houses will become homes for me
and bats, the grass will grow IL y
streets and your towns and cities
come tenantless ruins. The time
my judgment has already come
us to think of these things, not
glittering generalities, but carr
facts that by the law Gt self preser
ton, if for no other or higher reas
should lead us to action.
Unrestrained human greed is
same in all chimes and among
classes of people and under whate
form OF government; no place is
sacredly hidden away but the I
faced yisage of greed is there;
fiourishes best where there is
least law because there it will b
the most license and the least
straint; new and rapidly develop
territories is therefore its special
light, and it follows the tide OF c
grafton as the grasshoppers fol
the growing crop and garners it
is nav what the grasshopper