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

earth, the press OF Dakota has been a
faithful laborer. 1t was first in the
field at every new point of settlement.
and each OF you have been exerung
all your powers of persuasion to in
duce farmers TO come bere, You have
written boom editions which have |
been sprinkled thick as snowfakes all |
over the east and south, and through
out the dominion of Canada, pictur-
ing to the farmer the opportniti rs for
comfort and competence, here; You
have returned to the homes from
which you emigrated, and talked TO
yonr farmer friends there about Da-
kota until you were hoarse, and all to
induce them to make Dakota their
home and aid in transforming its lin
itless and uufruitful waste into fruit.
ful fields, cereal kingdom capable Of
feeding half the millions of the earth.
The farmers read with avidity your
boom papers, Studied the documents
sent TO .hem, read with anxious care
yonr letters, listened to your intelli-
gent and earnest appeals, and believ-
ed you. They left the homes of their
childhood and maturer years, turhed
their backs upon home, kindred,
friends and the graves of their dead
and 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 to 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 must garner from the soil tin
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 BRAN can only Ice sup
piled, which we see illustrated by in
stances Of we'll formed head anC
perfect brain, entirely iractive ant
idiotic, because the blood manufac
turing power Of its body is barely suf
, iicient 10 furnish blood to keep th'
body alive, leaving no support what
ever Tor the brain; 50 the farmer, whC
! is to all other pursuits what the steam
is to the engine, the motive power Il
the mill and the blood TO human lif,
and intelligence, must first have hi
food, and from whatever OF surpiu
he may have the wealth of all Others
/ must come If it be obtained at all
When the farmer prospers, the me
chanic has labor, the merchant sal
for his goods and the manufacturer
for his wares; but cripple the farmer
10y whatever process you may unit
he has barely enough to keep life il
his own body, and he will have n,
surplus with which to contribute
toward the support of other pursuits
! and as an inevitable result the me
! chances shop will close its doors, thu
anvil will cease to ring and the SPIN
dies to hum, the merchants goods t
moulder on his shelves, banking
houses will become homes for mole
and bats, the grass will grow in you
! streets and your towns and cities be
come tenantless ruins. The time IL
! my Judgment has already come TO
{ us TO think of these things, not a
! glittering generalities, but earnes
facts that by the law of self preserva
, ton, if for no other or higher reason
, should lead us TO action.
Unrestrained human greed is TIN
same in all chimes and among al
classes Of people and under whateyej
form of government; no place is 81
sacredly hidden away but the thin
faced yisage OF greed is there;
fuurishes best where there Is thu
least law because there it will hav'
the most license aud the least re
straiut; new and rapidly developing
territories is therefore its special Ge
, light. and il follows the tide of eml
grafton as the grasshoppers follow
the growing crop and gamers it II
its NAV what the grasshopper FALL
/ ~ -. IL 10. aorna tn our tqrri