Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-27

home He has do
Uncle Jervg- mestic nature al
lied to his sociable qualities, and he talks
best around his own fireside. He is one OF
the best conversationalists in public life.
His big head is packed full of good stories,
and he is like Abe Lincoln, in that he illus
trates his points by anecdotes He is like
Lincoln also in that he is man of the
people. There is not an ounce of snobbery
in his go pounds of American flesh, and he
i. as democratic in his manners to-day as
when he began life in Ohio as a stage driver
more than 40 years ago.
Rusk's Boyhqod an Ohio Farm.
He is not ashamed of his stage driving,
and be is not one of those snobs who think
il is disgrace to have worked for living.
hood, and he told me that he was brought
up on a farm, and that his father had a half
section of land in Morgan county, o.
II was IA wears old" said General Rusk,
"when nv father died and left me to man
age the farm. 1 had been used to horses
since was baby and knew how to drive
long before 1 became connected with the
stage At that time the chief travel from
the East to the West was by stage and 1
was given a coach which ran from Zanes-
vile to Newark. 1t was a big Concord
coach with four horses and 1 sat on the box
and drove four-in-hand. 1 afterwards
owned about 140 miles of stage lines in Wis
consin and 1 ran these lines for some
years
''It was as a stage driver that YOU first
met James A. Garfield, was it not?"
"Yes, Garfield was driving a mule on the
canal. He came down as far as Newark
with his canal boat and we met a number of
times. 1 was good deal of boy in those
days and was very fond of wrestling This
was the chief amusement of the boys of nv
time and Garfield himself had some reputa-
tion as a wrestler.
wre.tled Themselves Into Friendship.
"Well, whenever We met we wrestled to-
gether, and in this way got to be friends
You don't forget a man after you have
wrestled with him, and neither Garfield nor
myself forgot each other While I was
still driving the stage, ne left the canal to
go to school. He entered college at Hiram,
and then went east TO Williams. But 1 did
not see him after / left him there on the
canal until We met in tine army. 1t was at
Chattanooga. He was on the staff with
General Thomas, and 1 had command of a
regiment. During our stay here we met and
recalled old times. Shortly after this Gar
field was home on turlough, and during
this they elected him to Congress. did
not see him again until came to Congress
myself, and we served there for some Years
together / knew him very we'll from that
time until his death. was at the conven-
tion that nominated him, and had some
thing to do with getting him the 16 Wis
consin votes which started the boom which
brought about his nomination"
"How did you come to go to Wisconsin,
General?'
at was, suppose" said Secretary Rusk,
largely due to that spirit of Young Ameri-
"a which teaches all our boys to strike out
for new country. wanted to get farm
and / wanted to make my fortune. After
my stage-driving experience tried rail-
reading for time, and helped to build
road near my home. As soon as I got to
Wisconsin l bought farm, and I own the
same farm to-day. 1t contains about 400
acres and 1 can get more fun out of it in q
week than L can out of my life here at
Washington In six months"
Jerry Could Make a Barrel
'T have seen it stated General, that YOU
learned the cooper's trade when you were q
boy. Could you make barrel to-day?"
''Yes, l could, replied Uncle Jerry. 'sI
think could make any kind of barrel or
cssk you might want. But it is a mistake
TO think was apprenticed to cooper. All
of the farmers in our region made barrels
when was boy. 1t was our winters work,
and got so that / could make six barrels
any day. have made as high as ten in a
day, and as we got from 25 to 80 cents a
barrel, you see the work was quite profit
able"
The conversation here turned to the
farmer and his progress, and referred to
our great increase in population and asked
Secretary Rusk whether the farmers would
always be able to supply food for our peo-
Pile He replied:
Always is long time But L think I |
can speak for good many years to come.
We have hardly begun to tap the great
agricultural wealth of the United States. |
1t is true that the day must soon come when |
all the good public lands will be taken up. |
The best are gone now, but after that, |
modern invention will turn toward our |
vast acres of desert and swamp The first |
will be irrigated and the latter will be |
drained. The swamp lands of the South |
will be reclaimed and diked. We will have
second Holland along some parts |
of the Gulf of Mexico, and the |
golden age of farming will be at hand. |
increase in value. They are now a large |
part of the aggregate wealth of the country. |
The Farmers Are Not Poor.
Twelve years ago our 100000 farms |
were worth ten Thousand millions of dol |
lars and they produce yearly crops worth |
more than 81, ,00O, 000, 600. We talk of the |
poverty of the farmer, but BY the census of |
1880 the stock on the farms alone was worth |
over 81, 500, 100000 and bv statistics
which We have over at my department |
to-day our live stock is worth nearly twice
as much now. We know how to prevent |
diseases of stock, and we have gained also |
in better breeding and better feeding. To- |
day our best beef is sold at wears old 1t |
was not many years since beef was not |
thought to be beef unless the animal was at |
least years old, and yet the meat of the |
2-year-old beeves of to-day is of the finest
quality, and it surpasses in weight that of |
the average 4-year-old of 20 years ago
Where beeves can be turned off in half the |
time, man can raise twice as many from off |
the same land, and the early maturity of !
our mutton and swine is to-day as marked |
as that of our beef .
"It is the same in all branches of farming,
and believe that the prosperous era of the
farmer is just beginning. The people of
he 1,axld he xo he fad ood fheir food Il